---
title: "How to Standardly Fill in the Country of Departure, Country of Destination and Country of Origin in the Customs Declaration Form for Processing Entrepot Trade?"
description: "Errors are prone to occur in country information filling for processing entrepot trade due to complex scenarios. Minor errors may trigger port detention and cargo seizure，resulting in high extra costs，while serious errors may affect the tax cost of the destination country. It is necessary to standardize the filling according to scenarios such as direct transfer from bonded zones and third-party transit，combining core elements such as processing value-added ratio and logistics route. Through meas..."
url: "https://www.sh-zhongshen.com/en/qa/processing-entrepot-trade-customs-declaration-country-info-rules.html"
language: "en"
type: "Q&A"
category: "Entrepôt Trade Q&A"
datePublished: "2026-10-21"
dateModified: "2026-10-21"
brand: "Zhongshen Trading China"
answerCount: 8
---

# How to Standardly Fill in the Country of Departure, Country of Destination and Country of Origin in the Customs Declaration Form for Processing Entrepot Trade?

## Question

 I am a foreign trade salesman of a company in Shanghai specializing in processing and entrepot trade of mechanical and electrical spare parts. I received a rush order last week: aluminum ingots purchased from Germany will be transported to Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone for precision processing, and then transshipped to Mexico. I was totally confused when filling out the customs declaration form today. Should the country of departure be Germany or China? The country of destination is definitely Mexico, but should the country of origin be Germany or China after processing? A former colleague filled in the country information incorrectly, which led to the cargo being detained at the port for 5 days, and the port detention fee and container detention fee alone cost nearly 40,000 yuan. Now the freight forwarder is urging me to submit the documents this afternoon, and I am very nervous. In addition, this batch of cargo is planned to be transited via Hong Kong for one day. How should the country information be filled in under such transit scenario? Will the filling of the country of origin affect the tariff rate in Mexico? Please make sure to explain it clearly to me! 

## Answers
                            
### Answer 1 — Best Answer

First，complete pre-submission document verification: check the core information of foreign trade contracts，ocean bills of lading and bonded processing manuals，and focus on confirming the **processing value-added ratio** -- according to 2026 customs regulations，if the value added to the goods through processing in the bonded zone (post-processing value minus original value) accounts for more than 30% of the post-processing value，the country of origin can be declared as China，otherwise the original country of origin (Germany) shall be retained，at the same time，check the information of the port of loading and port of transit on the bill of lading to ensure it is consistent with the filling logic of the customs declaration form.

Accurate connection of core nodes: fill in the information according to two scenarios: first，for direct entrepot to Mexico from Shanghai bonded zone，fill in "Germany" as the country of departure，"Mexico" as the country of destination，and select the corresponding country of origin according to the value-added ratio，second，for the scenario of transit via Hong Kong，the country of departure remains "Germany"，the country of destination is "Mexico"，and "Transit via Hong Kong" shall be noted in the "Remarks column" of the customs declaration form，and the fields of country of departure/destination shall not be modified.

Prepare abnormal plans in advance: if customs document review query is triggered due to incorrect filling，immediately submit supporting materials such as processing value-added accounting report and copy of bonded processing manual，apply for deleting and resubmitting the declaration to avoid cargo detention at the port，if there is a risk of cargo seizure，you can entrust an agency company to submit a situation explanation to the customs and apply for priority review of documents.

Final compliance implementation: before submitting the documents，check the logical consistency of country information through the **pre-declaration validation function** of the customs single window，and formally submit it after confirmation of no errors to ensure zero error in customs clearance.

**status:** accepted
**Author:** Evelyn Li
**Date:** 2026-10-21

### Answer 2

The country information filling for processing entrepot trade shall strictly follow the 2026 revised Customs Declaration Form Filling Specifications issued by the General Administration of Customs. The country of departure shall be the country or region where the goods are initially shipped, regardless of whether they are transited; the country of destination shall be the country or region where the goods are finally delivered; the country of origin shall be determined in accordance with the Regulations on the Origin of Import and Export Goods.

If the bonded processing value-added ratio does not exceed 30%, the country of origin shall be consistent with that of the original imported goods. If there is a contradiction in the country information filling, such as the country of departure is inconsistent with the country where the port of loading shown on the bill of lading is located, the customs will directly trigger a valuation query, and even launch an inspection procedure. At this time, you need to immediately submit materials such as goods circulation vouchers and processing records to prove the authenticity of the entrepot trade, so as to avoid declaration deletion and resubmission or fines caused by inconsistent information.

**status:** suggested
**Author:** Grace Wang
**Date:** 2026-10-21

### Answer 3

When processing entrepot trade involves transit links, the filling of country information shall fully match the logistics route. If the goods are transported from Germany to Shanghai bonded zone for processing and then transited via Hong Kong to Mexico, the port of loading on the logistics bill of lading is Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone Port, and the port of discharge is Manzanillo Port, Mexico.

At this time, the country of departure on the customs declaration form shall be Germany, not China or Hong Kong, because the goods have not entered the domestic circulation field of China; the country of destination is filled in as Mexico. If the freight forwarder requires to mark the transit information, "Transit via Hong Kong" shall be noted in the remarks column of the customs declaration form, and Hong Kong shall not be filled in the field of country of departure or country of destination, otherwise it will lead to inconsistency between the logistics trajectory and the customs declaration information, causing failure of port manifest matching, and then resulting in container detention fees or container rolling risks.

**status:** suggested
**Author:** Jason Wu
**Date:** 2026-10-21

### Answer 4

The country information filling for processing entrepot trade directly affects cross-border tax costs, especially the determination of the country of origin. If the country of origin is filled in as Germany, the Mexican customs may levy tariffs at different rates according to the China-Mexico Free Trade Agreement or the Germany-Mexico Free Trade Agreement, so you need to check the tariff agreement clauses of the two countries in advance; if the country of origin is filled in as China, you need to ensure that the processing value-added ratio meets the 30% standard, otherwise the Mexican customs may refuse to apply the preferential tariff rate under the China-Mexico Free Trade Agreement, resulting in extra tax burden.

In addition, goods processed and transshipped in bonded zones are exempt from domestic value-added tax, but if the country information is filled incorrectly and identified as general trade, it may trigger a VAT supplementary payment requirement, so you need to do a good job in tax compliance verification in advance.

**status:** suggested
**Author:** Andy Guo
**Date:** 2026-10-21

### Answer 5

The country information of processing entrepot trade shall be completely consistent with the payment and receipt vouchers. If the country of departure on the customs declaration form is Germany, the country where the payee of the payment voucher is located shall be Germany.

If transited via Hong Kong, the payment path shall not be directly transferred through a Hong Kong company, and the direct receipt voucher of the German supplier shall be retained to avoid being identified as illegal trade. In addition, when using the CIPS system for RMB cross-border payment, the country information of the entrepot trade shall be noted in the postscript to ensure that the payment and receipt data is logically consistent with the customs declaration data, otherwise it will trigger compliance inspection by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange and affect the subsequent payment and receipt authority.

**status:** suggested
**Author:** Lucas Liu
**Date:** 2026-10-21

### Answer 6

Country clauses shall be specified in the processing entrepot trade contract, which shall be consistent with the information filled in the customs declaration form. If the contract stipulates that the country of origin is Germany, but the customs declaration form is filled in as China, it may lead to buyer's claim, because the Mexican customs may refuse customs clearance due to inconsistent country of origin, resulting in the buyer's failure to receive the goods on time.

In addition, the responsibility attribution of transit links shall be stipulated in the contract. If losses are caused by incorrect filling of transit country information, the compensation liability of the freight forwarder or agency company shall be clarified, and all circulation vouchers shall be retained as evidence for dispute resolution to avoid legal disputes caused by inconsistent information.

**status:** suggested
**Author:** Kevin Lin
**Date:** 2026-10-21

### Answer 7

During on-site customs inspection, it will focus on checking whether the country information of the goods is consistent with the customs declaration form. If the country of origin marked on the goods packaging is Germany, but the customs declaration form is filled in as China, you need to immediately submit materials such as processing value-added accounting report and processing records to prove the compliance of the country of origin change; if valid certificates cannot be provided, the customs will detain the goods and launch the country of origin traceability procedure.

At this time, you need to cooperate with the customs to take samples of the goods for inspection, and modify the customs declaration information after the test report confirms the value-added ratio, so as to avoid long-term port detention fees caused by failed inspection.

**status:** suggested
**Author:** Michael Zhang
**Date:** 2026-10-21

### Answer 8

If processing entrepot trade involves domestic processing value-added and the country of origin is declared as China, you need to ensure that the country information of the customs declaration form, processing manual and special VAT invoice is consistent, otherwise you cannot enjoy the export tax rebate policy.

If the country of origin is filled in as Germany, and the goods have not entered the domestic circulation field, you do not need to apply for export tax rebate, but you need to make a zero declaration in the tax rebate system to avoid tax warning caused by non-declaration. In addition, all documents shall be retained for at least 5 years for subsequent audit by the tax authorities, to ensure the consistency and compliance of country information.

**status:** suggested
**Author:** Victor Sun
**Date:** 2026-10-21

## Related Categories
- [Import Agency Q&A](https://www.sh-zhongshen.com/en/qa/cat-import-agency/)
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