On July 7, Changsha Huanghua Airport Customs Authority handled a departure tax refund application for a foreign tourist visiting China. As it was exempt from inspection, the application was processed in just one minute, and the traveler smoothly received a tax refund of 76.56 CNY.

A notice on further optimizing departure tax refund measures and expanding inbound consumption, which was jointly issued by the Ministry of Commerce, the General Administration of Customs, and four other authorities, officially took effect starting July 1, 2026. The policy streamlines departure tax refund procedures for overseas travelers. For example, travelers no longer need to submit physical refund application forms and sales invoices, as customs authorities and authorized agencies will conduct all verification online. Customs authorities will conduct random physical inspections of tax refund application forms involving sales of less than 10,000 CNY, allowing applications flagged by the system as "exempt from verification" to be cleared directly. This move is expected to significantly reduce waiting time at ports, effectively improving the tax refund experience for travelers, and stimulating inbound consumption.

According to statistics, during the seven days since the new policy was implemented, the Changsha Customs Authority handled 19 departure tax refund transactions, a year-on-year increase of 58.3%, of which 11 were under 10,000 CNY, and eight were exempt from verification, accounting for 72.7%.

Since the beginning of this year, the Changsha Customs Authority has continuously optimized departure tax refund procedures, and strengthened port publicity and guidance with the airport group. In the first half of the year, the authority handled a total of 509 departure tax refund transactions, soaring 375.7% year on year; the amount of verified applications reached 12.257 million CNY, surging 233.7%.

This article is from Hunan Provincial Government. www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Xiao Juan

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn