Shanghai pioneers mobile tax refund service

Shanghai has become the first city in China to launch a fully online tax refund process for tourists, the Shanghai Municipal Tax Service of the State Taxation Administration said on Sept 30.

The "Tax Refund Service" online platform, currently in trial operation in participating tax refund stores across Pudong, Huangpu, and Jing'an districts, digitizes the entire procedure – from purchase invoice generation to customs verification and refund disbursement.

The multilingual platform, available in Chinese, English, Japanese, and Korean, allows tourists to register quickly using a mobile phone number or email address via a QR code or website access at https://taxrefund.sheca.com/login.

The platform supports both traditional port-of-departure refunds and a "refund-upon-purchase" option at designated stores. For port-of-departure refunds, tourists can apply for refunds online for customs-verified tax refund applications, sign an electronic receipt, and receive a refund via bank transfer or Alipay.

With the "refund-upon-purchase" option, tourists can receive their money via Alipay and other electronic payment methods after an online pre-authorization. At customs, presenting the Shuishen Code, a digital tax declaration code, is sufficient for verification, eliminating the need for paper documents.

The city has processed departure tax refunds for nearly 100,000 tourists from 179 countries and regions during the year.

By Sept 29, departure tax-free sales grew by 83.8 percent year-on-year, and the amount of tax refunds increased by 82.9 percent, making Shanghai the largest departure tax-free market in China. Sales under the "refund-upon-purchase" scheme surged 21-fold.