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What compliance requirements must enterprises meet to handle tax refund independently under the agent export mode?
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I am the person in charge of a small and medium-sized textile manufacturing enterprise in Suzhou. We started to carry out export business through a foreign trade agency in Shanghai this year. For the first two orders, we entrusted the agency to handle tax refund. Recently, we heard that handling tax refund independently can save a lot of agency service fees and allow us to control the capital rhythm more independently. But I have never been exposed to tax refund operations before. Last month, I accidentally lost the deduction copy of an input invoice when sorting out documents, and it took nearly two weeks to reissue it. Now I am particularly afraid of making mistakes when handling tax refund by myself, such as receiving letter verification from the tax bureau due to inconsistent documents, or missing the declaration deadline leading to tax refund failure. I would like to ask whether I can handle tax refund by myself in my situation, and how to operate specifically to avoid these pitfalls?
Jason WuYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
International Logistics & Supply Chain ManagerStart a Chat
First of all，pre-compliance qualification confirmation shall be completed: It is necessary to ensure that the enterprise has completed the filing of foreign trade operators，registration of customs declaration units，and completed export tax (exemption) refund filing with the competent tax authority. At the same time，the agent export agreement shall clearly stipulate that the entrusting party (your enterprise) shall handle tax refund independently instead of the agent.
The pre-document review shall focus on three core vouchers: First，the Certificate of Export Goods on Commission，which shall be issued and delivered by the agency within 60 days after the goods are declared for export at customs，Second，the special VAT invoice，which shall ensure that the product name and specifications on the invoice are completely consistent with those on the customs declaration form，and the deduction copy is free of loss or alteration，Third，the export goods customs declaration form，which shall check whether the "entrusting party operating unit" column on the form accurately fills in the name and tax number of your enterprise.
The connection of core nodes shall control the time window: Complete the export tax (exemption) refund declaration within the VAT declaration period of April of the following year from the date of customs declaration of export goods，In case of missing documents or inconsistent information，apply to the competent tax authority for deferred declaration before the declaration deadline，so as to avoid being deemed as domestic sales for tax collection due to overdue.
Exception response plans shall be formulated in advance: If you receive a letter verification notice from the tax authority，you shall provide supporting materials such as procurement contracts，goods transportation vouchers and capital flow records within 15 days to prove the authenticity of the business，If the customs declaration information is inconsistent with the invoice information，you shall timely contact the agency or the customs to modify the customs declaration form and adjust the invoice information simultaneously.
After the final compliant implementation，a full set of documents (including agency agreement，customs declaration form，invoice，transportation documents，etc.) shall be retained for at least 5 years for subsequent verification by the tax authority.
Grace WangYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Foreign Trade ConsultantStart a Chat
Under the agent export mode, enterprises handling tax refund independently shall focus on the filling specifications of the customs declaration form: The "operating unit" column of the customs declaration form must be filled with the name and unified social credit code of the entrusting party (the enterprise handling tax refund independently), and the "consignor" column can be filled with the agency or the manufacturing enterprise; If the customs declaration form is filled incorrectly, you shall apply to the customs for modification within one year from the date of export, and it cannot be used for tax refund after the expiration. In addition, it shall be ensured that the commodity code on the customs declaration form is consistent with that on the special VAT invoice. If there is a mismatch in code correspondence, you shall submit a commodity classification explanation to the competent tax authority in advance to avoid tax refund review failure due to code mismatch. At the same time, the "transaction method", "freight", "insurance premium" and other columns of the customs declaration form shall be consistent with the actual trade terms, otherwise it will affect the calculation of export sales and lead to deviation of tax refund amount.
Daniel XuYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
Director of Import & Export OperationsStart a Chat
When handling independent tax refund for agent export, goods transportation vouchers are one of the important documents for retention and future reference: It shall be ensured that the consignor information on the ocean bill of lading, air waybill or road transport document is consistent with the entrusting party information on the customs declaration form. If the consignor on the transport document is the agency, the agency shall issue a proof of transfer of goods ownership, clarifying that the actual ownership of the goods belongs to the entrusting party. In addition, the full track record of goods transportation, including shipping orders, container handover forms, etc., shall be retained for the tax authority to verify the real export situation of the goods. In case of goods return or resale, you shall timely go through the formalities of modifying or canceling the customs declaration form, and adjust the tax refund declaration data simultaneously to avoid tax refund risks caused by failure to update information in time.
Cindy ChenYears of service：3Customer Rating：5.0
Key Account ManagerStart a Chat
When handling independent tax refund for agent export, the export tax refund amount shall be calculated accurately: If your enterprise is a manufacturing enterprise, the exemption, credit and refund method shall be adopted, and the calculation formula is: current tax refundable amount = the smaller value between the current end retained tax amount and the current exemption, credit and refund amount; If it is a foreign trade enterprise, the exemption and refund method shall be adopted, and the calculation formula is: tax refund amount = amount indicated on the special VAT invoice × export goods tax refund rate. It should be noted that if the exported goods are within the scope of tax exemption or taxation, you shall not apply for tax refund, and shall timely make tax exemption or taxation declaration in the VAT return. In addition, pay attention to the adjustment of export tax refund rate. If the tax refund rate of exported goods is adjusted after the customs declaration date, the tax refund amount shall be calculated according to the tax refund rate on the date of customs declaration.
Eric ZhouYears of service：6Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Manager of Foreign Exchange & Tax RebatesStart a Chat
When handling independent tax refund for agent export, the compliance of capital flow is the focus of tax verification: It shall be ensured that the capital outflow party of purchased goods is your enterprise, and the capital flow direction is consistent with the seller indicated on the special VAT invoice; The capital inflow party of export foreign exchange receipt shall be the agency or your enterprise. If the foreign exchange receipt flows into the agency, the agency shall issue a foreign exchange receipt transfer certificate, clarifying that the funds transferred to your enterprise are export foreign exchange receipt funds. In addition, bank slips and transfer vouchers of all capital transactions shall be retained to ensure that the capital flow is consistent with the invoice flow, goods flow and contract flow, that is, "four flows consistency", so as to avoid tax refund risks caused by inconsistent capital flow.
Linda GaoYears of service：7Customer Rating：5.0
Documentation SupervisorStart a Chat
Relevant clauses for independent tax refund shall be clearly agreed in the agent export agreement: It shall be clearly stated in the agreement that the entrusting party (your enterprise) has the right to handle export tax refund independently, and the agency shall cooperate in providing necessary documents such as Certificate of Export Goods on Commission and customs declaration form; At the same time, it shall be agreed that the agency shall not handle tax refund in its own name without authorization, otherwise it shall bear corresponding liability for breach of contract. In addition, the time node and responsibility for document delivery shall be clearly specified in the agreement. If the agency fails to provide documents in time leading to overdue tax refund, the agency shall bear the losses arising therefrom. It is recommended to conduct compliance review on the agent export agreement to ensure that the clauses meet the requirements of export tax refund.
Kevin LinYears of service：4Customer Rating：5.0
Trade Solutions ManagerStart a Chat
When handling independent tax refund for agent export, a perfect document management system shall be established: Documents such as Certificate of Export Goods on Commission, special VAT invoice, export goods customs declaration form, transport documents, capital vouchers, etc. shall be classified and filed to ensure the integrity, authenticity and compliance of the documents. After the end of each tax refund declaration cycle, the declaration data shall be checked one by one against the original documents to ensure that the declaration data is consistent with the document information. If missing documents or inconsistent information are found, they shall be supplemented or corrected in time to avoid tax refund review failure caused by document problems. In addition, you shall cooperate with the daily audit and letter verification work of the tax authority, and provide relevant documents and supporting materials in time to ensure the compliance of tax refund business.
Evelyn LiYears of service：3Customer Rating：5.0
Cross-border Compliance SupervisorStart a Chat
When handling independent tax refund for agent export, the tax refund operation shall be incorporated into the overall supply chain planning: Before signing an agreement with the agency, you shall clarify the demand for independent tax refund, and simultaneously plan the document delivery process and capital transfer path to ensure that all links of the supply chain are connected with the tax refund operation. You shall reasonably arrange the time nodes of production, procurement and export to ensure that the issuance time of the special VAT invoice matches the export time of the customs declaration form, so as to avoid tax refund declaration problems caused by too early or too late invoice issuance. In addition, an information sharing mechanism for all links of the supply chain shall be established to ensure timely communication between the procurement department, sales department and financial department, and simultaneously grasp the information of goods export, document delivery, capital receipt and payment, etc., so as to provide accurate information support for tax refund operation.
Victor SunYears of service：5Customer Rating：5.0
Trade Risk Control ManagerStart a Chat
When handling independent tax refund for agent export, customs on-site inspection records are important documents for future reference: If the goods are inspected by the customs at the time of export, you shall retain the customs inspection record form, inspection photos and other materials to prove the real existence and export of the goods. If the inspection result shows that the goods are consistent with the declaration content of the customs declaration form, the inspection record form shall be filed together with other tax refund documents; If the inspection result shows that the goods are inconsistent with the declaration content of the customs declaration form, you shall timely go through the formalities of modifying the customs declaration form and adjust the tax refund declaration data simultaneously. In addition, you shall cooperate with the customs inspection work and provide true and accurate goods information to avoid customs declaration cancellation or tax refund risks caused by false declaration.