Recently, the Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs, and the State Administration of Taxation jointly issued the “Announcement on Preferential Tax Policies for Returned Goods Exported by Cross-Border E-Commerce.”
The release of this announcement is undoubtedly good news for cross-border e-commerce companies and will largely promote the sustained and healthy development of new foreign trade formats.
The announcement clearly stipulates that during the period from January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2027, goods declared for export under the cross-border e-commerce customs supervision codes (1210, 9610, 9710, 9810) will enjoy a series of preferential tax policies if they are returned to the country (except food) in their original condition due to unsalable, returned goods, etc. within 6 months from the date of export.
Specifically, these returned goods will be exempt from import duties as well as import-related value-added tax and consumption tax.
Moreover, export duties already collected at the time of export will be refunded; value-added tax and consumption tax already collected at the time of export will be implemented with reference to the relevant tax regulations on returns of domestically sold goods.
The four customs supervision mode codes involved here have clear meanings.
Among them, 1210 represents “online shopping bonded import”, which provides consumers with more convenient shopping channels, allowing more overseas high-quality products to enter the domestic market efficiently; 9610 represents the “direct purchase import” model, which meets consumers’ purchase needs for personalized and diversified products; 9
710 refers to “cross-border e-commerce B2B direct export”, which effectively promotes cross-border trade between enterprises; 9810 refers to “cross-border e-commerce export overseas warehouse”. This model helps enterprises store goods in overseas warehouses in advance, achieve rapid distribution, and improve customer experience.
Export return shipping costs have always been a major problem faced by cross-border e-commerce companies.
The return of goods will not only incur transportation, warehousing and other costs, but may also involve various tax costs.
This announcement continues to implement preferential tax policies for cross-border e-commerce export returns, with the purpose of further reducing enterprises’ export return costs and reducing their worries.
Enterprises can expand overseas markets with more confidence and increase investment in product research and development, market promotion, etc., thereby enhancing their competitiveness.
With the continuous advancement of global economic integration, cross-border e-commerce, as an emerging form of trade, is showing strong vitality and huge development potential.
The introduction of this preferential tax policy is an important measure taken by the government to actively support the development of new foreign trade formats.
It will help attract more companies to participate in the field of cross-border e-commerce, promote the prosperity of the cross-border e-commerce industry, and inject new impetus into the transformation and upgrading of my country’s foreign trade.
It is foreseeable that, driven by this policy, my country’s cross-border e-commerce enterprises will usher in a broader space for development and achieve better results in the international market.
