Last reviewed 22 October 2026, against an official page updated 2026-09-18. Source: Shanghai Municipal Tax Service of the State Taxation Administration. This is the text of the scheme, not a summary of someone else's article about it.

China's departure tax refund

Most English guides either skip the numbers or print ones that are out of date. The scheme is published, in English, by the tax authority itself. Here is what it says.

What the refund actually is

Overseas visitors may claim a refund of value-added tax on eligible goods bought at designated tax refund stores, when leaving the Chinese mainland through a designated departure port.

Two words in that sentence do all the work. "Designated store" means the shop participates in the scheme — not every shop does. "Designated port" means the airport or seaport handles refunds — not every exit point does. If either condition fails, the refund does not exist, however much you spent.

The five conditions

Source: Shanghai Municipal Tax Service, "Departure tax refund guide for overseas visitors", updated 2026-09-18 — english.shanghai.gov.cn

1. Spend at least 200 yuan at the same tax refund store on the same day.
2. Depart the mainland no more than 183 days after your most recent entry.
3. Depart no more than 90 days after the purchase date.
4. The goods must remain unused and unconsumed at departure.
5. You must carry the goods personally, or check them in your baggage, departing through a designated port.

The process, in three places

1. At the store

Show a valid identity document and ask for the sales invoice and the departure tax refund application form. Keep both, plus anything electronic the store gives you.

Accepted documents, per the official guide:

• a passport;
• a Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents;
• a Mainland Travel Permit for Taiwan Residents.

2. At customs, before you fly

Purchases under 10,000 yuan are subject to random inspection. Purchases of 10,000 yuan or more are inspected individually. Applications the system exempts do not require physical inspection.

If you have generated a national departure tax refund service code, you can present it so customs can pull up your application electronically.

3. At the refund counter, after immigration

The counter is in the restricted departure area — after passport control, not before. Present your ID; the agency retrieves the verified information electronically. Keep the invoice and supporting documents available in case they ask.

How much you get back

Source: Shanghai Municipal Tax Service, "Departure tax refund guide for overseas visitors" — english.shanghai.gov.cn

The official calculation is:

Invoice amount, including VAT × (applicable refund rate − 2% handling fee)

The applicable rate is either 11% or 8%, depending on the goods. The 2% is the agency's handling fee. In practice that means the money in your hand is roughly 9% or 6% of the eligible invoice amount, not 11% or 8%.

Refunds are paid in renminbi. Up to 20,000 yuan you may choose cash or bank transfer; above that, bank transfer only. Shanghai additionally offers Alipay as a payout option, subject to its own rules.

The arithmetic worth doing before you shop

If you are choosing between buying something in China and buying it at home, the refund is a discount, not a windfall. Two things follow:

• The 200-yuan threshold is per store, per day. Splitting one purchase across two shops to stay under it works against you; consolidating a day's shopping in one participating store works for you.
• The 2% handling fee is charged before you see anything. A small purchase can end up with a refund that barely covers the queue. Budget the 20–30 minutes at the airport against the amount you expect back.

A worked example, using round numbers and the 11% rate: a 5,000-yuan invoice yields roughly 5,000 × (11% − 2%) = 450 yuan. At the 8% rate the same invoice yields roughly 300 yuan. Which rate applies depends on the goods, and the rate is determined at verification — not by you, and not by the shop assistant's estimate.

Five ways this goes wrong

1. Buying in a non-designated store. Look for the tax-free signage and confirm before paying. A receipt alone is not participation.
2. Packing the goods in checked luggage and forgetting. Customs verification happens before you check in. Condition 5 allows checked baggage, but you have to be able to produce the goods at the customs point.
3. Using the item. See condition 4.
4. Assuming the shop's quoted percentage is what you get. The published formula includes the handling fee; a quoted "11%" is not the payout.
5. Leaving more than 90 days after purchase, or 183 days after entry. Both clocks run, and the shorter one usually decides.

How to check this yourself

The source page is the Shanghai municipal government's English service guide, sourced to the Shanghai Municipal Tax Service of the State Taxation Administration. Both pages were read in full on 22 October 2026, and captured copies are in the archive:

• Departure tax refund guide for overseas visitors — updated 2026-09-18, read in full 2026-10-20.
• The same site publishes a separate page on refund-upon-purchase, a different scheme with different conditions — do not assume the rules above apply to it.