On the 8th, the State Administration of Taxation issued the "Announcement on Promoting the Service Measures for "Buy and Refund" for Departure Tax Refunds for Overseas Travelers", which made clear provisions on the main content, processing procedures and implementation time of "Buy and Refunds" for Departure Tax Refunds, and promoted the service measures from pilot projects in many places to the whole country.

It is understood that "buy and refund" is an upgrade and optimization of the departure tax refund policy, aiming to provide overseas travelers with more convenient and diversified tax refund options. In the early stage, pilot projects have been carried out in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangdong, Sichuan, Zhejiang and other places.

"Since the policy pilot, the overall operation has been stable and is welcomed by the majority of overseas tourists. It now has the conditions for national promotion." A relevant responsible person from the Department of Goods and Labor Taxation of the State Administration of Taxation introduced that compared with traditional departure tax refunds, the biggest feature of "buy and refund" is that the tax refund process is advanced, so that overseas tourists can get tax refunds in the shopping process, which makes it more intuitive to feel the benefits of tax refunds, and it is also convenient to receive tax refunds at the shopping site for re-consumption.

The announcement pointed out that overseas passengers purchase tax refund items at the "buy now and refund" store and apply for credit card pre-authorization, they can receive equal tax refunds on site; when the passenger leaves the country, the customs verify the passenger's identity and tax refund items; after the tax refund agency reviews the shopping tax refund information, it will immediately lift the credit card pre-authorization guarantee and complete the departure tax refund matters. The announcement also made it clear that tax refund stores that are willing to provide "buy and refund" services can become "buy and refund" stores after negotiations with local tax refund agencies.

Li Xuhong, vice president of Beijing National Accounting Institute, believes that promoting this service measure nationwide will not only help improve the service level of my country's tourism industry, create a friendly, efficient and convenient tourism environment, but also further stimulate the vitality of inbound consumption for overseas tourists and provide support for high-quality economic development.