CCTV News: On April 27, the State Information Office held a press conference to introduce the situation of optimizing the departure tax refund policy and expanding inbound consumption.

At the meeting, Sheng Qiuping, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, introduced that departure tax refund refers to the policy of returning value-added tax to goods purchased by overseas tourists at tax refund stores when they leave the country. Departure tax refunds are internationally accepted and have been implemented in more than 50 countries and regions including the EU, Japan, Singapore, Australia, etc. my country has fully implemented the departure tax refund policy since 2015. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the full implementation of the policy, with the approval of the State Council, the Ministry of Commerce, together with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the General Administration of Customs, the State Administration of Taxation, and the Civil Aviation Administration of China, issued the "Notice on Further Optimizing the Departure Tax Refund Policy and Expanding Inbound Consumption", which mainly considers the following three aspects.

First is an important measure to implement the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China made important arrangements for improving the living convenience system for overseas personnel such as residence, medical care, and payment. In recent years, various regions and departments have introduced a series of policy measures in related fields, achieving positive results. In 2024, the total expenditure of inbound passengers reached US$94.2 billion, an increase of 77.8%. Further optimizing the departure tax refund policy is an important measure to implement the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and improve the convenience system for overseas personnel. It is conducive to improving the convenience of overseas tourists shopping in China and enhancing the sense of gain and satisfaction of tourism and consumption.

The second is an important tool to promote the expansion of inbound consumption and vigorously boost consumption. The Central Economic Work Conference emphasized that we must vigorously boost consumption and expand domestic demand in all aspects. The government work report pointed out that it is necessary to promote the expansion of inbound consumption. In 2024, the proportion of inbound consumption of overseas tourists to my country's GDP will be about 0.5%, while inbound consumption in major countries in the world will account for between 1% and 3%, and the growth potential of inbound consumption will be huge. Departure tax refunds help reduce shopping costs for overseas travelers and are an important entry point for attracting and expanding inbound consumption. For example, according to my country's value-added tax level, the general commodity tax refund rate reaches 11%, which is equivalent to an additional 10% discount. Further optimizing the departure tax refund policy will help expand the benefit of the policy, improve the efficiency of policy implementation, promote the continued rapid growth of departure tax refund sales, inject new impetus into boosting consumption and expanding new space.

The third is an important way to promote high-level opening up to the outside world and smooth the international and domestic dual circulation. In recent years, my country has expanded its independent and unilateral opening in an orderly manner, implemented a unilateral visa-free policy to 38 countries, implemented a transit visa-free policy to 54 countries and extended the residence time to 240 hours, and introduced a series of entry facilitation policies. Last year, it received 26.94 million foreign tourists, an increase of 96% year-on-year. In the first quarter of this year, there were 9.215 million foreign tourists, an increase of 40.2% year-on-year. Departure tax refund not only brings benefits to overseas tourists, but also an important channel for domestic goods and culture to go abroad, and has a policy effect of winning multiple goals in one fell swoop. Further optimizing the tax refund policy for departure will help attract more foreigners to come to China to shop and travel, promote cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, and promote more "old brands and new national trends" that carry China's excellent traditional culture and modernization construction achievements to the world, so as to achieve interconnection and mutual promotion of domestic and international markets.