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Can I get a tax refund on what I buy in China?

Yes, if you are an overseas visitor and you buy from a registered refund shop — up to 11% back, minus a fee. The two deadlines are the part people get wrong.

By TK Chang Checked October 2026
Quick answer

Yes. If you are an overseas visitor, and you spend at least ¥200 in one registered refund shop on the same day, you can claim the VAT back when you leave. The refund rate is 11% for goods taxed at 13% and 8% for goods taxed at 9%, and the refund agency takes a fee of 2% of the invoice value out of it. You have to leave China within 90 days of the purchase — or, on the instant-refund route, within 28 days.

The atrium of Suzhou People's Department Store, seen from the ground floor
The atrium of Suzhou People's Department Store. A tax-refund shop is an ordinary department store like this one — registered with the tax authority, with the refund form issued at the till. Photo: Shwangtianyuan · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

What you have to meet

The tax authority lists five conditions, and all five have to hold at once:

  1. the goods were bought for at least ¥200 in total, in the same registered refund shop, on the same day
  2. the goods have not been used or consumed
  3. you leave China within 90 days of buying them
  4. you take the goods out with you, in your luggage or on your person
  5. they are not on the prohibited, restricted or duty-free lists

An “overseas visitor” for this purpose means a foreign national, or a compatriot from Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan, who has not been living in mainland China continuously for more than 183 days.

What you actually get back

The refund is not the whole tax. It is the invoice amount including VAT, multiplied by the refund rate, minus the agency fee:

  • goods taxed at 13% — refund rate 11%
  • goods taxed at 9% — refund rate 8%
  • agency fee — 2% of the invoice amount
  • paid in renminbi; up to ¥20,000 you can choose cash or a bank transfer, above that it is a transfer

So the number that arrives is smaller than the number on the sign. That is the fee, and every refund agency charges one.

How the money reaches you

Three steps, in this order:

  1. the shop issues the refund application form, with the invoice — ask for it before you leave the counter
  2. at departure, customs checks the goods and stamps the form — the goods have to be there, and unpacked enough to see
  3. the refund agency pays you

The goods are the evidence. If they are in a suitcase you have already checked in, the stamp will not happen.

Two deadlines, and they are not the same

This is the part that catches people out, because the two numbers travel together and mean different things:

  • 90 days — the ordinary route: you buy, you keep the goods, you claim at the airport when you leave, and that has to be within 90 days of the purchase.
  • 28 days — the instant refund route, where you take the money in the shop and confirm the departure afterwards. The 2026 document set that 28-day limit as a single standard across the country.

The 28 days is not a shorter version of the 90 days. It belongs to a different route. If you are not taking the money up front, the 90 days is the one that applies to you.

What changed in 2026

Three things, all from the six-agency document of May 2026, and all in force from 1 July 2026 unless noted:

  • a spot-check system: applications under ¥10,000 of refundable sales are physically inspected at random, above that every one is still inspected
  • the whole process can run without paper — customs and the refund agency may confirm the form and the invoice online
  • instant refunds are recognised across cities, so you can collect in one place and complete the departure formalities in another

From 1 September 2026, the instant-refund review itself also moved online.

Can I claim on a camera or a phone?

Maybe. Two things decide it and neither of them is the price: whether the shop is a registered refund shop, and whether the item sits on an exclusion list. I am not going to tell you a category always qualifies, because a tax office would not either — ask the shop before you pay, not after.

Questions I get on this one

Is ¥200 per shop per day?
Yes — it is the total in one registered refund shop, on one day. Three shops at ¥80 each add up to nothing here.
So how much do I actually receive?
The invoice amount including VAT, times the refund rate (11% or 8%), minus the agency fee of 2% of the invoice amount. I am not going to give you a worked example: the rate band depends on the goods.
Do I have to leave within 90 days?
On the ordinary route, yes — 90 days from the purchase. On the instant-refund route the limit is 28 days, and that is the number the 2026 document set.
Can I have it in cash?
Up to ¥20,000, you can choose cash or a bank transfer. Above ¥20,000 it has to be a transfer.
Can you arrange the refund for me?
No. I do not handle refunds, and I do not shop for people. Do it at the counter and at customs — both are quick, and neither needs an agent.

Compiled from the six-agency document No. 74 of 2026 (12 May 2026, in force 1 July 2026) and Tax Document No. 37 of 2026 (in force 1 September 2026), the Jiangxi tax authority's refund Q&A (February 2026 edition), and the Qingdao tax authority's online interview of 26 August 2026; checked October 2026. I do not handle refunds and I do not shop for people. Related: paying for things · visas and entry · all essentials