Tax rebate scheme enhanced
By Lydia Chen |
March 25, 2011, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
HAINAN, a tropical island province in south China, will implement a tax rebate program for tourists on a trial basis from April 20, the Ministry of Finance announced yesterday.
The program sets the rebate cap on a combined shopping value of no more than 5,000 yuan (US$762) per person each time at three designated shops in Hainan. It is aimed at tourists 18 years old and above from both home and abroad who will fly to other destinations on the Chinese mainland from the island.
Each eligible tourist can claim rebates twice a year, while island residents are entitled to one rebate annually.
Haikou, the provincial capital, and Sanya, a popular tourist resort, will each open a designated duty-free shop. Sanya's existing duty-free shop is also authorized to run the tax rebate business.
Travelers are required to pay for their goods at the designated shops at tax-deducted prices first. The shops will send the goods to the airport where buyers can claim their goods with ID cards or passports along with their shopping receipts before they fly out of the island to other parts of China.
The refunded taxes include customs duties, importation value-added taxes and excise taxes, the ministry said in a statement.
Tourists can also buy one item worth more than 5,000 yuan per person each time provided they pay the commodity's import duty, according to the statement.
This program covers 18 types of imported goods including jewelry, artwork, wristwatches, perfumes, cosmetics, pens, glasses, scarves, neckties, wool fabrics, cotton goods, clothing, belts, bags, small leather goods, candies and sporting goods.
The program was modeled on tax rebate programs practised by the Jeju island in South Korea, and Okinawa in Japan, but Hainan's scheme offers greater rebates, the ministry's officials said.
The new program is an enhancement of one that is being tried out and covers only foreigners who are leaving the mainland.
Under the policy unveiled in January, overseas tourists, including those from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, can get a rebate of 11 percent if they spent more than 800 yuan on purchases in 21 categories at designated shops and stay in China for less than 183 days.
The January policy is still in effect.
For Hainan, the new policy unveiled yesterday marks a step forward in its bid to become an international tourist hub by 2020.
In 2010, about 25.88 million people visited Hainan, up nearly 15 percent from a year ago and nearly 97 percent of them are Chinese.
The island saw revenue from the tourism industry grow 21.68 percent in 2009 to 25.77 billion yuan last year. The provincial government aims to sharply increase its tourism revenue to 124 billion yuan by 2020.
The province wants to compete with Hong Kong, long favored as a shopping paradise for mainlanders because there is no sales tax there.
The program sets the rebate cap on a combined shopping value of no more than 5,000 yuan (US$762) per person each time at three designated shops in Hainan. It is aimed at tourists 18 years old and above from both home and abroad who will fly to other destinations on the Chinese mainland from the island.
Each eligible tourist can claim rebates twice a year, while island residents are entitled to one rebate annually.
Haikou, the provincial capital, and Sanya, a popular tourist resort, will each open a designated duty-free shop. Sanya's existing duty-free shop is also authorized to run the tax rebate business.
Travelers are required to pay for their goods at the designated shops at tax-deducted prices first. The shops will send the goods to the airport where buyers can claim their goods with ID cards or passports along with their shopping receipts before they fly out of the island to other parts of China.
The refunded taxes include customs duties, importation value-added taxes and excise taxes, the ministry said in a statement.
Tourists can also buy one item worth more than 5,000 yuan per person each time provided they pay the commodity's import duty, according to the statement.
This program covers 18 types of imported goods including jewelry, artwork, wristwatches, perfumes, cosmetics, pens, glasses, scarves, neckties, wool fabrics, cotton goods, clothing, belts, bags, small leather goods, candies and sporting goods.
The program was modeled on tax rebate programs practised by the Jeju island in South Korea, and Okinawa in Japan, but Hainan's scheme offers greater rebates, the ministry's officials said.
The new program is an enhancement of one that is being tried out and covers only foreigners who are leaving the mainland.
Under the policy unveiled in January, overseas tourists, including those from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, can get a rebate of 11 percent if they spent more than 800 yuan on purchases in 21 categories at designated shops and stay in China for less than 183 days.
The January policy is still in effect.
For Hainan, the new policy unveiled yesterday marks a step forward in its bid to become an international tourist hub by 2020.
In 2010, about 25.88 million people visited Hainan, up nearly 15 percent from a year ago and nearly 97 percent of them are Chinese.
The island saw revenue from the tourism industry grow 21.68 percent in 2009 to 25.77 billion yuan last year. The provincial government aims to sharply increase its tourism revenue to 124 billion yuan by 2020.
The province wants to compete with Hong Kong, long favored as a shopping paradise for mainlanders because there is no sales tax there.
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