(The 9th China International Import Expo) Tax refund points will be opened inside and outside the venue. Overseas merchants at the China International Import Expo can “refund after purchasing”

China News Service, Shanghai, November 8 (Reporter Miao Lu) The 9th China International Import Expo is being held in Shanghai. During the CIIE, the Shanghai Taxation Department activated eight departure tax refund service points in and around the National Convention and Exhibition Center (Shanghai) to provide shopping billing and "buy now and return" services for overseas exhibitors and visitors, covering multiple scenes including the central square, news center, Intercontinental Hotel, and major exhibition halls.

The "self-service billing + self-service tax refund" integrated processing equipment was unveiled at this CIIE. It supports multi-lingual operations and realizes multi-channel refunds with bank cards and mobile payments. After overseas merchants purchase cultural, creative and national fashion products, they can self-issue tax refund applications on the device and handle instant refunds. A transaction can be completed in a few minutes. Tax refund has become a natural part of shopping, allowing overseas merchants to truly "shopping in the museum and receiving tax refund on site".

Along with the equipment upgrade, there are also processing methods. This CIIE encourages participating overseas tourists to scan the QR code to experience the paperless processing of departure tax refunds. The tax refund application, document transfer, review and refund payment and other links are completed through system docking. The tax department will coordinate with Shanghai Customs and other departments to ensure the orderly operation of all aspects of paperless processing. Platforms such as "Easy Go" have built-in "handheld processing". Overseas tourists can complete the entire departure tax refund process on their mobile phones and check the progress of the process at any time.

To make overseas tourists "willing to spend and be able to get tax refunds", policy awareness is also critical. The offline guidebook provided by this CIIE covers the city’s main tax refund processing points and connects popular cultural and tourism landmarks. The back has a processing guide including the tax refund process, providing consumption tax refund service guarantees for overseas tourists attending the expo. Merchants who want to walk around Shanghai after participating in the exhibition can find the nearest tax refund point by clicking on the map.

With the implementation of the new policy of departure tax refund 2.0, Shanghai has formed a full-area service network of "36 city-wide refund points + 18 centralized refund points + N single-store refund points". Data shows that from January to October 2026, there were nearly 2,900 registered tax refund shops in Shanghai. Departure tax refund sales increased by 50% year-on-year, the number of departure tax refund applications issued increased by 2.4 times year-on-year, and the sales of "buy now and get refund" increased by 1.3 times year-on-year.