How does the departure tax refund work, and where can I claim it?

The national rule, from the State Taxation Administration (amended April 2025): you qualify if you spend at least 200 yuan in the same refund shop on the same day. Shenzhen's joint announcement spells out the rest: you are a foreigner who has stayed in China no more than 183 days in a row, the goods are unused, you leave within 90 days of buying them and carry or check them out yourself. The refund is 11% on goods taxed at 13% and 8% on goods taxed at 9%, agent's fee already taken off. Refund shops display a standard refund-shop sign.

At the till, ask for the refund application form (离境退税申请单) and keep the invoice. The shop needs your passport to issue the form. When you leave, have customs check and stamp it at the departure port. Then take your passport, stamped form and invoice to the refund agent inside the departure area. Refunds up to 20,000 yuan can be paid in cash or by bank transfer; above 20,000 yuan, only bank transfer is available.

Instant refund (即买即退): at participating shops or central refund points you sign an agreement and give a credit-card pre-authorisation, and get the refund amount in cash straight away. You still have customs stamp the form when you leave, which releases the pre-authorisation. Guangzhou's commerce bureau said in August 2026 that the departure deadline for instant refunds is being extended to 28 days.

The city where you buy and the port where you leave do not have to match. The Ministry of Finance's 2015 announcement says refunds are handled by the agent in the departure area of the port you leave from 'whether goods are bought and exported from the same place or from different places' — buy in Shenzhen, fly out of Shanghai Pudong, and you claim at Pudong in the normal way. Instant refunds are different: the agreement names a departure port, and if you leave from another one the advance is clawed back from your card pre-authorisation, then the agent where you actually leave processes the refund the normal way (State Taxation Administration Announcement No. 9 of 2025). A May 2026 notice from the Ministry of Commerce and five other departments calls for instant refunds to be recognised across regions. The two arrangements we found in the original text: Guangdong (including Shenzhen), Guangxi and Hainan recognise each other's instant refunds from 1 May 2026, so you can leave from any refund port in the three; goods bought in Zhejiang can leave from Shanghai ports including Pudong T2 and the S1 satellite hall from 30 April 2026. Outside these, leave from the port in your agreement.

By city, where we have an official figure. Shenzhen: six refund ports, the most of any Chinese city: Bao'an airport, Shekou cruise terminal and the Futian, Shenzhen Bay, Man Kam To and Luohu land crossings, all 09:00-21:00; passenger halls only, not the road-vehicle lanes coaches use; over 1,000 refund shops and 12 instant-refund points (July 2025). Guangzhou: instant refund at central points such as Tianhuan Plaza (level B3), up to 220,000 yuan a day (June 2025). Chongqing: 363 refund shops, 78 with instant refund, and five central refund points at Jiefangbei, Chaotianmen, MixC and Guanyinqiao; instant refunds are recognised with Sichuan, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu and Xinjiang (July 2026). Nanjing: 168 refund shops (end of April 2026).

Beijing, Chengdu, Xi'an and Shanghai: the national rule applies, but we have no verified city list of refund shops or counter locations yet. Look for the refund-shop sign and ask the shop which port desk to use.