Xinjiekou and VAT Refunds

Deji Plaza and the central malls

ShoppingGulou, Yihe Road and Xinjiekou

XINJIEKOU AND VAT REFUNDS (DEJI PLAZA AND THE CENTRAL MALLS) · XINJIEKOU LIJING TUISHUI

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VERIFIED2026.09.24

Gulou, Yihe Road and Xinjiekou · 32.044°N 118.779°E

Pay as you consumePassport needed

Not a sight - an answer to the question of what to do if you buy something expensive in Nanjing. Xinjiekou is the city's commercial centre, a roundabout with a Sun Yat-sen statue at its middle and department stores on every corner, and it is where the registered VAT-refund shops cluster. The national rules, from the tax administration's 2025 revision: a foreign visitor who has not stayed on the mainland more than 183 consecutive days can reclaim VAT on goods bought in one registered shop on one day totalling 200 yuan or more, unused, carried out within 90 days of purchase.

Before you goThe mistake that costs people the refund is using the thing they bought: the goods have to be unused when customs checks them on the way out, so do not unbox the camera at the hotel. After that, the two Nanjing-specific problems are both about where you leave from. First, the refund is claimed when you leave the mainland, and the only refund counter we can document in Nanjing is at Lukou airport - if you are going on to Shanghai and flying home from there, the ordinary refund is claimed there, not here. Refund-on-purchase works the other way round: the money is already in your hand from the shop, and the port you leave from only verifies it - since the six-ministry notice of May 2026 that verification can be done at a port in another province. Second, the published detail on where exactly the counter sits inside Lukou is old: the fullest description of the customs verification point and the agency counter comes from a 2016 customs release naming Terminal 2, and no 2025-26 official page restates it. Allow real time and ask at the airport information desk. One more piece of small print: instant refunds are not a gift - the national rules require you to sign an agreement and agree to a credit-card pre-authorisation in the shop. The advance is clawed back off that card if you do not leave within the deadline - extended nationally to 28 days in May 2026 - or customs does not clear the goods. Something wrong here? Tell us →

Hours · Tickets · Booking+ Add to trip

AdmissionPay as you consumeBy what you spend; refund desks charge nothingSource ↗

HoursShops keep mall hours; the check is done on departure

IDPassport, twice: at the shop when the form is issued, and at the customs desk on departureSource ↗

LandmarkXinjiekou and VAT Refunds (Deji Plaza and the central malls) (新街口广场，孙中山铜像环岛)

AddressXinjiekou, at the junction of Zhongshan Road, Zhongshan South Road, Zhongshan East Road and Hanzhong Road, Nanjing (南京市新街口，中山路 / 中山南路 / 中山东路 / 汉中路交会处)Source ↗Navigate ↗

EntranceXinjiekou metro station sits under the square with more than twenty numbered exits; Deji Plaza phase two is at 18 Zhongshan Road, above exit 7

Last verified 2026-09-24 Source: platforms and press

How to book

None; tell the till you want a departure tax refund before you pay and the shop issues the claim - since July 2026 usually as an electronic 'tax refund service code' rather than a paper formSource ↗

Paying on site

Retail. Pay however the shop takes it; Nanjing has added Alipay e-wallet payouts and, since July 2026, paperless refund claims where a service QR code replaces the paper form

Language

Nanjing Customs says it has put multilingual policy leaflets in the Lukou departure hall and at its inspection windows and staffed a dedicated desk. Individual shops vary

How to visit

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Did you know

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