GACC Announcement No.58, 2017 on Paperless Tax-Relief Application Requirements

The GACC has decided to, as from 15 December 2017, nationwide carry out the paperless mode for enterprises’ tax-relief application and cancel tax-relief registration with the Customs. Relevant matters are hereby announced:

1. Unless otherwise required by the GACC, the tax-relief applicants may, by using the Tax-Relief Application System on China E-Port QP Pre-Entry Client Side (as “QP System” below), submit their completed applications and relevant certificates/documents in the electronic way, without the need of paper submission.

(1) Where necessary, paper certificates/documents shall be submitted as per Customs requirements.

(2) Documental e-scanning or file conversion standards shall be subject to relevant regulations in GACC Announcement No. 69 of 2014.

(3) The Annex hereto provides the standards for the paperless operation hereof.

2. The tax-relief applicants may, at their first application regarding import goods, submit the documents of “policy/project information” such as entity qualification, project qualification, and tax-free import quota (quantity), without the need of relevant registrations with the Customs in advance.

(1) On the QP System, the applicants shall submit their documents through the “Tax-Relief Application” module.

(2) At their first declaration of policy/project information, the applicants shall, regarding the “789” tax-relief nature, fill in their application with the numbers listed in “State-Supported Domestic/Foreign-Invested Project Confirmation”; if without the Project Confirmation, fill with the project numbers that are provided by the Customs.

Regarding other tax-relief nature, the system will automatically generate the project numbers.

(3) Where one applicant has imports for one policy or project, he shall provide the policy/project number into all of his applications.


Annex:

Standards of Paperless Application for Tax Reliefs

1. Where Customs requirements are met, the tax-relief applicants may upload relevant documents to the System in a simplified way as follows:

(1) The documents involving entity qualification, tax relief quota and import invoices shall be uploaded in full.

(2) Where an import contract has numerous pages, the uploaded shall include the pages containing the basic information of buyer, seller and import agent; import goods name, specifications, technical parameters, unit price and total price; the country of manufacture; the supply list attached to the contract; mode of transportation and terms of payment, the terms of price composition, and official signature.

Where an import contract has an electronic version, the PDF format of the contract may be uploaded, and the first page and all signature pages of the paper contract may be uploaded.

If the import contract is in a foreign language, the following clauses shall be translated into Chinese, and the translation signature shall be scanned and uploaded:

1). Title of the contract or agreement;
2). The names of buyer, seller, import agent, and their interrelationship;
3). The rights and obligations of buyer and seller;
4). Import goods name, specifications and technical parameters, quantity, unit price, total price, country of origin, manufacturer info, package info, etc .;
5). Terms related to goods price and transportation (e.g. purchase terms, pricing and payment terms, shipment and delivery terms, insurance terms, etc.);
6). Contract or agreement authorization info (e.g. authorized distribution area and scope, right and obligation conferred by contract or agreement);
7). Termination of the contract or agreement;
8). Annexes relating to goods quantity and prices (e.g. quantity and price list of spare parts);
9). Info of signatory and the date of signature;
10). Other terms concerning tax-relief verification

(3) In the technical documents and descriptions, the contents concerning whether the goods are eligible for preferential policies, shall be uploaded.

2. Where the tax-relief formalities go through the "paperless declaration" mode, the applicant shall keep the paper documents as per the following requirements for Customs verification:

1) In a dedicated warehouse or an independent area;
2) By a dedicated archiving professional;
3) Archived by the tax/exemption certificate number, and preserved by year;
4) Indexed for easy finding.

The storage period of import paper documents shall be from the date of application till the end of Customs control over imported goods, plus 3-years extension; The storage period of the paper documents concerning policy/project shall be from the date of application till the end of Customs control over the last batch of imported goods under the policy or project, plus 3-years extension.

3. Where the tax-relief formalities go through the "paperless declaration" mode, if there is any loss, forgery or alteration of relevant certificates/documents, the applicant involved shall be suspended from the "paperless declaration" mode.





General Administration of Customs of China (GACC)
December 10, 2017