The scheme is called departure tax refund (离境退税, lí jìng tuì shuì) and it applies to foreign passport holders, plus residents of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, who have been in the mainland for no more than 183 continuous days.
The rules that decide whether you qualify#
¥200 in one day at one store. The purchases must be on the same day at the same licensed refund store. Two ¥150 purchases at two different shops do not combine, and neither do two days at the same shop.
This threshold fell from ¥500 to ¥200 in April 2025, alongside a package of measures meant to make the scheme easier for visitors to use. A great deal of English-language guidance still quotes ¥500 and sets the bar more than twice as high as it now is.
The rebate is 11% for most goods, reflecting China's VAT rate, and a service fee is deducted from it.
Ninety days. You must leave within 90 days of the purchase date.
The goods must be unused and with you. Customs can ask to see them. Anything worn, opened or consumed does not qualify — and food, tobacco and alcohol are generally excluded, as is anything already exempt from VAT.
What to do in the shop#
Look for the 退税商店 (tuì shuì shāng diàn, tax refund store) sign — department stores, larger brand shops and airport-adjacent retail commonly participate; small independents usually do not.
Ask for the refund form at the till, at the time of purchase, and show your passport. The form cannot be issued afterwards, and this is the step people miss. Keep the form and the fully itemised invoice together; a card receipt is not enough.
Many cities now also run 即买即退 (jí mǎi jí tuì), refund-on-purchase, which pays you in the shop against a card guarantee and reconciles when you leave. It is convenient and it makes the departure formalities stricter rather than looser — you must still present the goods.
What to do at the airport#
- Before check-in, go to the customs desk with your passport, the refund forms, the invoices and the goods. If the goods are going into hold baggage, this must happen before you check the bag in.
- Customs verifies and stamps.
- Take the stamped forms to the refund counter, which is normally after security in the departures area.
- Choose cash or a refund back to a card. Refunds above ¥20,000 must go to a bank account; below that either is available. A card refund takes some weeks.
Allow an extra hour on top of your normal airport timing. The customs desk is not always where the signage suggests, and it can have a queue at peak departure hours.
Whether it is worth the trouble#
On a ¥400 purchase the rebate is a few tens of yuan and the queue may cost you more than that in stress. On silk, tea, jade, electronics or a serious clothing spend it is worth a straightforward hour.
The other thing to weigh is what you are buying and whether it can leave the country at all — antiques face a separate export regime that has nothing to do with VAT, and the rules there are considerably less forgiving than a missed refund form.
For what is actually worth buying in China, where the fakes concentrate and how bargaining works, see the shopping guide. For how much any of it should cost in the first place, the trip cost and budget page sets out real prices.