The surge in cross-border e-commerce transactions calls for more efficient methods of operations. To this end, the introduction of electronic payment for retail import taxes has emerged as a groundbreaking solution, significantly improving transaction efficiency.
Recently, a new feature for electronic payment of retail import taxes in cross-border e-commerce was rolled out. This feature was piloted in customs offices in several cities, including Ningbo, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Huangpu, Chongqing, and Chengdu. The new method marks a departure from the traditional process that involved physically retrieving a paper tax bill from customs and paying it at a bank counter. Instead, users now only need to make an online query and complete the tax payment on the customs’ “Single Window” website.
This electronic payment feature provides additional benefits for corporate users. It allows them to pay for deposits, late-reporting fines, and late fees electronically, making the entire process more streamlined and hassle-free.
A significant advantage of the new function is that it expedites the corporate customs clearance process. From the initiation of a tax payment request by the customs to the completion of payment and receiving the customs receipt, the whole process takes only about 30 seconds. This innovative feature accelerates the process by 2 to 3 working days.
As of the end of 2022, the electronic payment rate for mainland customs taxes had reached a staggering 96.4%. This statistic points to the success of the electronic payment feature and its acceptance by users, marking a significant step forward in the modernization of cross-border e-commerce transactions.
