Who Ultimately Bears Tax Obligations in Agency Exports? What Hidden Thresholds Exist in Tax Refund Processes?

I. Who is the Statutory Taxpayer Under Agency Export Models?

According to the Provisional Regulations of the Peoples Republic of China on Value-Added Tax and the 2025 revised Administrative Measures for Value-Added Tax on Export Goods and Labor Services,agency export businesses have dual tax obligation determination standards:

• Formal requirements: The domestic consignor field on the customs declaration form must record the exporting enterprise
• Substantive requirements: ActualA complete export agency agreement should be attached with:entities and contracting parties of purchase agreements

2025 tax inspection典型案例显示，某foreign tradeagency company was identified as the primary taxpayer for meeting all the following conditions:① Controlling goods pricing rights ② Directly receiving foreign exchange payments ③ Issuing VAT special invoices to factoriesThis means the traditional pure agency model is being challenged by substantive operation recognition standards.

II.Export DrawbackHow to determine the declaring entity?

The ownership of tax refund rights for agency exports existsThree major determination principles:

• Consistency principle between customs declaration forms and VAT invoices
  • Year 2025Cross-border E-commerceEnterprise loses 3.2 million yuan in tax refund due to inconsistency between customs declaration form and invoice header
• Traceability principle of foreign exchange receipt and payment paths
• Completeness of business authenticity supporting documents
  • Need to provide tripartite evidence combining agency agreement, fund flow, and logistics documents

III. How to complete VAT declaration for agency exports?

According to Announcement No. 18 of the State Taxation Administration in 2025, VAT treatment for agency exports presentsNew changes:

• Manufacturing enterprises entrusting agency exports:
  • Continue to apply the exemption, credit, refund tax policy
  • New electronic power of attorney filing system (launched in January 2025)
• Foreign trade enterprises entrusting agency exports:
  • Must simultaneously upload purchase and sales contracts through the Single Window system
  • Foreign exchange receipt period shortened to 180 days after goods export

IV. What are the common obstacles in agency export tax refunds?

2025 foreign trade enterprise survey data shows,Three main reasons for agency export tax refund failures:

• Document chain breakage (37%):
  • Agency agreement not specifying tax refund entity
  • Logistics documents not matching fund flow direction
• Declaration time limit exceeded (29%)
• Agency qualification defects (18%):
  • Enterprises below Customs Class B cannot handle tax refunds
  • Impact of foreign exchange management classification levelIn order to crack down on tax evasion, the customs and tax departments are now strictly examining the operation of buying export declarations. If the behavior of buying export declarations is discovered, the regulatory authorities will require tax replenishment (even a 2% tax rate may be a considerable amount). In addition, fines may also be imposed on the relevant responsible parties.Speed

V. How to build a compliant tax structure for agency exports?

It is recommended that enterprises adoptTrinity risk prevention mechanism:

• Clarify the terms for resolving quality disputes
  • Clearly define the boundaries between formal customs declaration and substantive operations
  • Establish foreign exchange return guarantee clauses
• Document management:
  • Establish a four-stream integration electronic filing system (contract flow, goods flow, capital flow, document flow)
• Process monitoring:
  • Monthly verification of customs data and tax refund declaration progress
  • Regular review of agencys customs credit rating

Special attention is required for theCross-Border Trade Facilitation Regulationsimplemented from 2025