Announcement of the State Taxation Administration on Tax Collection and Administration Matters Related to Handling End-of-Period Excess Input Value-Added Tax Credit Refunds
Announcement of the State Taxation Administration [2025] No. 20
August 22, 2025
In accordance with the Announcement of the Ministry of Finance and the State Taxation Administration on Improving the End-of-Period Excess Input Value-Added Tax Credit Refund Policies (Announcement [2025] No. 7, hereinafter referred to as the “Announcement No. 7”), and for the purpose of regulating the handling of end-of-period excess input value-added tax credit refunds (hereinafter referred to as “VAT credit refunds”) business, the following matters concerning tax collection and administration are hereby announced:
1. General VAT taxpayers (hereinafter referred to as “taxpayers”) applying for VAT credit refunds under the Announcement No. 7 shall, during the VAT filing period (hereinafter referred to as the “filing period”) of the following month after meeting the refund conditions, submit the Application Form for Tax Refund (Credit Refund) (see Appendix 1) to competent tax authorities via the electronic tax office or the tax service hall after completing the VAT return for the current period.
2. Where taxpayers export goods or conduct cross-border sales of services or intangible assets that are subject to the exemption, offset, and refund measures, they may declare both the exemption, offset, and refund and apply for the VAT credit refund within the same filing period.
Taxpayers applying for VAT credit refunds whose exports of goods or cross-border sales of services or intangible assets are subject to the exemption, offset, and refund measures shall file the exemption, offset, and refund in a timely manner. Where the amount of export sales eligible for exemption, offset, and refund for the current period is zero, a zero declaration for exemption, offset, and refund shall be made.
3. For taxpayers applying VAT credit refund policies under Announcement No. 7 that require conditions on tax/fee payment credit rating, the applicable credit rating shall be determined as of the time the taxpayer submits the Application Form for Tax Refund (Credit Refund) to the competent tax authority.
4. When calculating the input composition ratio for determining the refundable amount of the VAT credit refund, input tax amounts transferred out as required during the relevant period need not be deducted from the VAT amount indicated on VAT credit vouchers-including VAT special invoices, customs import VAT payment certificates, tax payment certificates, uniform invoices for the sale of motor vehicles, electronic ordinary VAT invoices for toll road charges, electronic invoices (e-ticket itinerary for air transportation), and electronic invoices (railway e-ticket)-that have already been credited.
5. Tax authorities shall accept and review taxpayers' VAT credit refund applications in accordance with prescribed procedures and time limits and shall notify taxpayers of the review results.
6. Where a taxpayer does not fall under any of the circumstances listed in Article 7 of this Announcement, the tax authority shall complete the review within ten working days (inclusive, the same below) from the date of accepting the VAT credit refund application, and issue a Notice on Tax Matters to the taxpayer. If, upon review, the taxpayer meets the criteria for the VAT credit refund, the refund shall be granted, and a Notice on Tax Matters to Approve the VAT Credit Refund shall be issued to the taxpayer; if the taxpayer does not meet the criteria for the VAT credit refund, the refund shall not be granted, and a Notice on Tax Matters to reject the VAT credit refund shall be issued.
Where a taxpayer has declared exemption, offset, and refund and applied for VAT credit refund, the tax authority shall process the exemption, offset, and refund first. After completing the exemption, offset, and refund, if the taxpayer still meets the criteria for the VAT credit refund, the VAT credit refund shall be processed. The above ten working days shall be counted from the date when the refundable amount of the exemption, offset, and refund is approved.
7. Where, during the processing of VAT credit refunds, the tax authority discovers any of the following circumstances, the handling of the VAT credit refund shall be suspended:
(1) Existence of VAT-related tax risk suspicions;
(2) The taxpayer has been placed under tax inspection and the case has not yet been closed;
(3) Abnormalities in VAT return comparisons have not been resolved;
(4) The taxpayer has obtained abnormal VAT credit vouchers, which has not been resolved; or
(5) Other circumstances as prescribed by the State Taxation Administration.
8. After the VAT-related tax risk suspicions or any other circumstances listed in Article 7 have been cleared, and the relevant matters have been resolved, the VAT credit refund shall be handled in accordance with the following regulations:
(1) Where the taxpayer still meets the criteria for the VAT credit refund, the tax authority shall continue to process the refund and complete the review within five working days from the date the risk suspicions are cleared and the relevant matters resolved, and issue a Notice on Tax Matters to approve the VAT credit refund to the taxpayer; or
(2) Where the taxpayer no longer meets the criteria for the VAT credit refund, the refund shall not be granted. The tax authority shall complete the review within five working days from the date the risk suspicions are cleared and the relevant matters resolved, and issue a Notice on Tax Matters to reject the VAT credit refund to the taxpayer.
9. Where a taxpayer falls under any of the following circumstances, the tax authority shall terminate the handling of the VAT credit refund for them and, within five working days from the date of making the decision to terminate, issue a Notice on Tax Matters to terminate the VAT credit refund to the taxpayer:
(1) During the review of VAT-related tax risk suspicions, the taxpayer is found to be suspected of fraudulent export tax refund, issuance of false VAT special invoices, or other major VAT-related tax violations; or
(2) Other circumstances as prescribed by the State Taxation Administration.
After the above circumstances have been resolved, taxpayers who still meet the criteria for VAT credit refunds may re-apply in accordance with the regulations.
10. Where any of the following circumstances arise during the processing of VAT credit refunds, the refundable amount of VAT credit refund shall be determined in accordance with the following regulations:
(1) If the end-of-period excess input tax credit changes due to tax returns, tax inspection recoveries, or adjustments based on assessment, the refundable amount shall be determined based on the “end-of-period excess input tax credit” in the most recent VAT and surcharges return.
(2) Where the taxpayer has both declared VAT exemption, offset, and refund and applied for VAT credit refund within the same filing period, or where there are exemption, offset, and refund amounts pending approval by the tax authority at the time of applying for the VAT credit refund, the refundable amount shall be determined as the balance of the “end-of-period excess input tax credit” in the most recent VAT and surcharges return, after deducting the exemption, offset, and refund amounts approved by the tax authority.
The exemption, offset, and refund amount approved by the tax authority refers to the amount that has been approved in the current period but has not yet been reported in the relevant columns of the VAT and surcharges return.
(3) Where the taxpayer has both outstanding VAT payable and end-of-period excess input tax credit, the refundable amount shall be determined as the balance of the “end-of-period excess input tax credit” in the most recent VAT and surcharges return, after offsetting the outstanding VAT payable.
11. After a taxpayer has filed the VAT return and exemption, offset, and refund declaration, but before the tax authority has approved the exemption, offset, and refund amount, where the tax authority approves the taxpayer's prior VAT credit refund, the refundable exemption, offset, and refund amount and the offset amount for the current period shall be calculated as the balance of the “end-of-period excess input tax credit” in the most recent VAT and surcharges return, after deducting the VAT credit refund amount approved by the tax authority.
The VAT credit refund amount approved by the tax authority refers to the amount that has been approved by the tax authority in the current period but has not yet been reported in the relevant columns of the VAT and surcharges return.
12. Taxpayers shall, in the period when they receive the Notice on Tax Matters to approve the VAT credit refund from the tax authority, offset the approved refundable VAT credit against the end-of-period excess input tax credit, and fill in the relevant columns of the VAT and surcharges return accordingly, and transfer out the input tax in accordance with the regulations.
13. Where taxpayers are required under Article 9 of Announcement No. 7 to repay in full the VAT credit refund previously obtained, they may submit the Application Form for Repayment of VAT Credit Refund (see Appendix 2) via the electronic tax office or the tax service hall. The tax authority shall issue a Notice on Tax Matters to repay VAT credit refund to the taxpayer within five working days from the date of acceptance of the application. After the taxpayer has repaid the full amount of the VAT credit refund, the taxpayer shall report the full repaid amount in the relevant columns of the VAT and surcharges return when filing the VAT return, and may continue to deduct input tax in accordance with the regulations.
14. This Announcement shall take effect on September 1, 2025. The Announcement of the State Taxation Administration on Matters Related to Handling the Refund of End-of-Period Excess Input Value-Added Tax Credits (Announcement [2019] No. 20), Paragraph 2 of Article 2 of the Announcement of the State Taxation Administration on Issues concerning Administration of Value-added Tax Collection Including the Cancellation of the Time Limit for Verification and Confirmation of Value-added Tax Credit Vouchers (Announcement [2019] No. 45), the Announcement of the State Taxation Administration on Tax Collection and Administration Matters Related to Further Enhancing the Implementation of End-of-Period Excess Input Value-Added Tax Credit Refund Policies (Announcement [2022] No. 4), and the Announcement of the State Taxation Administration on the Tax Administration Matters Concerning Expanding the Scope of Sectors Eligible for the Policy of Full Refund of Incremental VAT Credits (Announcement [2022] No. 11) shall be repealed simultaneously.
The Announcement is hereby given.
Annexes:
1. Application Form for Tax Refund (Credit Refund) (Only Title Translated)
2. Application Form for Repayment of VAT Credit Refund (Only Title Translated)
