Guangdong Province excluding Shenzhen in southern China will launch a tax refund service for oversea tourists from this Friday, according to a press release published by the Department of Finance of Guangdong Province yesterday. Foreign tourists and those from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan who stay in Mainland China for less than 183 days will be entitled to a 11 per cent rebate on goods purchased with value added tax (VAT) at designated department stores, while two per cent of the VAT will be deducted as a handling charge. The minimum amount of purchase is 500 renminbi (US$75) per day from one designated store. The refund is only valid when the purchase is made within 90 days before departure. Tourists can claim the tax refunds from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Guangzhou Nansha Port and Jiuzhou Port in Zhuhai City. Guangdong Province plans to gradually include other ports and stores in the future. According to official data, the province has the largest number of tourists visiting Mainland China. In 2015, Guangdong Province recorded 105 million tourist arrivals, accounting for 78.5 per cent of total tourists in Mainland China. Of those, foreign tourists accounted for 6.6 million, representing 25.4 per cent in total. In addition, tourists from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan reached 98.56 million, accounting for 91.4 per cent of total tourists in Mainland China. On January 1, 2011, the pilot tax refund programme was first launched in Hainan Province, the southern island in Mainland China. Beijing and Shanghai also rolled out the policy on July 1, 2015.
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