Accoring to a notice from the Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs and the State Taxation Administration, Qingdao Port, a subsidiary of Shandong Port Group (SPG), implemented a tax rebate policy for ports on April 1.

Such a tax reform policy is an innovative model of tax rebate management. This means that exports, which are expected to be transported from ports of shipment to overseas ports via ports of departure, are deemed to be exported once departing from ports of shipment and are able to solicit tax refunds. This can significantly shorten the time needed to process tax refunds for export enterprises.

According to the notice, there are 16 ports in seven provinces and cities including Shandong, Liaoning, Hebei, Tianjin, Jiangsu, Guangxi and Hainan that have been approved to be Qingdao Port's supporting ports of shipment.

As ports of departure are allowed to implement the tax rebate policy for ports of shipment, all export enterprises, ports of shipment and ports of departure can achieve win-win results. For export enterprises, they can shorten the duration of transporting goods from ports of shipment to ports of departure and the time of vessel berthing, cargo loading and customs clearance procedures. For ports of shipment, they can attract more cargo volume as export enterprises can shorten tax rebate duration and accelerate capital turnover. For ports of departure, they can strengthen their positions as container hub ports because export enterprises can only apply for tax refunds at ports of shipment if goods are departed from corresponding ports of departure.

Back in 2012, Qingdao Port was selected as one of the two national pilot ports of shipment and took part in initial trial operations. In 2019, under the organization of the competent authorities of Shandong province and Qingdao, Qingdao Port set up a special team to participate in the declaration of the tax rebate policy. 

With Qingdao Port being upgraded to a port of departure, export enterprises can obtain capital turnover 20 days in advance and make itself more competitive with Japanese and South Korean ports, as well as help SPG become an international shipping hub in Northeast Asia.

Moving forward, SPG plans to seize policy opportunities, create "a comprehensive first-class supply chain service system by relying on port strengths", continue to improve its core competitiveness, and step up its efforts to upgrade from a loading and unloading port to a hub port, a trade port and a finance port to help promote the stability, scale and structure of foreign trade.

A tax refund policy is implemented at Qingdao Port, a subsidiary of SPG. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

SPG is the world's largest port conglomerate in terms of cargo capacity. [Photo/shandong.gov.cn]