Guangzhou Tax Refund: Stores, Rates and the Airport Claim

Who can claim the refund?

The departure tax refund (离境退税) gives visitors back part of the tax in the price of goods they take out of China. You qualify if all of these apply, under the Ministry of Finance’s rules and the April 2025 notice:

• You are a foreign visitor, or a Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan resident, and have stayed in mainland China for no more than 183 days in a row.
• You spent ¥200 or more in one refund store on one day.
• The goods are unused when you leave.
• You leave within 90 days of buying them, and carry them yourself or check them in your own luggage.

Goods that are banned or restricted from export, and goods already exempt from VAT, do not qualify. The rules name no other categories.

How much do you get back?

The rates come from Announcement No. 39 of 2019; the last column is our arithmetic. The refund agent, a bank, may deduct a handling fee from the refund (refund measures, Article 21). Guangdong’s 2016 implementation plan set a provisional fee of 2% of the receipt amount, and a guide from Guangdong’s tourism department, reported on the Guangdong government site in June 2025, said 11% minus the 2% fee leaves about 9%. We found no newer official fee rate.

You can take up to ¥20,000 in cash or by bank transfer. Above that the agent pays by bank transfer, which has no limit.

Where can you shop for a refund?

iPhoto: Tim Wu · CC BY-SA 4.0 Details

Only registered refund stores can issue the refund form. Guangzhou had 1,594 of them in all 11 districts at the end of 2025, according to the Guangdong tax bureau. The bureau’s store list to June 30, 2026 is a spreadsheet of names and Chinese addresses. That list is six months newer than the 1,594 figure: by our count about 1,730 of its stores have a Guangzhou address, 491 of them in Tianhe District and 284 on Tianhe Road itself.

How to shop for a refund:

1. Look for the sign. A refund store must hang the blue 退税商店 TAX FREE sign in a prominent place (refund measures, Attachment 2).
2. Ask before you pay. Say 退税 (tuìshuì, tax refund) and show your passport. The store issues a refund form and an invoice, now electronic.
3. Keep each store’s purchases together. The ¥200 minimum counts one store and one day, not your whole trip.

For where to shop in the city, see shopping in Guangzhou.

Can you get the money in the city?

Yes, at stores that offer the instant refund (即买即退). You sign an agreement and allow a credit-card hold, and the store pays you the refund amount in yuan on the spot (tax administration, Announcement No. 9 of 2025). When you leave, customs checks the goods as usual and the agent releases the hold. If you do not leave in time from an approved port, the agent takes the advance back from your card within 3 working days of the deadline; when you do leave, you can still claim the refund in the normal way at your departure port.

iPhoto: E LAKSNMM YOUNSG EE · CC0. MixC mall, Shenzhen Bay, Shenzhen, not Guangzhou Details

You now have 28 days to leave (notice No. 74 of 2026). You can leave from any refund port in Guangdong, Guangxi or Hainan (tax bureaus’ notice, from May 1, 2026); the Guangzhou government’s guide also names Fujian. Guangzhou runs four central instant-refund points where shoppers from nearby stores can claim:

The list is from the Guangzhou government’s English guide (July 29, 2026). Opening hours are not published there, so ask the store.

How do you claim at Baiyun Airport?

Allow extra time before your flight:

1. Go to the customs refund check before you drop your bags. Customs told Guangzhou Daily in July 2026 that it had moved the check to the bag-drop area of the departures hall and put refund signs throughout T2 and T3 (Guangzhou government portal). The Guangzhou government’s English guide gives customs checks at both terminals as 24 hours.
2. Show your refund code. Since July 1, 2026, customs and the agent confirm the form and invoice online. The tax administration’s national refund service code lets you enter your details and follow the refund online (July 13, 2026 notice).
3. Show the goods if your form is picked. Forms under ¥10,000 are checked at random; forms of ¥10,000 or more are always checked (notice No. 74 of 2026). If yours is not picked, you go straight on.
4. Collect the refund in the restricted area. The refund measures put the agent’s counter in the restricted area of the departure port. Bring your passport.

The same claim works at Guangzhou’s two other refund ports, Nansha Passenger Port and the Pazhou Hong Kong-Macao ferry terminal (Guangdong tax bureau, April 27, 2026). For the terminals themselves, see Baiyun Airport terminals, and for what you may carry, China customs allowances.

What we could not confirm

• The handling fee the refund agent deducts today. The 2% figure dates from Guangdong’s 2016 plan.
• The exact counters at T2 and T3, and the agent’s opening hours.
• The opening hours of the four instant-refund points.
• Guangzhou South Railway Station as a refund port for the Hong Kong train.
• The share of forms under ¥10,000 that customs picks for a check.