Key Adjustments of the Tax - Free Policy for Imported Equipment in 2025

According to the latest announcement of the Ministry of Finance, the tax - free policy for imported equipment in 2025 shows three major changes in the scope of application and operation details:

• Five types of intelligent manufacturing equipment have been added to the tax - free catalog, involving core components of industrial robots, precision testing instruments, etc.
• The electronic rate of filing materials has been increased to 90%, but a commitment letter for equipment use needs to be submitted simultaneously.
• The tax refund cycle has been shortened to 45 working days, and overdue declaration will result in the loss of the application qualification for the current year.

The core differences between agency import and self - operation

Operating tax - free imports through professional agency service providers can avoid more than 30% of compliance risks in key links:

• Comparison of declaration accuracy rates
  • Self - declaration: The customs return rate is about 18%
  • Agent declaration: The return rate is controlled within 3%.
• Time cost comparison
  • Average time consumption for self - handling: 90 working days
  • Average time consumption for agency handling: 55 working days

Tax - freeEquipment ImportsFull - process breakdown

The standard operation process of a professional agency service provider includes six key control points:

• Pre - classification of equipment and confirmation of HS code
• Pre - review of tax - free eligibility (focus on verifying enterprise qualifications and equipment usage)
• Data matching in the customs filing system (In 2025, the requirement for filing equipment serial numbers was newly added)
• Optimization of transportation plan (avoiding additional tariffs at transit ports)
• Connection between tax guarantee and customs clearance (Capital occupation is reduced by 40%)
• Filing of subsequent supervision documents (meeting the requirements of a 5 - year retrospective period)

Typical issue response strategies

According to the customs inspection cases in 2024, enterprises need to pay special attention:

• Handling of equipment usage change: If tax - free equipment is diverted to other uses, it needs to be reported 30 days in advance, and the exempted taxes need to be paid up.
• Import restrictions on used equipment: Starting from 2025, equipment with a service life of more than 3 years will no longer enjoy tax - free treatment.
• Import spare parts separately: Before the main equipment is imported, accessories shall be taxed according to general trade

Professionalforeign tradeThe agency is established throughPolicy early warning - process control - document traceabilityThe trinity service system can help enterprises transform policy dividends into actual benefits. In 2024, an auto parts enterprise imported testing equipment worth 8 million US dollars through agency import, saving a total of 2.14 million yuan in tariffs and value - added taxes, and avoiding the risk of 1.2 million yuan in administrative penalties caused by incorrect classification.