While many countries still struggled to promote mobile payments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, China was already leading the rest of the world in building up a cashless society. China was leading in user numbers and penetration rates and more than half of the Chinese population uses mobile payments each quarter. Over the years, Alipay and WeChat Pay have ruled the online payment market in China.
Following the adjustment of the COVID-19 policy, Tencent’s business both in domestic and overseas markets is expected to increase significantly. Cross-border payments from the WeChat Pay digital wallet platform now cover 69 countries and regions, with more than 1,000 overseas cooperating institutions, according to a senior manager at Tencent. More than 4 million overseas merchants have connected to the platform, said Zhang Ying, vice president of Tencent Holdings and the manager in charge of WeChat Pay.
WeChat Pay is a payment feature that is integrated into the WeChat app. While the fact that this feature is part of the larger WeChat app is unique, the overall digital wallet concept is similar to that of Apple Pay and Google Pay. It allows users to quickly make payments with their smartphones wherever they are and leave their physical wallets at home. WeChat Pay has payment options for a number of different in-store and online scenarios, and along with Alipay, it’s one of the top mobile payment systems in China.
Activating WeChat Pay is pretty straightforward, and it takes no more than 1-3 weeks. Depending on your location, you have to look for a WeChat Pay Service Provider in your country who will guide you through the procedure to set up the service.
WeChat Pay is widely used in China, and users are very comfortable with this payment gateway. In fact, besides being user-friendly, WeChat Pay guarantees secure payments through data encryption, multi-step verifications, and payment limits.
- What is WeChat Cross-border Payment?
WeChat Pay cross-border service allows customers to use Chinese currency to pay for goods or services sold by overseas merchants (both online and offline). WeChat Pay will then remit the amount in foreign currency to the receiving bank account of the merchant in the settlement.
WeChat Pay has been available to overseas vendors since early 2016. If you are a foreign brand looking at entering the China market or targeting Chinese customers overseas, WeChat Pay is definitely a payment gateway you want to focus on.
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- Chinese customers pay transactions in CNY
When Chinese shoppers buy goods overseas, they can pay in CNY via WeChat Pay. The local currency will be converted into CNY based on a real-time rate. No more worries about currency conversion.
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- Cross-currency settlement is accepted
Major currencies are included HKD, USD, GBP, JPY, CAD, AUD, EUR, NZD, KRW, THB, SGD, RUB, DKK, SEK, CHF, and NOK. WeChat Pay settles each transaction with foreign vendors based on the price in local currency. For unsupported currencies, transactions can be made in US dollars.
The transaction period is typically T+1 day settlement, based on the local bank’s transaction process, to ensure a fast and safe payment transaction.
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- Limitations on the transaction
The transaction limit is decided by both the payment platform and the bank. On WeChat, the limit for each transaction is usually CNY 50,000 and the maximum limit for daily transactions is up to CNY 200,000 which is as well the annual transaction limit of WeChat “Balance”. If you go over that amount, pay via a bank card; if you go over the expenditure quota of that bank card, verify your ID info to add a new card. You can also contact your bank to raise the expenditure quota of the card. On the bank side, the transition limitation varies both on bank policy and expenditure quota setting.
- Full List of Supported Countries & Regions That Accept WeChat Pay Cross-Border Payments
| Argentina |
Indonesia |
Philippines |
| Australia |
Ireland |
Poland |
| Austria |
Israel |
Portugal |
| Belgium |
Italy |
Qatar |
| Brazil |
Japan |
Romania |
| Bulgaria |
Kazakhstan |
Russia |
| Cambodia |
Kenya |
Serbia |
| Canada |
Laos |
Singapore |
| Croatia |
Luxembourg |
Slovak Republic |
| Cyprus |
Macao SAR (China) |
South Africa |
| Czech Republic |
Malaysia |
South Korea |
| Denmark |
Maldives |
Spain |
| Egypt |
Malta |
Sri Lanka |
| Estonia |
Mauritius |
Sweden |
| Fiji |
Monaco |
Switzerland |
| Finland |
Mongolia |
Taiwan (China) |
| France |
Morocco |
Thailand |
| Germany |
Myanmar |
Turkey |
| Gibraltar |
Nepal |
United Arab Emirates |
| Greece |
Netherlands |
United Kingdom |
| Hong Kong SAR (China) |
New Zealand |
United States of America (USA) |
| Hungary |
Norway |
Vanuatu |
| Iceland |
Pakistan |
Vietnam |
Tencent has also supported the issuance of digital consumption vouchers by governments. WeChat Pay also plans to launch a palm-swiping function, using innovative technologies to make life more convenient.
It is said that “Users can link their membership cards, transportation cards, and other electronic codes to their palms to verify their memberships, facilitate consumption and pass through entry points.”. Some businesses have been invited to help create the applications.
For more information, please keep following us.
Reference:
WeChat Pay: https://pay.weixin.qq.com/public/wechatpay
News on 2023-03-30: WeChat pushes forward: Palm swiping next
https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202303/30/WS6424f7d0a31057c47ebb7686.html
(Continued from the previous article)
- Provision on bona fide acquisition of false special invoices
«Circular of the State Administration of Taxation on the Settlement for the Taxpayers Obtaining the False Special Invoice of Value-added Tax without Acknowledgement» defines what is “bona fide”.
It is stated in the Circular that the purchaser shall be deemed to have obtained the false special invoice in good faith if all the following conditions are met:
- a genuine transaction between the purchaser and the seller;
- the sale is made using the special invoices of the province (autonomous region, municipality directly under the Central Government, and cities listed in the plan) in which the purchaser is located;
- all the contents of the special invoices match with the actual ones, such as the name of the seller, the seal, the number of goods, the amount, and the tax amount; and
- no evidence that the purchaser knows that the special invoices provided by the seller were obtained by illegal means.
On the other hand, tax authorities of the purchaser’s location shall grant credit for input tax or export tax refund in accordance with the law, if:
- the purchaser is able to obtain again from the seller a legal and valid special invoice issued by the anti-counterfeit tax-control system; and
- the purchaser has obtained the certificate that the tax authorities in the place where the seller is located have conducted or are conducting an investigation and punishment on the seller’s false special invoices accordingly.
However, if the above conditions cannot be met, the input tax deducted or the export tax refund obtained by the purchasing party shall be recovered accordingly.
In addition, if the taxpayer has obtained in good faith a false special invoice that has been recovered and deducted in accordance with the law, then the taxpayer does not need to consider the provisions of Article 32 of the «Tax Collection Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China»: – If the taxpayer fails to pay the tax in accordance with the prescribed period, and the withholding agent fails to settle the tax in accordance with the prescribed period, the tax authorities shall, in addition to ordering the payment within the prescribed period, impose a late payment fee of five percent of the tax due on a daily basis. If the taxpayer fails to pay the tax in accordance with the prescribed period, the taxation authority shall, in addition to ordering the payment within the prescribed period, impose a late payment fee of five ten thousandths of the late payment of tax on a daily basis from the date of the late payment of tax. In other words, tax authorities will not add the late payment fee arising from the recovery of past taxes.
- Necessary documentation in case the tax inspection happens
Through the above layer-by-layer analysis, accountants of enterprises need to prepare the necessary financial documents to respond to tax inspection, while supporting themselves if they are bona fide purchasers, including but not limited to: –
- the original special invoice was identified as a false invoice
- purchase and sale contracts/business contracts or other contracts involving the invoice
- the goods involved in the incoming order, outgoing order, transfer orders, or transport documents
- relevant accounting documents
- bank payment voucher
- VAT declaration report for the month in which VAT is deducted, and CIT annual return
- statement of the entire business transaction and tax declaration
To sum up, enterprises do not need to be too panicky after receiving the Notice of Tax Inspection. Prepare the above list of supporting materials first and conduct self-inspection after communicating with the relevant tax officer to understand the situation. Companies that have evidence to prove they are bona fide invoice purchasers should actively respond to the tax authorities’ inspection and cooperate with the follow-up investigation. The enterprise will usually pass the tax inspection successfully if they respect all the conditions mentioned previously.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
References:
«Circular of the State Administration of Taxation on the Settlement for the Taxpayers Obtaining the False Special Invoice of Value-added Tax without Acknowledgement»
http://www.chinatax.gov.cn/chinatax/n359/c448/content.html
China is now fully open! In order to better coordinate the epidemic prevention and control as well as the needs of economic and social development, and to facilitate the people-to-people exchange between China and foreign countries, the National Immigration Administration of PRC has decided to adjust the visa and entry policy starting as of Beijing time at 00:00 on March 15, 2023.
- Valid visas issued before 28 March 2020 by the Chinese visa authorities abroad will resume functioning.
- Foreigners may apply for all types of visas, including tourism and medical treatment.
- Port visas shall resume being issued in line with the relevant laws and regulations.
- The visa-exemption policy for Hainan, visa-exemption cruise policy for Shanghai, visa-exemption policy for foreigners to visit Guangdong from Hong Kong and Macao, and visa-exemption policy for ASEAN tour groups to Guilin, Guangxi shall resume operation.
In recent times, the immigration policies of many countries are updated in real-time. In addition to the reopening policy, other restrictions are listed below for your consideration.
Chinese embassies in many countries notice: From 15 March, antigen testing instead of nucleic acid testing.
According to the latest requirements of the Chinese government regarding the optimization of pre-trip testing measures for people traveling to China, starting from 15 March 2023, passengers flying directly from specific countries[1] to China are allowed to replace nucleic acid testing with antigen testing (including self-testing with kits). In order to facilitate the pre-trip preparation of travelers, the embassies concerned have issued guidelines on epidemic prevention and control.
- Distal testing: Nucleic acid testing within 48 hours before boarding or self-testing with antigen kits, negative results before going to China, positive results please go to China after turning negative.
- Customs declaration: After obtaining a negative test result, fill out the “Health Declaration Card of the People’s Republic of China” through the WeChat app “Customs Passenger Service” (“海关旅客指尖服务”), the Customs APP or the web version to make declaration.
- Airlines are not required to check pre-boarding nucleic acid test certificates and antigen test results.
- In-flight epidemic prevention: Please insist on wearing a mask during the flight and do your personal protection to reduce the risk of infection.
- Entry quarantine: Upon arrival at the port, complete the necessary customs clearance procedures with the customs health declaration code. Customs will test a sample of people with abnormal health declarations or fever and other symptoms in accordance with a certain percentage.
- passengers with positive test results, in accordance with the requirements of the notification letter, go home/living place for isolation, or medical treatment;
- passengers with negative test results, by the Customs and Excise Department in accordance with the “Frontier Health and Quarantine Law of PRC” and other laws and regulations to implement routine quarantine;
- passengers with normal health declarations and tests can pass the entrance.
- Territorial epidemic prevention and control: Passengers should strictly comply with the requirements of territorial epidemic prevention and control after entering the country.
Policies vary from country to country, so it is recommended that you pay attention to the latest Chinese embassy and consulate notices in real-time before making travel arrangements, read them carefully, and follow them to avoid affecting your trip.
Should you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us.
Reference:
Further Adjustment of Visa and Entry Policy for Foreigners to China
Authority: National Immigration Administration
Date: 2023-03-14
https://www.nia.gov.cn/n897453/c1566449/content.html
Notice on Further Adjustment of Visa and Entry Policy for Foreigners to China
Authority: Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the United States of America
Date: 2023-3-13
http://us.china-embassy.gov.cn/chn/lsfw/zj/qz/202303/t20230314_11040138.htm
[1] Currently, the following countries have issued this notice: France, Italy, Denmark, Spain, Georgia, Tanzania, Nepal, Mongolia, Vietnam, Iran, Greece, Brunei, Thailand, New Zealand, Malaysia, etc.
