[Photo/WeChat account: pdnews]

In a bid to boost the international competitiveness of offshore trade, Shanghai's Free Trade Zone (FTZ) bonded area has unveiled an upgraded trade authenticity verification platform. 

The upgrade involves a new offshore trade business assistance module, designed to streamline the supervision of stamp duty-exempt offshore transactions and facilitate data exchange among regulatory bodies.

He Ping, director of the tax bureau in Pudong New Area's bonded area, said the module will facilitate data sharing among tax authorities on trade and fund flows for each offshore transaction.

This enhancement will reduce disruptions for businesses, enabling them to benefit from stamp duty preferential policies with reduced compliance costs, he noted.

China initiated its first tax incentive for offshore operations in the Shanghai FTZ and Lin-gang Special Area on April 1, granting stamp duty exemptions to companies engaged in offshore resale until March 31, 2025. This move aims to align the bonded areas with global trade standards, thereby reducing costs and enhancing international competitiveness.

Hu Yan, finance and accounting director at Sony Electronics, said the company's offshore trade, which stood at nearly $300 million last year, mainly involves procurement from Southeast Asia and resale to Europe and North America.

The stamp duty exemption will help attract more orders from other regions to China, Hu said. 

The Shanghai FTZ's bonded area, a hub for offshore trade, hosts industry leaders like Samsung (China) Semiconductor, Sony Electronics, and Thermo Fisher Scientific. In 2023, there were over 300 companies in the bonded area that engaged in offshore resale transactions.

Source: Wenhui Daily