Alipay+ Tax Refund

Alipay+ Tax Refund enables travelers to quickly receive a refund on Value-Added Tax (VAT) paid during tax-free shopping.

Alipay+ Tax Refund uses Original Credit Transaction (OCT), which can be initiated by Tax Refund Service Providers (TRSPs) to credit the user's account directly. Through this product, TRSPs can directly credit the refunded tax to the balance of a traveler’s Alipay+ wallet.

Note: This Alipay+ Tax Refund document is currently in draft form and is subject to future changes and iterations.

Applicable scenarios

Business scenario	Description	Supported
Airport/Port Tax Refund	Customers can obtain a tax refund at airports or ports upon departure after getting approval from customs.	Coming soon
In-store Auto Tax Refund	Customers can reserve a tax refund before departure, and obtain the tax refund automatically after scanning their passport and tax refund forms at customs.	Coming soon

Basic concepts

Term (Abbreviation)	Definition
Alipay+	A collaborative solution involving multiple partners to provide open, digital, and inclusive financial services to consumers and merchants worldwide.
Merchant	An individual that engages in a Transaction with a User, as acquired by a TRSP.
Tax Refund Service Provider (TRSP)	A company or entity that assists individuals in claiming tax refunds from the government.
Mobile Payment Provider (MPP)	A Mobile Payment Partner participating in Alipay+ Core or other user-facing or issuer-facing payment service provider cooperating with a member of Ant Group to enable payments. For Alipay+ Tax Refund, an MPP is usually a wallet.
Original Credit Transaction (OCT)	The transfer of a tax refund amount from a TRSP to the balance account of a user that is routed, cleared, and settled through Alipay+ Core.

User experience

Airport instant tax refund

Alipay+ Tax Refund offers an instant scan-to-refund experience at airports. The following figure illustrates the user experience:

The user completes the following steps to refund instantly at the airport:

The user completes shopping and requests a tax refund form at the store.
Upon arriving at the airport, the user scans their passport and tax refund form at the kiosk machine.
The user opens an wallet app and selects the Alipay+ wallet as the refund method.
The user can provide the Alipay+ ID to the TRSP for identification in one of two ways:

The user scans the QR code provided by the kiosk machine. The user is then redirected to the refund code display page on their personal device. Then the user scans the refund code on the kiosk machine.
The user enters the Alipay+ ID on the kiosk machine, which displays their details for confirmation.

The refund is processed successfully, and the wallet app displays a refund success page.

In-store auto tax refund

Alipay+ Tax Refund provides an automatic refund experience. Customers may reserve a refund through merchants or upload materials themselves before departure. They will receive the refund automatically upon scanning their passports and tax refund forms at customs. The following scenarios demonstrate the auto refund process:

Urban tax refund (merchant reservation)

In this scenario, customers reserve a refund by presenting their refund barcode and receive the refund after scanning their passports and tax refund forms at customs

The user completes the following steps to refund via reservation in store:

The user opens an Alipay+ wallet app and scans the QR code in the store after shopping.
The user shows the refund barcode to the merchant to scan.
Then the tax refund order is created and displayed in the user's wallet app. The user confirms the refund information. No further action is needed.
At the airport, the user scans their passport and tax refund form at customs.
The refund is successful, and the wallet app displays a refund success page.

TSRP H5/APP auto tax refund

In this scenario, customers reserve a refund on the TRSP's webpage or app and receive the refund after scanning their passports and tax refund forms at customs.

Note: This is a temporary model. A new model is in development and will be published soon.

The user completes the following steps to bind their Alipay+ wallet account with their GlobalPass ID on the merchant's webpage or app:

The user opens an Alipay+ wallet app and scans the POSM in the store and uploads their passport and tax refund form.
The user selects Alipay+ as the refund method and binds their Alipay+ GlobalPass ID.
The user obtains the Alipay+ GlobalPass ID by accessing the Alipay+ tax refund mini program portal.
The user copies the Alipay+ GlobalPass ID and returns to the TRSP's webpage.
The user pastes the Alipay+ GlobalPass ID and double-checks the account information.
The Alipay+ GlobalPass ID is successfully bound.
After arriving at the airport and scanning their passport at customs, the refund will be processed, and the wallet app will display a refund success page.

Alipay+ mini-program auto tax refund

In this scenario, customers reserve a refund using the Alipay+ tax refund mini-program and receive the refund after scanning their passports and tax refund forms at customs.

The user completes the following steps to set up auto refund via mini-program:

The user completes shopping in-store and requests a tax refund form.
The user opens an Alipay+ wallet app and scans the POSM to register for auto tax refund.
The user uploads their passport information and the tax refund form.
Upon arriving at the airport, the user scans their passport and tax refund forms at the kiosk machine.
The refund is successful, and the wallet app displays a refund success page.

Product functionalities

Alipay+ Tax Refund offers the following main features to facilitate your business:

Account verification: After scanning the Alipay+ tax refund code, the TRSP can request to verify the user's account to ensure its validity.. Alipay+ returns both the verification result and the actual tax refund amount. The actual tax refund amount is in the currency of the user's balance account and is calculated based on the current FX rate adopted by Alipay+. The user can decide whether or not to continue the refund according to the returned tax refund amount.
Real-time tax refund: The TRSP can request crediting the tax refund to the balance account of the user's Alipay+ wallet in real time.
Obtaining the refund result: In addition to the synchronous result from the tax refund API, the TRSP can also use the inquiryOriginalCredit API or the confirmOriginalCredit API to obtain the refund result.