November 2016, China Union Pay and the German mobile app Safety Tax Free are launching a new tax refund business. Safety Tax Free was founded in Germany and its founders are all graduate from the Technical University of Munich. As the first mobile application company dedicate to tax refund, Safety Tax Free is founded on the principles of security, simplicity and speed of service. Drawing support from its online mobile platform, in order to guarantee security to the holders of the 6 billion Union Pay cards during their shopping abroad, Safety tax Free has completely re-created the tax refund process.

In 2015, outbound tourists coming from China reached a historical high reaching 120 million, surpassing the overall population of the first economy in Europe, Germany. As everybody knows, non-EU residents travelling and shopping in Europe can benefit from tax refunds, with refund rates that can reach up to 25% of the purchasing price. However, the refund process is very complicated, customers need to queue at the airport more than once, plus there are language barriers, many travellers make mistakes when filling the form, and after wasting time looking for the right tax refund desk, they are suddenly told that they cannot receive their refund. According to statistics indeed, in 2013 alone, more than 1 billion yuan was never refunded to Chinese travellers for these reasons.

Using the traditional refund methods, after every purchase, travellers need to fill in their details and the preferred refund methods by hand, after they have obtained the stamp from the customs, they need to find the tax refund company desk at the airport, to obtain a refund in euros, at the same time they need to pay administration fees of up to 25 euros, and if travellers wish to obtain a refund in RMB, they need to find an exchange bureau and exchange the currency by themselves. If the travellers use a credit card to obtain a refund, they has no control whatsoever over the refund process, and after waiting a really long processing time, they can finally granted their refund in RMB.

Safety Tax Free, a mobile app that makes tax refund easier than ever

The Safety Tax Free users can download their personal tax refund form. The form already contains all the necessary personal information of the user and the credit card details, avoiding the trouble of filling by hand every new form, and in the meantime, avoiding the risk of making mistakes.

The Safety Tax Free app has a built-in map to view the position of stores, a shopping tax calculation feature, special discounts, trackable status of the tax refund, and many other features that create a comprehensive service and have achieved full convenience for each personal tax refund. At the same time, Safety Tax Free provides a 24 customer service in Chinese, anywhere and anytime, in order to support you in your tax refund process.

After you have made your purchases, use the app to activate the tax refund and you will immediately see the refund amount appearing on your account. You can shop and get your refund anytime and anywhere. Before going back to China, travellers will not need to queue at the airport. Once back in China, just use our delivery partner to send your envelope containing the refund form to our office in Beijing. After our office has confirmed to have received your form, without administration fees or exchange currency fees, travellers can receive the amount to their desired Union Pay card.

Safety Tax Free, tax refund made easy!