New fiscal policy: Hong Kong's Legislative Council approves passage of the Tax Relief Bill 2026 

On May 13, the Hong Kong Legislative Council passed the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (Tax Relief, Concessionary Deductions and Allowances) Bill 2026. The Bill, which will come into effect from May 22, includes the following key elements: one-off tax relief for the year of assessment 2025/26; and increase in the amount of allowances and allowances for tax deductible items for the year of assessment 2026/27. The relief will be directly reflected in the final tax payable by taxpayers for the corresponding year.

New fiscal policy: important adjustments! Input tax credit rules for agricultural products tightened

Since May, the input tax credit policy for agricultural products has been adjusted, officially canceling the original 1% plus deduction preferences, and all enterprises are unified in accordance with the 9% tax rate for input tax credit. This adjustment mainly affects the catering, food processing, agricultural processing, fresh food e-commerce and other industries that are highly dependent on the procurement of agricultural products. From the point of view of actual cost measurement, for enterprises with a monthly procurement of agricultural products amounting to 1 million yuan, the original 1% additive deduction policy can save 10,000 yuan per month, and 120,000 yuan for the whole year. After the new regulations come into force, the preference is completely canceled, and the relevant enterprises need to adjust the annual tax budget in time and do a good job of cost control.

Cross-border news: Shopee makes major changes to pre-sale merchandise policy for SINOMA site

In order to continue to optimize the user experience, Shopee announced that since June 1, 2026 (Beijing time) on the Singapore and Malaysia site of the pre-sale goods policy for major adjustments, the formal introduction of pre-sale merchandise order service fee mechanism; which, Singapore cross-border sellers need to pay 3% (including tax rate) service fee, Malaysia cross-border sellers rate of 2.16% (including tax rate) The fee is only charged on the amount of pre-sale goods for completed orders.

Cross-border news: Amazon will adjust the reference price requirements for Europe and other sites

Starting from May 18, 2026, Amazon will update the pricing rules on the Japanese site and the nine European sites: if the discounted price of a product is not explicitly marked as a “promotional price”, the system will automatically recognize the discounted price as the “regular selling price”. Similar rules will be applied to the US and UK sites, where the sale price during the promotional period will generally be included in the calculation of the regular selling price, with the exception of sales on Black Friday, Prime Day and other large-scale promotional activities. This change will affect the display of underlined prices, and may also affect the eligibility of products to participate in the sale, Prime discounts and other activities.

Cross-Border Update: Lazada Updates Import Tariffs for Cross-Border Direct Mail Parcels from Thai Sites

Based on the adjustment of Thailand's customs tariff collection policy, Lazada has announced that it will update the import tariffs for cross-border direct mail parcels on Thai sites from 00:00 on May 24, 2026, which involves 2,819 Thai merchandise categories in the platform's knowledge base, with tariffs for 528 categories adjusted downward, 132 categories adjusted upward, and the remaining 2,159 remaining unchanged.

Overseas Insight: Mercado's GMV reaches $19 billion in Q1

 On May 11, Mercado announced its Q1 2026 financial results, with total merchandise transactions reaching $19 billion, +42% year-over-year; 722 million items sold, +47% year-over-year, with an average of 93 items sold per second; more than 84 million independent buyers, +26% year-over-year; and cross-border business (CBT) maintaining high growth rates, with exchange rate-neutral Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) calculated on a currency-neutral basis increased by 68% year-on-year.

International information: the situation in the Middle East led to a shortage of raw materials for printing inks in Japan

Japanese media reported on the 15th, due to the continuing tensions in the Middle East led to a shortage of raw materials for printing ink, Japanese food companies can be fruit of the United States company was forced to decide to change its variety of ketchup packaging to transparent packaging, and significantly reduce the original packaging printed tomato pattern.

International information: South Korea invested 170 billion won to support the cutting-edge semiconductor industry

The South Korean government announced on May 17 that it will invest 170 billion won (about 113.3 million U.S. dollars) to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that produce high-end strategic materials, components and equipment. The scope of this support also covers cutting-edge semiconductor and related industries.