On August 1, 2026, a nationwide unified inspection of live-streamed e-commerce sales across all 31 provinces was launched; as of mid-August, the first batch of six cases had been announced. Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Yiwu were the three cities with the highest profile in the reports, and cross-border e-commerce accounted for half of the cases.

Below are three real-life cases that cross-border professionals should be particularly wary of.

01

Shenzhen Case: Individual Investigated for Issuing False Invoices for Cross-Border Service Fees

A cross-border e-commerce company in Longgang, Shenzhen, issued 120 million in fraudulent invoices for cross-border e-commerce service fees through two consulting firms between 2024 and 2025 to offset its platform sales costs.

After the audit began in early August, the tax authority used big data analysis to discover that the two consulting firms shared the same registered address, had zero employees enrolled in social security, issued invoices within a concentrated timeframe, and lacked genuine business transactions on the output side.

Final resolution: Back payments totaling 18.2 million for value-added tax, corporate income tax, and late payment penalties, plus a fine of 0.5 times that amount (9.1 million); the company was placed on the ”blacklist” for tax violations.

📌 This is the most common scam scheme in the cross-border e-commerce industry in 2026—using ”consulting fees, service fees, or advertising fees” to offset large expenses.The tax authority has developed an AI model specifically designed to identify these types of transactions.

02

Guangzhou Case: Tax Refund from Case No. 9810 Recovered

A cross-border seller of footwear and apparel in Baiyun, Guangzhou, claimed a tax refund of 3.8 million through the 9810 model in 2024. In May 2026, a review by the tax authority revealed that:

First.Mismatch Between Goods Flow and Cash Flow. The customs declaration form lists the export category as ”athletic shoes,” but the downstream payment records list it as ”apparel.”

Second.Inflating Export Customs Declaration Volumes. The actual export was 120,000 pairs of shoes, but the tax refund claim was for 350,000 pairs.

Third.Discrepancies Between Data on Countries of Final Sale and Platform Data. According to Amazon's backend data, the actual country of sale is the United Kingdom, but the customs declaration lists Saudi Arabia.

Final Disposition: The 3.8 million tax refund was recovered; the company is barred from receiving export tax rebates for five years; and the case was referred to the audit department for investigation.

📌 9810 is not simply a welfare program where you ”file once and receive a refund once.” The tax authorities will conduct a ”thorough review” of your refund data from the past three years, and the export volumes, product categories, and destination countries must all match perfectly.

03

The Yiwu Case: Dual Investigations into Small-Scale Businesses and Live-Streamed E-commerce

A live-streaming e-commerce company in Yiwu that sells accessories is registered as a small-scale taxpayer, with its annual invoicing amount kept below 5 million.

In late July 2026, the State Taxation Administration launched a ”Special Audit on the Transition from Small-Scale to General Taxpayers,” and this company in Yiwu was included on the audit list.

Key issues identified: First, actual monthly sales from live-streamed product promotions exceeded 800,000, with annual turnover approaching 10 million—far exceeding the 5 million threshold for small-scale businesses. Second, there are significant discrepancies between inventory, employee, and procurement data and the information reported under the “small-scale business” classification. Third, data on invoices issued by the platform on behalf of merchants is fed back into the tax authority’s backend system.

Final Disposition: The company is required to complete general taxpayer registration within 30 days and pay the VAT difference for 2024 and 2025, totaling approximately 5.8 million; additionally, due to serious inaccuracies in the individual income tax filings, the business owner is required to pay an additional 2.2 million in individual income tax.

📌 The misconception regarding the ”5 million yuan ceiling” for small-scale cross-border e-commerce businesses in Yiwu was targeted by the State Taxation Administration as a focus of its audits in 2026. The audits primarily examined discrepancies where ”actual turnover ≥ reported data.”

04

Cross-Border E-Commerce Self-Inspection Checklist

As of August 31, inspections in more than half of the provinces have been completed, and here are several areas for cross-border e-commerce businesses to focus on during their self-inspections:

First.Do the sales figures match the reported figures?The ”quantity, category, and amount” must match across all three sections—the platform’s backend transaction records, customs declarations, and tax returns.

Second.Is the service provider's invoice genuine?Advertising, consulting, and logistics service providers must be able to provide a verifiable chain of evidence for their services. Social security records, workstations, contracts, and deliverables—not a single one can be missing.

Third.Compliance Audit for Small-Scale Ceilings. Cross-border e-commerce businesses with monthly turnover exceeding 500,000 should plan ahead to ”transition to general taxpayer status” or ”split their business entities”—they can no longer rely on the 5 million ceiling.

Fourth,9810 Review of Tax Refund Files. Ensure that the export records, final destination countries, and product category mappings for each tax refund are fully traceable.

📌 In the second half of 2026, compliance requirements for cross-border e-commerce are increasingly resembling a ”rite of passage”—practices that previously skirted the rules are now all being handled in accordance with Article 63 of the *Tax Collection and Administration Law*, resulting in fines ranging from 0.5 to 5 times the amount owed, late payment penalties, and criminal liability.

Cross-border e-commerce businesses can no longer use ”I don’t understand taxes” as an excuse. Proactively conducting compliance reviews, filing amended tax returns, and restructuring their operations are the keys to survival in the second half of 2026.

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