Alipay unveils paperless tax refund service in South Korea
Alipay has partnered with Global Tax Free (GTF), a tax refund agency, to launch the “world’s first paperless mobile tax refund function in South Korea”.
The new service is targeting Chinese tourists who need to apply for and claim tax rebates on their app, “skipping in-city and airport tax refund counters altogether”.
After scanning their passports at self-service kiosks prior to leaving South Korea, Chinese tourists can use the Alipay app to scan eligible tax refund receipts within 90 days of purchasing and receive RMB refunds immediately.
“Alipay users can already receive tax refunds at more than 80 airports and a growing number of in-city shops globally after processing at a tax counter,” says Danny Chung, GM of Alipay Korea.
According to the companies, about 10,000 merchants in South Korea support the GTF tax refund service.
There are no specifics but Alipay and GTF have plans to expand the service to more merchants and other countries in Asia in the future.
In early 2017, Alipay initiated a real-time tax refund service in Europe which enabled users to receive tax rebates in their Alipay accounts after scanning their Alipay QR code at airport tax counters.
