The Customs Administration in south China's tech hub of Shenzhen saw significantly higher efficiency in processing departure tax refund claims in the first two months of 2026, as a result of application of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

In January and February, the Shenzhen Customs handled 19,000 claims for departure tax refunds to the tune of 310 million yuan (about 44.94 million U.S. dollars), respectively up 10 times and 1.7 times year on year,

The related commodities are mainly electronic products such as mobile phones and tablet computers, as well as daily necessities like clothing and bags.

"The Shenzhen Customs is vigorously promoting the streamlined 'one sheet, one bag, one code' tax refund service. At the same time, the multimodal AI model helps us greatly reduce the time for inspection, with the fastest verification for a single sheet taking only one minute," said Zhang Peijia, a staff member with the Shenzhen Customs.

Shenzhen is the first city in China to implement the "one sheet, one bag, one code" value-added tax (VAT) refund service for eligible cross-border travelers.

The measure, rolled out last September at tax refund stores across the city, permits cross-border shoppers to clear customs without opening sealed shopping bags.

The number of tax refund stores in Shenzhen has exceeded 2,000 so far.