The first railway e-invoice was officially issued, finance needs to pay attention to these key points!

On November 1, railway ticket electronic invoices were officially launched. According to China State Railway Group, a passenger traveling from Kunshan, Jiangsu to Suzhou obtained the country's first railway ticket electronic invoice.

Dear finance colleaguesYou are also about to receive electronic railway tickets for colleagues' business trips. Then pay attention to the following business-finance-tax points!

1.Can previous railway tickets (paper reimbursement vouchers) still be used for reimbursement, accounting, and tax deduction?

Passengers who need reimbursement and booking shall obtain an electronic invoice (railway electronic ticket). Where the purchaser is a general VAT taxpayer, for domestic railway passenger transport services purchased, the electronic invoice (railway electronic ticket) shall be used as the VAT deduction voucher, and the input VAT amount shall be determined in accordance with current regulations.

The purchaser may log in to the electronic invoice service platform to inquire about the VAT amount corresponding to the electronic invoice (railway electronic ticket) obtained from purchasing domestic railway passenger transport services, and determine the input tax amount accordingly.

To maintain a smooth transition, for railway tickets (paper reimbursement vouchers) issued through the railway ticket sales and reservation system with travel dates before September 30, 2025, passengers may still use the railway tickets (paper reimbursement vouchers) for reimbursement and booking, and purchasers may still determine input tax in accordance with the provisions of Article 6, Item 1, Point 3 of the "Announcement of the Ministry of Finance, State Taxation Administration, and General Administration of Customs on Policies for Deepening VAT Reform" (2019 No. 39).

2.Can the electronic invoice for refund fees (railway electronic ticket) be deducted?

According to Article 2 of the Notice of the Ministry of Finance and the State Taxation Administration on VAT Policies Concerning Input VAT Deduction for Leased Fixed Assets (Caishui [2017] No. 90): "Income such as ticket refund fees and service fees collected by a taxpayer from customers for handling ticket refunds on their behalf shall be subject to VAT as 'other modern services.'"

Therefore, the taxpayer's ticket refund fee expenditure does not belong to domestic passenger transport services purchased by the taxpayer. It cannot be deducted according to the rules for purchasing passenger transport services.

That is to say, the original China Railway refund fee reimbursement voucher is not an input tax deduction voucher, because only the purchase of passenger transport services can use that small square railway ticket as a deduction voucher.

So starting from November 1, the refund fee is issued as an electronic invoice (railway electronic passenger ticket). According to regulations, this electronic invoice (railway electronic passenger ticket) is a deduction voucher and can be selected for deduction, so it is a compliant deduction voucher. When taxpayers obtain this type of refund fee, they should be able to select and deduct according to the VAT amount corresponding to the queried electronic invoice (railway electronic passenger ticket).

3.After a VAT general taxpayer issues or obtains an electronic invoice (railway electronic passenger ticket), how should the VAT filing form be filled out?

The amount and tax amount of electronic invoices (railway electronic tickets) issued by a general VAT taxpayer shall be filled in Columns 3 to 4 "Other Invoices Issued" of the VAT and Additional Tax Filing Form Annex (I) (Current Period Sales Details).

For the input tax amount of electronic invoices (electronic railway tickets) claimed for deduction by a general taxpayer, when filing taxes, it shall be filled in the relevant columns of "VAT special invoices verified as compliant" in Appendix II of the VAT and Surcharge Tax Return (Details of Input Tax for the Current Period).

Where a general VAT taxpayer has already used an electronic invoice (railway electronic ticket) for VAT filing deduction, after the invoicer initiates the red-letter reversal process, the VAT amount listed in the corresponding Red-Letter Invoice Information Confirmation Form shall be filled in Column 20 "Input Tax Specified in the Red-Letter Special Invoice Information Form" of the VAT and Additional Tax Filing Form Annex (II) (Current Period Input Tax Details).

4.How is the electronic invoice (railway electronic ticket) reimbursed and recorded?

If a taxpayer obtains an electronic invoice (railway electronic passenger ticket) for reimbursement and booking, it shall implement in accordance with the Notice of the Ministry of Finance and the National Archives Administration on Standardizing the Reimbursement, Booking, and Archiving of Electronic Accounting Vouchers (Cai Kuai [2020] No. 6), the Measures for the Management of Accounting Archives (Order No. 79 of the Ministry of Finance and the National Archives Administration), the Specifications for Accounting Informatization Work (Cai Kuai [2024] No. 11), the Basic Functions and Service Specifications of Accounting Software (Cai Kuai [2024] No. 12), and the Ministry of Finance's provisions on accounting data standards for electronic vouchers.

5.After the change in train ticket deduction method, how do taxpayers fill out the tax return?

Where a taxpayer purchases domestic aviation and railway passenger transport services and obtains fully digitalized e-invoices bearing the words "Aviation Transport Electronic Ticket Itinerary" or "Railway Electronic Ticket",You can confirm its use through the tax digital account of the electronic invoice service platform. Its input tax amount will be automatically filled into column 8b of “(2) Other Tax Deduction Vouchers” in the VAT Tax Return Supplementary Schedule (2), and no longer needs to be filled in by manual calculation.

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