What Is a Fapiao? China’s Official Invoice System Explained
A fapiao is China's official tax invoice, issued through the government tax system. General vs special VAT fapiao, the e-fapiao digital rollout, and why suppliers charge extra to issue one.
A fapiao is China's official tax invoice, issued through the government tax system. General vs special VAT fapiao, the e-fapiao digital rollout, and why suppliers charge extra to issue one.
A fapiao (发票, fāpiào) is China’s official tax invoice — a receipt generated inside the government’s own tax system that serves as legal proof a transaction happened. It is the only document Chinese tax authorities accept as evidence of a purchase, which makes it fundamentally different from a Western invoice (a request for payment) or an ordinary receipt. Whether you run a company in China, buy from Chinese factories, or just need to expense a hotel stay in Shanghai, the fapiao is what makes a cost real in the eyes of the tax bureau.
In most countries, a business prints its own invoices however it likes. In China, invoicing runs through infrastructure controlled by the State Taxation Administration (STA). For decades this was the “Golden Tax System”: government-certified software, pre-numbered invoice stock that companies had to purchase from the tax authorities, and real-time visibility for the tax bureau. The moment a seller issues a fapiao, its revenue — and its VAT liability — is recorded with the state.
That design explains two things foreigners find odd. First, a fapiao is not handed over automatically the way a receipt is; you usually have to ask for one, because issuing it triggers the seller’s tax obligation. Second, a company can only issue fapiao for activities within its registered business scope — a trading company can’t write you a fapiao for “consulting services” it isn’t licensed to provide, as China Briefing explains.
One more distinction worth fixing in your head: a fapiao is not a 收据 (shōujù), the informal receipt a shop might scribble for you. A shouju proves you paid; only a fapiao counts for tax deductions, audits, and expense claims.
Since China’s VAT reform, the fapiao you’ll encounter comes in two flavors, and the difference is worth real money.
| General VAT fapiao (普通发票) | Special VAT fapiao (专用发票) | |
|---|---|---|
| Main use | Proof of purchase, bookkeeping, expense reimbursement | All of that, plus claiming input VAT credits |
| VAT deduction | Not deductible | Deductible — effectively saves the buyer 6–13% |
| Buyer info required | Company name + tax ID | Name, tax ID, address, phone, bank name and account |
| Who can receive it | Anyone, including consumers | VAT general taxpayers only |
Only a “general taxpayer” — a company with annual turnover above RMB 5 million, or one that registered voluntarily — can receive and use special VAT fapiao to offset the VAT it pays on inputs against the VAT it collects on sales, per the EU SME Centre. If you operate a WFOE or joint venture in China, this is the difference between VAT being a cash-flow item and VAT being a pure cost.
The system has gone digital. On December 1, 2024, the fully digitalized e-fapiao (数电发票) became available to all taxpayers nationwide after years of regional pilots. No special tax-control hardware, invoice numbers assigned automatically by the national platform, issuance from a web browser or phone, and everything managed through each company’s “digital tax account.” E-fapiao carry the same legal force as paper. The new VAT Law that took effect on January 1, 2026 — replacing interim regulations that had stood for over 30 years — bakes e-invoicing directly into the legal framework, per EY’s analysis.
Paper fapiao are being phased out gradually rather than switched off on a single date, so you’ll still see both formats in circulation. In practice, most of what we receive from suppliers now arrives as a PDF or OFD file rather than the old printed sheet with the red oval chop.
Here’s the nuance most overseas buyers miss: if you import from China, you will never receive a fapiao yourself. Your document is a commercial invoice for customs. The fapiao chain runs entirely on the Chinese side — but it still affects you in two ways.
First, your supplier’s export VAT rebate depends on it having proper input fapiao from its own upstream suppliers. A factory with a broken fapiao chain can lose its rebate — often the entire profit margin on an export order — or in fraud cases its export licence, which becomes your delivery problem. Covington’s compliance memo on fapiao calls fake and inflated invoices a classic China fraud vector that multinationals are expected to police.
Second, fapiao are a cheap legitimacy screen. We’re based in Zhengzhou and deal with suppliers across China every week, and one pattern holds: a supplier that flatly “can’t” issue a fapiao is doing at least part of its business outside the formal tax system. That doesn’t automatically make it a scammer, but it does mean thinner compliance, and it should factor into how much of your order you trust it with.
And if you have your own entity in China, fapiao stop being optional entirely: they’re the required voucher for booking costs, deducting expenses, reimbursing staff, and surviving an audit. No fapiao, no deduction.
The phrase: 可以给我开发票吗？(kěyǐ gěi wǒ kāi fāpiào ma?) — “Can you issue me a fapiao?” The verb is 开 (kāi), literally “open.” Staff will usually ask for your 抬头 (táitóu) — the invoice title, meaning the exact registered name of the company the fapiao is for.
Have ready: the precise registered Chinese company name and the 18-digit Unified Social Credit Code. For a special VAT fapiao, add the registered address, phone, bank name, and account number. Many Chinese firms keep this on a slip or a WeChat “Fapiao Helper” QR code so staff can scan it instead of typing.
The tax ID part isn’t optional. Since July 1, 2017, a general VAT fapiao issued to a company without its taxpayer identification number is invalid as an accounting voucher — a detail that has ruined plenty of expense reports.
Refusal is the big one. Once goods or services are delivered, a seller is legally required to issue a fapiao on request; refusing is a violation you can report to the tax bureau. More common than outright refusal is the “with or without invoice” quote: suppliers frequently price ex-tax and add roughly the VAT amount — around 13% for goods — if you want a fapiao. This surcharge practice is widely reported by advisory firms rather than written in any regulation, and the exact figure varies (small-scale taxpayers pay lower VAT rates, and some suppliers split the difference). The fix is contractual: the EU SME Centre advises stating in writing whether your price includes VAT and who bears it. Do this before paying a deposit, not after.
Also expect timing games — because VAT liability arises at issuance, some sellers delay issuing to defer tax — and know that cancelling or reversing an issued fapiao (the “red-letter” process) is slow enough that you want the details right the first time.
Never buy fapiao. You will encounter offers to sell “surplus” fapiao to pad expenses or reclaim VAT on transactions that never happened. This is a criminal offence in China — for the buyer as well as the seller — and fabricated fapiao are a staple of the fraud cases that end up in FCPA and internal-audit files. However routine someone tells you it is, it isn’t a gray area.
One honest caveat: this guide summarizes rules that shift as the e-fapiao rollout and the 2026 VAT Law implementation continue. For anything where real money rides on the answer — rebate eligibility, taxpayer status, cross-border invoicing — check the current requirements at chinatax.gov.cn or with a licensed Chinese accountant rather than relying on any article, ours included.
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