Mr. Li recently received a text message: "Professional tax refund agency, fast arrival, low handling fees!" Seeing the promise of "tax refund amount of 28,000 yuan," he almost submitted his ID card photo on the spot. But just before transferring the "service fee," a friend's remark, "The tax bureau never sends text messages proactively," sent him into a cold sweat...
Three Major Allures of Entrusting Tax Refunds to Agents
With the popularization of individual income tax reconciliation, a large number of tax refund agency services have emerged in the market. Mr. Li used an agency through a platform last year and received a tax refund of 12,000 yuan within three days: "It would have taken me over ten forms to do it myself, but they used an 'internal channel' to save time and effort." However, the so-called "special channel" is nothing more than enterprises using standardized templates for bulk declarations.
- Time Cost Allure: "Professional accounting team" promises to complete complex declarations in 30 minutes.
- Amount Allure: Comparative rhetoric claiming "an average of 20% more refund."
- Information Asymmetry Allure: Exploiting taxpayers' inability to understand special additional deduction policies.
The Tricks Hidden in Contract Clauses
A case from Zhongmaoda Tax Agent Office shows: A company charged a service fee of "15% of the tax refund amount" but specified in Article 8 of the contract, "If the actual tax refund does not reach the estimated amount, the difference shall be borne by the customer." More hidden risks include:
- Personal information being resold for fraudulent invoicing.
- Over-declaration triggering tax audit risks.
- Secondary charging traps ("expedited fee," "supplementary material fee").
Three Benchmarks for Identifying Legitimate Services
The State Taxation Administration clearly states: Personal self-declaration is always free. If agency services are truly needed, please pay attention to:
- Verify the professional qualification certificate number of the tax agent.
- Reject absolute promises such as "guaranteed 100% tax refund."
- Fees must be decoupled from the amount received (fixed fees are recommended).
Your Tax Refund Deserves a More Transparent Choice
When you open the individual income tax app, the system has already automatically calculated the optimal solution. Instead of paying a 20% service fee, it's better to spend half an hour attending a live class hosted by the tax bureau. Next time you see a "tax refund agency" advertisement, ask yourself: Are they really earning a service fee, or are they profiting from my information asymmetry?
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