Verify a Chinese VAT Invoice (Fapiao)

Invoice types

This guide is for a buyer or finance colleague who already has a Chinese tax invoice to check. Look for its Chinese title, the seller and buyer details, and the invoice number. An English file headed “Invoice” is not enough to identify the document. In a supplier folder, a quotation, a shipping document and a tax invoice may all have been described by the same English word.

Chinese tax invoice: fapiao

A fapiao is issued under China's tax-invoice rules. A fully digitalized invoice, known as 数电发票, is one form of electronic invoice. Common VAT invoice titles include 电子发票（增值税专用发票） and 电子发票（普通发票）. The State Taxation Administration's announcement on fully digitalized invoices establishes their nationwide use and the same legal effect as paper invoices. The official invoice-verification service is the relevant starting point for this document.

Pro forma invoice

This is typically a quotation presented in invoice form, carrying the proposed goods, prices and commercial terms. The International Trade Administration explains its role in pro forma invoices. A supplier's quotation reference is not a Chinese tax-invoice number. Entering it into the VAT portal will not authenticate the proposed sale or tell you whether a deposit is safe.

Commercial invoice

A commercial invoice documents the goods sold and the amount payable in an international transaction, and is used in customs clearance. See the International Trade Administration's commercial-invoice explanation. Review this document against the order and shipping requirements. Do not infer that it is false simply because it cannot be found in a Chinese VAT-invoice search. Whether another tax document is required depends on the transaction; these document names alone cannot settle that question.

Digital appearance can be misleading. A fully digitalized fapiao may lack the familiar seller's stamp or the bank and address boxes seen on older invoices. An actual issuer's AWS China fapiao guide explains these changes and its own delivery of electronic files. That is useful context for an unfamiliar PDF, not a reason to accept every unstamped document. Identify the invoice type and check its recorded information instead of judging it by how closely it resembles an old paper form.

Fields for verification

The current official operating instructions distinguish invoices issued through the electronic invoice service platform from older VAT invoice management-system documents. For the common VAT types encountered in supplier paperwork, the input combinations below matter more than the file extension or whether someone printed the invoice.

Common VAT invoice inputs

Document	Number and date	Amount or code
Fully digitalized special or ordinary VAT invoice	20-digit invoice number and issue date	Total including tax: 价税合计
Older special VAT invoice, paper or electronic	Invoice code, invoice number and issue date	Amount excluding tax: 开具金额（不含税）
Older ordinary VAT invoice, including the electronic form	Invoice code, invoice number and issue date	Last six digits of the invoice verification code: 校验码后六位

发票号码 — invoice number

This identifies the invoice. It is different from the seller's taxpayer number, the purchase-order number and any bank account printed elsewhere in the paperwork.

价税合计 — total including tax

Use the invoice's stated tax-inclusive total when the selected route requires it. A goods subtotal, the tax amount by itself, a deposit request and the final balance payable are different values.

校验码 — invoice verification code

This is a field on the relevant invoice. It is separate from the CAPTCHA displayed by the website. Do not copy the website challenge into a box asking for digits from the invoice.

Copy the original characters carefully, keeping leading zeros. Do not use a translated or retyped invoice as the only reference. If the seller's identifier needs explanation, the USCC and China tax-number guide covers that separate field. An identifier for the seller helps identify the business; it cannot replace the invoice number in this lookup.

The official check

1. Open the official service. Start from the national VAT invoice verification platform. It currently opens the newer service under the same tax-authority host. The homepage offers manual entry, scanning and importing, but manual entry is sufficient for understanding which fields are being checked. A screenshot sent by the supplier is a record of someone else's purported lookup; it does not replace your comparison with the official result.
2. Enter the matching combination. Use the invoice type and the field guide above. The homepage initially displays an amount excluding tax; that initial label is not a universal instruction for every invoice. Follow the relevant invoice route and current help. Compare the number, issue date and requested amount or code with the source document before completing the CAPTCHA. A copy-and-paste error or a different amount basis can send the search down the wrong path.
3. Read the returned invoice. When details appear, compare them with the file you received. Pay particular attention to the seller, buyer, invoice number, date, items and amounts. Do not stop after recognizing the supplier's name. The result might concern a different invoice from the same company, or the attached document might contain a changed amount or buyer. The question is whether this document matches this recorded invoice.
4. Keep the outcome with its date. Retain the original electronic document and an appropriate record of what the official service returned when you checked. Keep the lookup date separate from the issue date. If the portal returns no record, an inconsistent result or a technical error, preserve that outcome accurately; do not describe the invoice as verified while the problem remains unresolved.

Read the result

The details match

A matching record and a matching purchase are separate questions. The tax authority's English implementation rules distinguish genuine business activity from invoices whose buyer, seller, goods, services or amount do not reflect the actual transaction. Use the returned details for the comparisons they support, then identify the documents needed to answer what remains.

What to do with a matching result

What the lookup lets you compare	What still needs a transaction document
The recorded seller against the seller on the invoice	Compare that entity with the contracting party. The invoice-issuer explanation identifies this role. An affiliate's genuine invoice does not explain why the contract names a different company. Follow the supplier and invoice name-mismatch guide when the entities differ; obtain the explanation that connects your particular documents.
Buyer, items and amounts against the file received	Compare these with your order and the actual goods or services. A real invoice for another customer or shipment does not substantiate your purchase. An amount matching the tax record also does not prove that the goods were delivered. Keep the delivery or service-acceptance evidence with the order.
The invoice's recorded information at the time of the check	Establish whether a later refund, discount or correction changed the transaction. An old successful screenshot may describe an earlier document accurately while leaving a subsequent adjustment unanswered. Collect the current set of documents before treating the earlier amount as final.
The identity of the invoicing seller	Check the proposed payment recipient separately. The result does not authorize a new bank account or a third-party payee. Use the bank-beneficiary check before approving payment. Factory capacity, creditworthiness and delivery performance are also outside the question answered by this invoice lookup.

不一致 — the details are inconsistent

Keep the document unresolved if the original fields still fail or the returned seller, buyer or amount differs. Request a legible original or an explanation of a correction, identifying the exact discrepancy. Do not edit the document to make it fit the search. The Chinese invoice implementation rules provide a route to ask the tax authority to verify authenticity. Use that route for a material doubt that ordinary lookup and issuer clarification cannot settle.

查无此票 — no invoice found

A no-record response is not an automatic fraud verdict. The platform's current common questions gives several possible reasons. Select the next action from the explanation you can actually establish.

Input differs from the document

Read the source invoice again, rather than asking the supplier to repeat the same numbers in an email. Check for omitted zeros, an issue date mistaken for a delivery date, a subtotal entered instead of the tax-inclusive total, or the wrong end of a verification code. If a legible original corrects an identifiable transcription error, repeat the appropriate search. Record the corrected input so a later colleague can understand why the earlier attempt failed.

The invoice is outside coverage

An invoice beyond the displayed time range, or a document not issued through the systems covered by the service, may not be retrievable here. Reconsider the file classification first. A pro forma quotation needs a commercial review, not repeated VAT searches. For an older or otherwise unsupported tax invoice, ask the issuer which tax-authority route applies and obtain the material needed for that route.

The issuer has not uploaded data

The official help includes offline issuance with data not uploaded as a possible cause. Ask the issuer to confirm the issuing system and upload status. A statement that the system is delayed may explain the next step, but it is not itself a successful verification. Recheck after the stated issue is resolved; if it persists, the issuer or relevant tax authority needs to address it.

No result because the page failed

If the CAPTCHA does not load, the page behaves unexpectedly or the connection fails, use the platform's help or its tax-service contact route. A failed page load gives no information about the invoice's authenticity. Do not treat an inaccessible website as either a successful check or evidence that the supplier supplied a false document.

Record exactly what agrees: the invoice fields, the recorded seller, and the transaction documents actually compared. If a correction, party or amount remains unexplained, identify the missing item and leave that part of the review open.

Official sources and the public platform were reviewed on 8 September 2026. This guide covers ordinary mainland Chinese VAT-invoice verification; it does not determine tax deductibility or the invoicing obligations of a particular cross-border transaction.