How do I collect China travel receipts and invoices after returning home?

At a glance

• 12306’s current invoice notice covers eligible mainland electronic-ticket journeys dated 1 October 2025 onwards. Its issuance period is 180 days after journey completion or payment of refund/change fees. [1]
• Cross-border rail is excluded from that specific electronic-invoice service. Use the operator or seller’s own receipt process for your Hong Kong or international ticket. [1]
• 12306 supports ordinary foreign passports for passenger online self-service invoicing. Complete identity verification and the correct buyer and email details; download the invoice or receive it by email in PDF/OFD format. [1]
• Trip.com’s flight-confirmation email includes an e-receipt and booking references. Keep those alongside any invoice needed by your own reimbursement process. [2]

Collect a usable set

1. Day 0–1 at home: gather your booking-confirmation emails, paid hotel statements, ride receipts, train orders and refund notices in one folder. Match each to the person who paid and the journey or service. Preserve the original downloaded files and emails, not only cropped screenshots. Record any invoice already issued so you do not request a duplicate by accident. For an outstanding refund, distinguish approved, sent and posted: Trip.com refunds normally return to the original payment method unless otherwise agreed, and posting depends on the payment-account provider. Keep a usable app or booking-email support route, the original payment record and the order/refund transaction reference until it is resolved. You can continue following up from home; if the seller says it has sent the refund, ask the original payment provider to trace that reference. [2]
2. Ask your employer or accountant what it needs before requesting a Chinese invoice: purchaser name, company details, tax identifier if applicable, item description, currency and acceptable electronic format. A personal travel memory needs much less than an expense claim. Use the exact buyer details supplied by the recipient rather than translate or invent a Chinese company identity.
3. For an eligible mainland rail ticket, sign in to the relevant 12306 account and open 电子发票, meaning electronic invoice, on its invoice page. Complete the requested identity verification, choose the journey or fee, then enter buyer and email details carefully. If an agent or another person booked, ask that booker about the passenger invoice route; do not treat absence in your own account as evidence that an invoice cannot exist.
4. Download or receive the resulting rail file and inspect journey, amount, buyer and date. Keep both provided PDF/OFD files when useful and pass the original files to the reimbursement recipient. For a trip involving a refund or change, reconcile the invoice with what you actually paid; an old booking total may no longer be the expense you need to claim.
5. For hotels, rides or activities, ask the actual paid seller for its receipt or invoice and give its order reference. If the hotel collected the money at checkout, begin with that hotel. If a platform collected it, ask that platform which document it issues and whether the property issues anything separately. A wallet or bank payment record proves a payment trail, but ask the recipient whether it meets their expense requirements.
6. Around day 3–7, chase the missing documents on the same order threads. By day 8–14, reconcile the set: accepted files, missing seller replies and items needing correction. The first two weeks are a useful housekeeping window; rail’s 180-day period and your employer’s own submission date remain separate.

If your situation is different

If you only want a personal record, retain the service, place, date, amount and receipt without creating formal invoice work for every small purchase. Keep photos and notes separately from financial proof so the trip remains enjoyable to revisit.

If the rail invoice page will not complete passport or account verification, use 12306 support and the actual order. Tell them you are abroad and ask for the available passenger/booker route. The public invoice page demonstrates an identity step, not that every foreign-passport account has been tested here.

If a receipt is in Chinese, keep the original and attach a simple translation of the relevant fields. Ask the reimbursement recipient whether a translation is enough. If the buyer details are wrong, return to the issuing service for correction; editing the downloaded invoice yourself changes the document instead of correcting its issuance.

Common mistakes

• Calling a booking confirmation a final paid receipt: match the document to the completed service and payment.
• Using a mainland rail invoice rule for cross-border tickets: follow that operator or seller’s document process.
• Requesting the wrong buyer name: obtain exact reimbursement details before issuance.
• Treating the first 14 days as an invoice deadline: keep the actual operator and employer dates in your case.

Quick questions

Make it fit your trip

Bring the actual order and the document your recipient requests to Ask. We can help identify the right issuer and prepare the request without promising that a payment screenshot will satisfy someone else’s reimbursement policy.