China waves goodbye to the tax exemption for online retail imported goods after April 8.

The government says the changes have been to level the playing field for e-commerce platforms and traditional retailers and importers.

China's Ministry of Finance have decided that retail goods purchased online will no longer be classified as "parcels," which have enjoyed a preferential lower rate of tax than other imported goods.

Instead, online purchases from overseas will be charged in the same way as any other imported goods.

China levies parcel tax on imported goods worth less than a thousand yuan, or about 154 U.S. dollars, at rates around 10 percent. Taxes under 50 yuan are waived.

The new policy only allows a maximum of 2,000 yuan, about 300 U.S. dollars, per single cross-border transaction and a maximum of 20,000 yuan per person, each year.

The Ministry of Finance said goods that exceed these limits will be levied the full rate of tax for general trade.

Chen Yijia is the business director of womai.com, a Chinese cross-border e-commerce platform.

"Take a kind of German baby formula as an example. Its price is around 258 yuan about 40 U.S. dollars. However, after the tax reform, since the policy of exempting taxes on items less than 50 yuan about 8 U.S. dollars will be abolished, there will be an 11.9 percent tax put on the baby formula. So, its final price will be about 289 yuan or about 45 U.S. dollars."

The new policy should speed up customs clearance so consumers will receive most orders from overseas within two weeks, instead of the current two months.