Hi
If I purchase some good in these these countries and am eligible for a tax refund (not being a resident of the EU) then do I have to claim the refund as I leave each country or as I leave the EU?
I fly first from Vienna to London and then from London to Canada, as I leave the EU from London, then at the airport do I claim the tax refund for the other countries visited?
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I have to say this whole tax thing is too high for me, but this link to the Austrian Torism board gives general information about the tax refound, as well as it does give links for further information on other sites, and there is also an information number for Canada which you could try:
austria.info/xxl/…austria.html
Greets, Fritz
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here%26#39;s what happens:
you must purchase minimum Euro 100.00 per receipt in order to get a Tax refund form from the store. Most stores have these forms, although they are used much less since the EU came into existence. Insist they go look, especially if the purchase is large. Some forms are green, some are white and there%26#39;s a third type. It does not matter which one they give you.
Ensure the store clerk fills in the lines showing the goods you bought, and attaches the bill of sale and you complete your name and address etc. sometimes before you check in.
You then cannot %26quot;use%26quot; the goods (although we have done this and got away with it) and present them at the departure airport to customs.
Best to pack all the goods you wish to claim a tax refund for, into one suitcase, packed on top. When you check in at your last (!) EU airport before Canada, you simply tell the counter person that one suitcase must go to customs. They will tag it like all your other pieces of luggage, but leave this one with you. When checked in, you go with this suitcase to the customs office (ask the counter person where it is) and present the suitcase and the completed (!) forms, plus passport and ticket, showing you are leaving the EU. They may ask you to show the goods, they may (usually) not, stamp the forms and put the suitcase onto a luggage belt.
It then (hopefully) will join up with all your others.
We have done this for over thirty years, once a year, and never had a problem. I should note, I have never left from anywhere but MUC or FRA as the gateway (cars are cheaper to rent in Germany than in Austria), and my actual experiences with this process are from these two airports only.
Now comes the %26quot;problem%26quot;: if you take the stamped forms to one of the %26quot;Tax Refund Offices%26quot;at the airport, they will take up to 50% of the refund for doing this. So you likely don%26#39;t want to do this.
You can go back to the store on your next trip, or ask a friend, and collect cash!
If you or a relative, trusted friend etc. have a bank account in Austria, then you could mail the form back to the store and ask them to deposit the refund to the account. Not a problem, if it%26#39;s a Giro account and with a national institution.
There may be another way, namely to mail the form back to the store and ask them to credit the refund back to your Visa or MC card. I have not tried this, but see not why it should not work. This will cost you then the exchange and the Visa/MC processing %26#39;fee%26quot;.
Your time limit to collect is one year from date of purchase.
Hope this helps.
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