Just wanted to add that if you buy what they consider an exotic skin bag, you also need a written paper from the boutique stating something (I forget what, I can’t say that I read it!) which I had to show to the custom people in France when the machine refused to accept the regular documents. If the boutique hadn’t known to give me that paper. I’m not sure I would have gotten the Vat back.
Best way to 'detax' after H in Europe
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Since the hotels in the major cities we stay at are fairly costly, my husband and I now usually book a hotel at the airport for the last night before our departure. We have the "city" hotel hold our bags after checkout, enjoy our last day, then head to the airport hotel. The airport hotels are many times connected to the airport and usually far less expensive than staying in the city. We then do our tax free in the airport the night before our flight, head to our room and thus avoid traffic and worry about getting to the airport in time.
+1000. Which is why I limit what I purchase abroad. I’d rather buy from my home boutiques
I was actually offered the full 22% refund at VCA for items above a certain amount. It seemed like the larger the amount spent, the bigger the refund? But it required some special permission? Not really sure what it's like for Hermes in Italy though.
I was also definitely curious if this was available in France because I would totally make the extra trip to Italy for high ticket jewelry items if this wasn't available in France.
We are from the US and planning to spend 10 days in London and Paris, with the Paris days in the middle of the trip. So, we will go to Paris from London on the Eurostar, do some shopping and then return to London for a few days before flying out. I understand we can use the PABLO machine when exiting Paris to get our French/EU VAT refund, and we will have to declare our purchases upon arrival in London. Will they make us pay the full duty when arriving in the UK, or is there any exemption if you are taking the items back to your home country a few days later? I am trying to figure out if we will be charged customs both at the UK border and the US border, or if there is any exemption or refund of UK customs that we could declare when heading back home. TIA!
You are not a resident of GB so I don't see why they'd tax you.
Hi, if I am flying from Nice to Frankfurt and then back to the US, can I claim my tax refund with a Pablo kiosk in Nice or do I need to claim it in Frankfurt? If so, how do I do so in Frankfurt? I usually fly direct out of CDG from Paris but this time we're flying out of Nice with a stopover in Frankfurt. Thanks.
Just got home from France and I noticed on the paperwork that the detaxe refund offered for my Hermes purchase in Bordeaux was only 10% via Global Blue, vs my Goyard purchase gives 12% via Planet Tax Free. I haven't received either yet back on my credit card to confirm the final amounts, but have others seen similar?
The amount of tax refunded depends on the merchant, not the company that processes the refund. Hermès has always been cheap-o when it comes to the tax refund.
We just got back from Rome via Frankfurt to the US and we detaxed in Rome since our layover time in Frankfurt was under 2 hours. I had looked up and you can detax in your first airport in Europe as long as you don’t spend more days in Europe and have a connecting flight out of Europe