Duty | Tax | Customs for International shopping {VAT refund}

[nanh]

Hi all
I will be traveling end of this month, and my itinerary is as follows:
Arriving in Barcelona will stay here for 5 days and head to Las Palmas Gran Canaria, SPAIN for 5 days.
From Las Palmas I will be heading to (Zermatt and Zurich) Switzerland and then back home to Dubai.

In this case where can I get my VAT refund for my purchases in Barcelona?

 

[gagabag]

Hi all
I will be traveling end of this month, and my itinerary is as follows:
Arriving in Barcelona will stay here for 5 days and head to Las Palmas Gran Canaria, SPAIN for 5 days.
From Las Palmas I will be heading to (Zermatt and Zurich) Switzerland and then back home to Dubai.

In this case where can I get my VAT refund for my purchases in Barcelona?

My understanding is that Switzerland is not part of the EU so you need to claim your refund in Spain before going to Swiss.

 

[Bagisa]

Sorry if this has been asked already...

I'm currently in London and will make my purchases here because of the more favorable conversion.

If Paris is my last EU destination, will it matter if my purchases were paid with pounds and not euros? Will Global Blu give me any issues?

 

[JoeyLouis]

Sharing my experience with duty at DTW (which I regret connecting to!) I declared everything since I got quite a few things. So it was quite obvious that I had gone shopping, and didn't wanna blow it in secondary inspection - so I declared it all.

At immigration they asked if I brought any goods back - I said yes and told her the amount. It was under $10K though.

It's $800 per person duty free for goods, per person (as mentioned previously).

After that, it's like 3 or 3.5% (I forgot exact amount, I was frazzled). After the first $1000 per person at the lower rate, it depends on what you bring in. I think for handbags it was 6.5%. I had some French drugstore skincare stuff that they did not charge me duty for. In the end, I ended up paying about $340 in duties on my Chanel and LV purchases. Not bad - but definitely $340 less that I can spend on Chanel now!!!

I had listed out the items and the dollar amounts. They did not go through my bags to inspect, I think that would have made it more irritating.

I am now banned from buying goods overseas (by my husband).

 

[Sofakimou]

Sharing my experience with duty at DTW (which I regret connecting to!) I declared everything since I got quite a few things. So it was quite obvious that I had gone shopping, and didn't wanna blow it in secondary inspection - so I declared it all.

At immigration they asked if I brought any goods back - I said yes and told her the amount. It was under $10K though.

It's $800 per person duty free for goods, per person (as mentioned previously).

After that, it's like 3 or 3.5% (I forgot exact amount, I was frazzled). After the first $1000 per person at the lower rate, it depends on what you bring in. I think for handbags it was 6.5%. I had some French drugstore skincare stuff that they did not charge me duty for. In the end, I ended up paying about $340 in duties on my Chanel and LV purchases. Not bad - but definitely $340 less that I can spend on Chanel now!!!

I had listed out the items and the dollar amounts. They did not go through my bags to inspect, I think that would have made it more irritating.

I am now banned from buying goods overseas (by my husband).

Interesting. When I returned to the US (Boston) with my new Celine luggage to tote from Paris they only charged me a $30 duty. What have other people in this thread paid in duties for a typical handbag purchase abroad? Do you declare your purchases?

 

[youngster]

Interesting. When I returned to the US (Boston) with my new Celine luggage to tote from Paris they only charged me a $30 duty. What have other people in this thread paid in duties for a typical handbag purchase abroad? Do you declare your purchases?

As JoeyLouis said above, the first $800 is duty free. The next $1,000 is at 3%. Everything over that amount is at 6% (though the last time I went through Customs in the U.S., the officer said it was 9% but then they looked it up.) So, on your first $1,800, you will only pay $30. The really nice benefit of traveling with family members is that you can combine your amounts. So, if you are traveling with your DH for example, your first $1,600 is duty free, the next $2,000 is at 3%, and anything over $3,600 would be charged at 6%.

Don't forget to take into account any VAT refund you are expecting and reduce the total amount spent by those VAT refunds. I always do a summary of all my purchases, subtract the VAT refunds I'm expecting, do the conversion to U.S. dollars, and attach the receipts. It really speeds up the process and the customs agents have always been really nice to me. They have never asked to see anything or have ever searched my luggage or carry-on. A couple of times when I owed around $75, they just looked at my receipts, waived me through, and didn't require any payment. For me, the bottom line is that if I'm spending several thousand dollars on items abroad, declaring everything and paying a couple hundred for U.S. duties/taxes is just not that big of a deal. It's also the right thing to do. The fines are high otherwise and I wouldn't want to jeopardize my TSA pre-check/Global Entry status.

 

[Sofakimou]

As JoeyLouis said above, the first $800 is duty free. The next $1,000 is at 3%. Everything over that amount is at 6% (though the last time I went through Customs in the U.S., the officer said it was 9% but then they looked it up.) So, on your first $1,800, you will only pay $30. The really nice benefit of traveling with family members is that you can combine your amounts. So, if you are traveling with your DH for example, your first $1,600 is duty free, the next $2,000 is at 3%, and anything over $3,600 would be charged at 6%.

Don't forget to take into account any VAT refund you are expecting and reduce the total amount spent by those VAT refunds. I always do a summary of all my purchases, subtract the VAT refunds I'm expecting, do the conversion to U.S. dollars, and attach the receipts. It really speeds up the process and the customs agents have always been really nice to me. They have never asked to see anything or have ever searched my luggage or carry-on. A couple of times when I owed around $75, they just looked at my receipts, waived me through, and didn't require any payment. For me, the bottom line is that if I'm spending several thousand dollars on items abroad, declaring everything and paying a couple hundred for U.S. duties/taxes is just not that big of a deal. It's also the right thing to do. The fines are high otherwise and I wouldn't want to jeopardize my TSA pre-check/Global Entry status.

Great advice! Thanks for that breakdown. I didn't know what I was doing the first time around and was even more flustered because the officials were quite rude. Treated me kind of like a criminal even though I had been honest about my purchase. I'll know better next time!

After all is said and done, it looks like you get like a 6% discount off your goods if you are buying over $1800. Anyone feel like that is/isn't worth it?

 

[youngster]

After all is said and done, it looks like you get like a 6% discount off your goods if you are buying over $1800. Anyone feel like that is/isn't worth it?

I think paying 6% duty on purchases over $1,800 is still worth it. For example, I bought a Chanel mini square in Berlin for 2250 Euros a couple months ago. The VAT refund was roughly 12% back, so the bag ended up costing about 2,000 Euros or roughly $2,260 U.S. dollars using the conversion rate at the time. Assuming I used up the other $1,800 exemptions on other stuff and had to pay the full 6% duty on the Chanel, that is still only $2,395, compared to $2,900 + sales tax for a Chanel mini square in my home state (if I could even find one!)

In reality, because I was traveling with my DH and we could combine duty free exemptions, I paid a whole lot less than that. So, yes, shopping abroad has been a real money saver no question, though that will only last as long as the dollar is strong and Chanel doesn't raise prices in Europe.

 

[missyb]

I was in Italy last month and got a Chanel bag. The vat was $385. I flew out of Barcelona but it was easy i got the forms stamped then went downstairs and got the money back. I did make the mistake of paying by my Amex which they don't refund I should have used my MasterCard but all in all I still saved $580!

 

[JoeyLouis]

I was in Italy last month and got a Chanel bag. The vat was $385. I flew out of Barcelona but it was easy i got the forms stamped then went downstairs and got the money back. I did make the mistake of paying by my Amex which they don't refund I should have used my MasterCard but all in all I still saved $580!

Wait, what? They don't refund on purchases made on Amex?? In Spain or what? Who is "they?" Thanks.

 

[ak3]

I always pay with amex and they always return vat, amex even returned the fee for the conversion on the vat refund

 

[Missy Jny]

Guys I'm so happy that my bf manage to get me the boy bag in UK before the price increase!! (heard other tpfers said its going to start on 15/7). There is some questions that I wish you can help me in regards on the VAT. Refer to the attached photo shows that I received 16.67% (£455) VAT but they charged me £85.60 I'm not sure what are these fees for. So is that mean when I went to Heathrow airport to do all the VAT refund they going to refund me £368.50 stated on the receipt? Or they going to surcharge me something else like admin fees etc. And if I prefer cash back how much lower is the refund I'm going to take back? Do you prefer cash back in £/€ or through credit card? Your advise is much appreciated! X [emoji173]️[emoji173]️

 

[missyb]

Wait, what? They don't refund on purchases made on Amex?? In Spain or what? Who is "they?" Thanks.

I was given the cash back at the Barcelona airport. My friend bought a LV and we had to go2 2 different vat counters(she went to global blue and I was at the other-forgot the name) The counter I had to go2 which was on my Chanel receipt couldn't credit back on Amex as they only could do visa mc. I'm not sure why so I took the cash.

 

[missyb]

Wait, what? They don't refund on purchases made on Amex?? In Spain or what? Who is "they?" Thanks.

Yes but Premirer which is what Chanel uses does not credit Amex back at Barcelona airport I'm not sure if it's all airports or just this one. They gave me the cash. Global blue may I'm not sure but Chanel (Florence) uses Premirer

 

[gg.leigh]

Guys I'm so happy that my bf manage to get me the boy bag in UK before the price increase!! (heard other tpfers said its going to start on 15/7). There is some questions that I wish you can help me in regards on the VAT. Refer to the attached photo shows that I received 16.67% (£455) VAT but they charged me £85.60 I'm not sure what are these fees for. So is that mean when I went to Heathrow airport to do all the VAT refund they going to refund me £368.50 stated on the receipt? Or they going to surcharge me something else like admin fees etc. And if I prefer cash back how much lower is the refund I'm going to take back? Do you prefer cash back in £/€ or through credit card? Your advise is much appreciated! X [emoji173]️[emoji173]️View attachment 3408777

I just came back from London Heathrow. Travelex charged me £10 for processing. I requested to get £ back, since if I get other currency, likely there is exchange difference charged by Travelex. For credit card refund, it would depend on when the process is done and the exchange rate at that point in time (or whether your credit card charge additional fees for foreign exchange).