I think they were just asking for security reasons. Like to make sure I was really on vacation... I was asked: Where did you visit? Germany? What was your favorite thing you did? And Milan? Oh, shopping? Of course, fashion capital. What did you buy? May I see it? Oh la la! How much was that?" It took forever to get checked out cause the airline was asking to much detail. FYI, this was an American based airline. When we came home, we were told the us TSA had asked international flights to screen more. If they had been suspicious of me, I would have gone through more security checks (another trip, my mom didn't understand the accent and couldn't answer the question, so they put a sticker on her suitcase. Our whole family went through two more baggage checks after the main x Ray check.)
Duty | Tax | Customs for International shopping {VAT refund}
- Thread starter ivivi
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Hi ladies,
So my friend went to Paris and helped me buy a Chanel necklace while she was there. She also bought a Birkin and another LV bag. Both the Birkin and the LV she has already received the VAT back but not my necklace from Chanel. It’s been about 4 months now so we’re thinking of filing a claim. Has anyone experienced this before and what are the steps to do it if you don’t mind sharing?
Thank you!
So my friend went to Paris and helped me buy a Chanel necklace while she was there. She also bought a Birkin and another LV bag. Both the Birkin and the LV she has already received the VAT back but not my necklace from Chanel. It’s been about 4 months now so we’re thinking of filing a claim. Has anyone experienced this before and what are the steps to do it if you don’t mind sharing?
Thank you!
Sorry I have no advice on the claims procedure but I’d recommend getting VAT returned in cash at the airport in the future. The card method always takes a long time and I know people often encounter problems and delays. You do get slightly less back with cash but it saves the headache of chasing up your VAT return. Good luck, I hope someone can offer some advice on making a claim and you can resolve this 
As I know Chanel in Paris will takes no more than 2 weeks to get a VAT refund back to the credit card! Your friend should send a email to the VAT refund company to find out & check the status for it! It could be your friend did not scan the refund form properly to the kiosk which equal the stamp!
I am wondering the same thing! I’ll be in London and planning to purchase a chanel classic flap. If I don’t declare my bag to customs, then does that mean I can’t claim a VAT refund?
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VAT refunds and declaring with US customs are completely unrelated. Whether or not you declare your purchases with US customs when returning to the US has no bearing on your VAT Refund processed in the EU.
Thanks, FunBagz! I will likely claim my purchase at US customs to be on the safe side. I was reading up on it some more trying to figure out how to calculate how much I would end up paying in UK vs. the US for a Chanel medium classic flap. I'm confused what the VAT refund is in London. UK's VAT is 20%, but then each store charges processing fees so the VAT refund I would get is less than that - what is the VAT % at Chanel in London? I'm also not able to find how much US customs charges if I am claiming over the allowed $1600 (my husband and I), I've read it can be around 4%-9% tax on the difference.
Can someone tell me if I'm doing this calculation correctly? I used this site to help me calculate VAT: http://vatcalconline.com/ and http://www.calcresult.com/finance/VAT.html
Chanel Medium Classic Flap in London:
Can someone tell me if I'm doing this calculation correctly? I used this site to help me calculate VAT: http://vatcalconline.com/ and http://www.calcresult.com/finance/VAT.html
Chanel Medium Classic Flap in London:
- $5,300 US
- £3990 UK ($5,580 US)
- 17.5% VAT refund (not sure if that's the right %??) = £594.26 refund
- £3990 UK - £594.26 VAT = £3,395.74
- £3,395.74 UK = $4,749 US
- US Customs 4% Duty fee on difference is $3,149 US = $125 taxed
- $4,749 + $125 tax = $4,874 US final cost
Don't forget that if you're charging this on a credit card to calculate what the cc company charges for the exchange rate
Hi Does your friend have the receipt? There should be a doc id # and they can call the 1-800 # for the tax refund company. Chanel uses Premier I think, and they are the fastest. Sometimes i get it within a week. If it didnt process you should definitely call.
The Vat is going to be 10-12% not 17.5% because the processing company takes a % as a fee. This is true for cash or credit card refunds. Also the US customs has a tiered fee. It's spoken at length here so you can search the forum
Is there anyone here from Australia? Im planning to buy an LV bag from Paris worth EUR1,390(AUD2,209). But as per the Australian Customs site, the limit that a person can bring into Australia without tax is AUD900. So I can combine with my husband to have a limit of AUD1800. But it's still not enough as the bag is worth 2.2k. Now my question is, is it too risky to just not declare the bag at all? Or can I also have the option to tell the LV store to charge my card twice to make the other receipt worth less than AUD1800? I'm open to other advice.. Thanks!
Not sure if I'm able to ask this question here!? I want to purchase a chanel bag from a seller in Canada, I heard that the customs can be a huge problem. I'm super New at doing this and the seller has no idea either regarding declaring it as a gift etc . What can I expect to have happen? Any advice would be really appreciated! The bag is $3750.
Hi everyone! I’ll be going to France soon and was wondering about the VAT refund. If I make a purchase with half credit card and cash, how does the refund work? Because I know CC refunds are higher than cash....what do you guys suggest?
The amount of the actual refund is the same regardless off how you pay. Whether you pay with cash or credit, the amount of the refund you are entitled to is the same. The difference is how you elect to receive your refund...if you elect to get your refund credited to your card credit, it is slightly more than if you elect receive a cash refund since there is an additional charge for electing a cash refund.