shopping from europe

db89

O.G.
Feb 20, 2006
3,884
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A colleague just found out she is going to europe for one week conference but extending it to 2 extra days of personal time.. she had a question for me .. so of course I ask the experts here ... she will be buying some bags for her family.. (2 maybe ??) I referred her to read all the info here regarding VAT and refunds, which she will read as soon as she locks down her definite dates for her trip. Just an interesting question from her though,
Is it easier in terms of paperwork at the airport and refunds to have her bags on one receipt? she is buying bags
for individual and wanted to pay individually so she can pass the receipt to them to pay her back. Or is it just
much easier to have all her bags on one receipt for VAT refund and paperwork? She does not want any hassle with paperwork and refunds with several receipts.. any comments ?
 
A colleague just found out she is going to europe for one week conference but extending it to 2 extra days of personal time.. she had a question for me .. so of course I ask the experts here ... she will be buying some bags for her family.. (2 maybe ??) I referred her to read all the info here regarding VAT and refunds, which she will read as soon as she locks down her definite dates for her trip. Just an interesting question from her though,
Is it easier in terms of paperwork at the airport and refunds to have her bags on one receipt? she is buying bags
for individual and wanted to pay individually so she can pass the receipt to them to pay her back. Or is it just
much easier to have all her bags on one receipt for VAT refund and paperwork? She does not want any hassle with paperwork and refunds with several receipts.. any comments ?
One or two receipts makes no difference. The process is very easy and the SAs are used to this (they prepare the forms hundreds of times each day). Your friend shouldn't worry. But all the receipts must be under her name.
 
One or two receipts makes no difference. The process is very easy and the SAs are used to this (they prepare the forms hundreds of times each day). Your friend shouldn't worry. But all the receipts must be under her name.
Thx for input , name is not a problem ..she was just worried if she had several receipts would it be more troublesome to submit the forms at the airport..whereas 1 receipt, one form thus less time consuming for her.
 
Hi there,

I just got back this week from Prague and Vienna - so I can shed some light on this topic.
I ended up buying from Louis Vuitton and Saint Laurent in Vienna and Gucci and Longchamps in Prague. Everyone at each boutique knew exactly what to do and they were all pretty helpful.
You have to spend 175 Euro at each store to qualify to get the VAT refund. You will also need your passport with you. The LV Boutique in Vienna used "Global Blue" and the the others used "Premier Tax Free". Each boutique printed 2 bills of sale for me - one for me to keep, and the other for the tax refund. The tax refund copy had a place for my name and address and passport number, etc and also included an envelope for either Global Blue or Premier Tax Free. LV boutique filled all this in for me - and the others had a space on the bill for me to fill in my information manually.
I left from Prague Airport, and after I'd dropped off my baggage and BEFORE I went through security - I had to go to the Customs Office to get all the Bills of Sales validated with a stamp. Once that was done - I could go to the VAT Refund office (also Before I went through Security). If you want cash back - you have to wait in line. (It's worth noting that they will only paid the refund back in Czech Krona and charged 80 Czech Krona per transaction for the cash refund - and then you could ask them to convert to Dollars or Euro as well ) As I didn't want to wait in line, I was good with getting a refund on my credit card and thus simply added my credit card number on the bills of sale. There was a box outside for the Premier Tax Free and one for Global Blue. I simply deposited the right envelopes into each box and then went through security.
I'm expecting the refund in 3-4 weeks on my credit card. ( I have previously done this through the UK, and had no problems with the credit card refund.)
I had 4 receipts in total - and I put 3 of the Premier Tax Free receipts into one envelope.

Hope that helps - let me know if you have any other questions and I am happy to try to help !
 
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