you can only process the tax refund at the last EC airport of your departure from the EC. so anything you purchase in europe and UK will ALL have to be processed in this last airport. unfortuantely, i am unfamiliar with Milan MXP (is that Malpensa) airport and hope that other TPFers can offer better advice.
Tax back from Paris?
- Thread starter AnythingHermes
- Start date
TPF may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others
you can only process the tax refund at the last EC airport of your departure from the EC. so anything you purchase in europe and UK will ALL have to be processed in this last airport. unfortuantely, i am unfamiliar with Milan MXP (is that Malpensa) airport and hope that other TPFers can offer better advice.
MXP is great! They have a customs office before immigration, so you can pack all your purchases into your check-in luggage. You go to check-in for your flight, and let the folks know that you want to claim VAT refund. They will tag your bags, but then you just wheel them over to the customs desk, and after they examine your goods and stamp your forms, the customs people will also take your tagged luggage and put them on the conveyer.
Next to customs is a Global Refund desk and a Premier Refund desk. Global will refund Global forms in cash, but the Premier desk is operated AmEx (IIRC), which refused to refund in Euros (go figure!), but will refund in cash in other currencies. Not only do the exchange rates suck, they also take a percentage of the refund as commission, on top of the commission already deducted by Premier!
So, for Premier forms, best is just to return the forms by post for credit onto your credit card. For Hermes, just post them back when you reach your home country.
Next to customs is a Global Refund desk and a Premier Refund desk. Global will refund Global forms in cash, but the Premier desk is operated AmEx (IIRC), which refused to refund in Euros (go figure!), but will refund in cash in other currencies. Not only do the exchange rates suck, they also take a percentage of the refund as commission, on top of the commission already deducted by Premier!
So, for Premier forms, best is just to return the forms by post for credit onto your credit card. For Hermes, just post them back when you reach your home country.Thanks robee! I haven't bought big-ticket items in London recently (at least, not more than couple of thousand pounds on one receipt), so I have always just gone straight to Global outside immigration. I will remember to keep any expensive purchases for HM Customs after immigration.
best is to have all the items, at least the more expensive ones available for their inspection, You should see the tears at the corner of my eyes when the guy asked "whr are your items" (all checked in ;p ) hahahaaha maybe he took pity of me as I was with my 3 yr old who was getting pretty restless
^^^ Then you should have gone to the "customs" desk before immigration. They didn't use to have this system a decade or so ago, but it made sense to have it before immigration for the huge number of tourists who shop in the UK.
ETA: Or did you mean you left all your items, including the expensive ones, in your check-in luggage? You must be very brave... My family has lost items from locked check-in luggage over the years, so we never check-in valuables anymore. Sad but true
Maybe that's why people do the shrink-wrap thing to prevent theft.
ETA: Or did you mean you left all your items, including the expensive ones, in your check-in luggage? You must be very brave... My family has lost items from locked check-in luggage over the years, so we never check-in valuables anymore. Sad but true
Maybe that's why people do the shrink-wrap thing to prevent theft.
Last edited:
they have two customs desk
one is outside, they processed my smaller bills.
They saw the other bill from harrods, made a call and ask me to go thru immigration, and there is another customs desk. It sits after the immigration checks etc.
you are right, all the items in my luggage, you have no idea how many bags/things I bought during my crazy 1wk in Ldn (weakend GBP and harrod's sale too ;p ) with a 3yr old and things on hand, no way to carry anymore.
DH said don't need to worry, he has ample insurance if they do get lost.
Last edited:
Thought I would share my experience today.
Terminal 4 at Heathrow has a customs desk both before check in and after check in (going to the gates). The customs man stamped everything and didn't take any forms away. Some of the forms were for items that I purchased from Paris.
I did tell the customs man that I wanted to photocopy the forms before posting since they some times get lost and he was just the nicest person. I had the forms stamped inside (after check in). He only wanted to see one thing out of the multiple things I bought. I packed my orange boxes in my luggage and carried all items in hand luggage.
Terminal 4 at Heathrow has a customs desk both before check in and after check in (going to the gates). The customs man stamped everything and didn't take any forms away. Some of the forms were for items that I purchased from Paris.
I did tell the customs man that I wanted to photocopy the forms before posting since they some times get lost and he was just the nicest person. I had the forms stamped inside (after check in). He only wanted to see one thing out of the multiple things I bought. I packed my orange boxes in my luggage and carried all items in hand luggage.
I was flying off at Terminal 3 and getting the refund wasn't exactly such a pleasant experience.
Sorry for the slow get-back, I saw this post late.....
No, this was after check-in. The post box is actually right infront of the English Customs Desk so I was told I can drop my forms there after I purchase the stamps.
Last edited:
robee, do you mind PMing me whom you guys buy your travel insurance from?
Most companies only cover up to a certain value which normally isn't enough to cover H bag purchases.
Even Masterpiece Insurance will cover a lost/stolen Birkin if you take it for travel, but NOT if you check-it in luggage and it gets lost as a result. That seems to be the common exemption....So I always end up lugging a ton of hand-carry around, so painful....
ush:
It'd be quite interesting to see if there's a follow-up for those who waited for ages for their refund to appear, as in, whether the refund eventually turned up... If chances of refund are slim, i'd better rework my trip budget.. Heehee..
robee, do you mind PMing me whom you guys buy your travel insurance from?
Most companies only cover up to a certain value which normally isn't enough to cover H bag purchases.
Even Masterpiece Insurance will cover a lost/stolen Birkin if you take it for travel, but NOT if you check-it in luggage and it gets lost as a result. That seems to be the common exemption....So I always end up lugging a ton of hand-carry around, so painful....
he is asleep now, let me check with him tomorrow
He is always in charge of all the travel arrangement. When i went Tokyo in Apr, and got a birkin for Jadeite, it was put in check-in luggage. Both trip to London and Tokyo, he was on a business trip, not sure if that make a difference. Let me update you tom.
I was just chatting with my DH about what travel insurance cover, he has no idea the loot can be so "expensive". I am glad nothing went wrong w my check-ins yet. I will be more careful about what to check in and what not to
