Having just got back from Europe, we’ve got to admit that the biggest cons we noticed across the three countries we traversed was the EU’s Tax Free Cash Refund scheme – the system that suggests to out of EU shoppers that they can get your sales tax back when you leave the region. By looking at the crafty promotion of the service to entice visitors into stores and the huge effort to make collection of paid taxes as difficult as possible, we can only conclude that this must be just one big scam.
Here’s our example – as we left Paris for Milan, when we found the tax office identified only by a paper-sign in the arrivals (?!) section of Charles De Gaul, we were told we’d have to collect our taxes in Milan as we weren’t yet leaving the EU. When we left Milan for Newark, at the second tax office (the first was hidden in the corner of the airport and was unable to help us because we hadn’t crossed security… which made us wonder why it was there) we were told that we couldn’t collect the tax from the purchase in Paris because the store didn’t exist in Italy and that we had to send a letter to the store to help us get the tax back. What?
For a moment we thought that this was a EU backed project but now we looked into it as we wrote this post, it turns out that its a private company providing this.
We wonder how many poor sods in the line in the photo got mucked around like us. All of them?
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Piers, I’m from Brazil but I recently moved to Reykjavík, Iceland. Going around Europe in these low cost airports I’ve never seen one of this tax refund offices. They’ve told me that only in major airports! When I got here in Iceland (which is not part of the EU) I sent an e-mail to the store I bought with tax free in Madrid about how hard they make us to be refunded – for not say a worse thing…
Well, now I have to send them any proof that I’ve left the EU (like flight tickets or passports stamps) and they will try to do it for me at the Barajas airport. Why has to be the hardest way?
August 29th, 2007 at 5:18 am
I’ve had the runaround too.. this is a total scam.. there are too many small loopholes that are required in order to process the “refund” I have never actually met anybody who has actually received a refund. Whenever I have tried, I just get shut down on some small issue- (Sir, you have not checked the proper box, we have to confiscate your receipts)
August 30th, 2007 at 7:59 am
To make some points clear: Europe has NO common tax system, therefore you cannot claim your refund in a other country than the contry where you did your purchase.
Tax refund is different in many EU contries but can be claimed by everyone who resides outside of the EU – the privte company you have mentioned does it for you and will charge you some percentage of your refund.
In general you have to collect the bills and search for further assistance by each contries finance administration.
October 21st, 2007 at 9:40 am
I went to Iceland last month, and I got my tax refunded.
It was quite a hassle using global refund, since I had to wait for 45 minutes for my turn, but they accepted all of my reciepts, and put the money directly to my bank account. – I chose this.
As for the “Icelandic Tax refund” or something, I could cash it in the tax-free at the airport,or use it for shopping.
– Preben
November 8th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
i know what you are talking about.
i work for one of those companies :)
I live in italy and there there are 3 private companies.
The process is not difficult, but there is a common misleading:
No one will you give cash BEFORE the CUSTOM put a Stamp in your form, and the custom want to see what you are exporting.
if you want to take cash in town, you must give your credit card number as guarantee and you get cash. If you don’t send back the form stamped from the EU custom office, the money will be taken back from your credit card ( no added commision from my company , other does add something).
The biggest problem is the shop that doesn’t give correct information and that the high cost that takes to have an office in every airport ( italy has too much airports ).
also getting EURO is difficult from a lot of companies (not mine again ), they try to sell you dollars at a bad change rate…
Hope it will go better if you come back in italy.
January 26th, 2009 at 8:36 am
does anyone know what is the business model behind globalrefund and the likes?
April 28th, 2009 at 9:31 am