You have spent all your money and now it is time to save some! We can hear you saying “How can I save money, when I have already spent all while shopping?” or “All brands now sell their products at the same value across countries. Buying here or there makes no difference.”. Well, don’t think that way. Because we saved a considerable amount of money by “not thinking that way”. You can get a 20% discount if you know how to claim tax free shopping. The easiest way is tax free shopping, for which the duty-free shops at airports is not your only option. Actually, you can claim tax refund for loads of goods you bought while wandering around on the streets of the city you visit. Travelers experienced in tax free shopping are probably experts of this procedure and they already know which form to fill, how to calculate the refund amount and rates, how much money must be spent to get a tax refund and how to claim it. If you still haven’t boasted about your shopping “achievements” abroad by saying “This is from Italy, dear…” or, “I bought this from a boutique in France honey, you can’t find it here…”, the following tips may be of use for you 🙂 Below, we will go step by step and explain how to claim tax free shopping and how to shop tax-free abroad.
By the way I want to make an important remark, since “tax free” and “duty free” are the most widely accepted similar words you may see both terms in real life. Now let’s start with some information about the tax free shopping procedure including its meaning, tax free ratios, places where you can claim tax refund, products eligible for tax free and the steps to claim tax free shopping.
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What is tax free shopping?
Suppose you’re in a foreign country and went shopping there. It will be okay if the money you spent there is not used for the funding of that country’s roads or public utilities, as you don’t live there. You can do more shopping with that money instead. That is where the tax free system comes in handy. Actually, the tax-free system is the formal and regulated version of asking the seller “Can I have a discount if I don’t ask for a bill of receipt?”.
We want to clarify one final thing though, to avoid leading to any misunderstanding after all this talk about tax free. Tax free shopping does not mean not paying the tax at all. You should first pay it and then you can claim a refund.
What are tax free ratios?
The tax free ratio changes according to the product you buy. You get a lower tax refund for products which are applied a lower VAT ratio. Tax ratios also vary from country to country.
As a result, it is not that easy to give a percentage on how much you will save by tax …