UK Refund of VAT for non-residents?

What is the process and how difficult is it for a traveler to England to
obtain a refund for any VAT paid? I have been told this is possible but
am not sure how to go about doing this. I suppose it will depend on
just how much is spent while visiting in deciding whether it is worth
doing. What is the VAT % in England?

milesh wrote:

What is the process and how difficult is it for a traveler to England to
obtain a refund for any VAT paid? I have been told this is possible but
am not sure how to go about doing this. I suppose it will depend on
just how much is spent while visiting in deciding whether it is worth
doing. What is the VAT % in England?

VAT is 17.5%. It's not difficult really, but there a few rules, and you
want to read them in _advance_ of making a purchase. The following
government website is IMO quite clear, and will give you current
information.

http://www.hmce.gov.uk/public/vatrefunds/vatrefunds.htm

David

--
David Horne- (website under reconstruction)
davidhorne (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk

David Horne wrote:
VAT is 17.5%. It's not difficult really, but there a few rules, and you
want to read them in _advance_ of making a purchase. The following
government website is IMO quite clear, and will give you current
information.

http://www.hmce.gov.uk/public/vatrefunds/vatrefunds.htm

Thanks David, very informative sight. It does mention possible charges
made by some retailers when asking for a VAT reclaim document. Is this
very common? Do the majority of retailers have this document available?
The biggest single expenditure will be our hotel. Other items add up
quickly though such as show tickets and restaurant tabs.

David Horne wrote:

VAT is 17.5%. It's not difficult really, but there a few rules, and you
want to read them in _advance_ of making a purchase. The following
government website is IMO quite clear, and will give you current
information.

Oh, that reminds me. The site you gave indicates I must bring purchases
to customs for inspection. This would imply that the refund is only for
tangible goods and not services such as hotel, restaurant etc.? Is this
corrent?

Most VAT's are actually "Use" taxes. Since you use the services while you
are there you pay the tax. The goods are shipped out of the UK and not used
there. That is why the excise/custom people wish to inspect the item or the
shipping documents for said item. Does that help?

"Miles" wrote in message
news:uODKb.425817$J77.28879@fed1read07...


David Horne wrote:

VAT is 17.5%. It's not difficult really, but there a few rules, and you
want to read them in _advance_ of making a purchase. The following
government website is IMO quite clear, and will give you current
information.

Oh, that reminds me. The site you gave indicates I must bring purchases
to customs for inspection. This would imply that the refund is only for
tangible goods and not services such as hotel, restaurant etc.? Is this
corrent?

+GF+ wrote:
Most VAT's are actually "Use" taxes. Since you use the services while you
are there you pay the tax. The goods are shipped out of the UK and not used
there. That is why the excise/custom people wish to inspect the item or the
shipping documents for said item. Does that help?

Thanks, that makes sense. In other countries I have been to the tax is
a sales tax and not a use tax. In the USA, the only way I know of to
avoid this sales tax is to purchase goods at duty free stores near the
border. Often someone escorts you and your goods across the border.

Most sales taxes are actually use taxes. For example: (assuming that you
lived in the US) that is why a California "sales" tax cannot be enforced in
any other state, but the state of your residence may choose to enforce its
own "sales" tax. End of example.

By leaving the state/country at the border you are actually avoiding the use
tax for that state/country that is charged at the point of sale and misnamed
a sales tax.

The alcohol taxes are more convoluted so I will not use that as an example.

Originally posted by Milesh

What is the process and how difficult is it for a traveler to
England to

obtain a refund for any VAT paid? I have been told this is
possible but

am not sure how to go about doing this. I suppose it will depend on

just how much is spent while visiting in deciding whether it is worth

doing. What is the VAT % in England?



When you get the goods you ask for the Tourist VAT Refund form and they
will fill out part of it and get you to fill in the rest. When you
leave the EU show the form to customs (there will be an office in some
invonvenient part of the airport) and they will stamp it. Customs will
sometimes want to see the goods. Send the form to the refund company
and they will give you the money. Refunds can be credited to your
credit card, be sent by cheque or you can pick up the cash at some
bureaux de changes.



Read the above link because there are further details.


--
Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Miles wrote:

David Horne wrote:
VAT is 17.5%. It's not difficult really, but there a few rules, and you
want to read them in _advance_ of making a purchase. The following
government website is IMO quite clear, and will give you current
information.

http://www.hmce.gov.uk/public/vatrefunds/vatrefunds.htm

Thanks David, very informative sight. It does mention possible charges
made by some retailers when asking for a VAT reclaim document. Is this
very common?

I think you'd have to wait for others to respond. I'm a UK citizen, and
even while living in the US for over a decade, couldn't claim the
refund. My suspicion is that the charges are a rip-off, but I'd also
point out that the "VAT-free" shops tend to be on the pricey side. I
suppose what I'm saying is this- unless you buy a very expensive item
only available at a very set price- I'm not sure if there's a point in
going the VAT-refund route.

But, as I said, better to get reponses from people who've actually
gotten the refund.

David

--
David Horne- (website under reconstruction)
davidhorne (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk

On Tue, 06 Jan 2004 21:35:39 +0000, bondipom
wrote:


Originally posted by Milesh

What is the process and how difficult is it for a traveler to
England to
obtain a refund for any VAT paid? I have been told this is
possible but
am not sure how to go about doing this. I suppose it will depend on
just how much is spent while visiting in deciding whether it is worth
doing. What is the VAT % in England?

When you get the goods you ask for the Tourist VAT Refund form and they
will fill out part of it and get you to fill in the rest. When you
leave the EU show the form to customs (there will be an office in some
invonvenient part of the airport) and they will stamp it. Customs will
sometimes want to see the goods. Send the form to the refund company
and they will give you the money. Refunds can be credited to your
credit card, be sent by cheque or you can pick up the cash at some
bureaux de changes.

You need to add that the goods must still be new, i.e., thay
can't have been used in the EU. When we got a VAT refund the
store had sealed the packaging for the item and we got a sort of
certification of such from the airport check-in person when we
checked the item. We got our refund from one of the shops on the
concourse (this was at Helskinki airport).

************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
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