They are planning to shop at Foxtown and asked me how to get the the Swiss IVA (VAT) refunded. First thing that I thought was Global Blue but it eats most of the refund in fees and other stuff.
Anyone here have experience on it? Is there an alternative to Global Blue?
I have sent an email to the Swiss customs and they impressively replied in a couple of hours that they just control what gets in and out of the borders but "tax refund is not their responsibility".
As customs correctly pointed out, it's not up to them, they just control that the stuff has been exported and stamp the papers.
Normally, once you've got the papers stamped, you have to return to the shop to get the refund.
Exception for me has been with motorcycle parts venders who have known me for years, and trust me to mail them the papers, and thus forego charging me VAT, but that's rare.
Tom
On another occasion I again paid only the tax-free price when I bought a saxophone in Annemasse. In that case, someone from the shop followed me the short distance to the Swiss border in his own car to collect the docs as soon as they had been stamped!
Also, they will have to declare the stuff at the Italian border, with almost 3x the VAT!
Tom
It seems that their only option is just GlobalBlue...
Why to declare anything? Maybe because they see you enter the other State's official custom's declaration office? And officers sometimes - believe it or not - talk to each other?
They'll get you, boy. And if they do, they don't like you. Easy.
Tom
On this same issue, so is it correct to conclude that Global Blue allows Italians to fool Guardia di finanza because they won't need stop by the Swiss customs at the border and thus not attracting attention from GF 100 meters away?
Tom
Tom