I live in Switzerland and have got an address in Germany (kind of post box). So i will place an order on amazon.de and will ask them to deliver on my Germany address.
Once the packet is delivered i will pick it from the German side and while coming back at the border i will claim the 19% tax refund and pay the 8% tax on Switzerland side.
I could not find details on it anywhere but i am sure this is possible. I know people does it but i have no clear picture on it.
I would be really appreciated if someone can provide more details on it.
AFAIK there are still goods which Amazon doesn't ship to Switzerland (e.g. electronics).
Here is how it works:
1. You do not need a tax form. You collect the German customs export stamp on the invoice sent by Amazon.
2. You sent de invoice with the customs stamp to
Amazon.de
Zahlungsangelegenheiten (=Accounting)
Im Gewerbepark D 55
Regensburg
93059
Deutschland
together with a German bank account.
3. You wait a few weeks.
Caveat: This is how it works for goods sold by Amazon directly. If you order from one of their partner shops via the Amazon website you need to establish the process with the shop itself. They may or may not reimburse VAT.
Depends on what goods you want shipped, but all Amazon sites will automatically deduct their country’s VAT if you have items shipped to Switzerland. You only need to use your German address if, as xkcd says, it’s something that can’t be shippped into the country.
I inquired to Amazon directly once. They responded with 2 ways:
So, buy whatever you want, ship it to a friend or whatever. Make your the shipping address has your name and BILLING address has your name and your SWISS address.
Take the receipt + product(s) to the zoll (at the airport or at the border) to get it stamped.
1. Refund through Global Blue, but then you only get like 11-12% back instead of 19%.
2. Send the stuff in directly to the address already provided. They'll refund it to you on the method you paid.
This is an interesting discovery, considering that I have made purchase from amazon.de
to clarify my understanding.. the products can be collected in Germany, as long as the shipping and billing address has my name and billing address has the address??
What do you want to buy? Items that are shipped direct to Switzerland will have German VAT taken off automatically. Otherwise you need to get the invoice from Amazon stamped by German customs and sent back to AmazonDE. What’s not to understand.
If it’s coming to Switzerland the VAT should already be taken off from the German end before it’s shipped. Is it something that’s likely to have other duty fees due on it?
Hi, let me clarify. The items are bought in amazon.de and delivered to a company (in Germany) called Swiss paket. The concept of their services is that they have multiple locations nearby the Swiss boarder but still in Germany so your items can be shipped. Otherwise got some items amazon.de and other dealers would not deliver certain products to switzerland.
You do not need the special form. It is enough to get the stamp on the Amazon invoice, which you have received with the order (to the German address, for example). It is important, however, that BILLING address is outside of EU (that could be your address in Switzerland). They will stamp it (they did stamp it for me several times in the past)
Then you need to send the stamped invoice to the address of Amazon refunds (It is all explained above, in post #5)
I ́d strongly advise against using GlobalBlue! They take an undefined chunk out of your refund.
As has been said before, do make sure you use your Swiss address as "billing address", and the delivery address in Germany as needed. (The "billing address" defines only what is printed on the bill enclosed in the package, it is not sent separately.)
Then get a customs stamp directly on the bill - no other paperwork needed.
Lastly, send the stamped bill (no accompanying letter needed) to the address, as provided by xkcd: Amazon will then refund 100% of VAT to the method of payment used to pay the bill.
This is true if you give your Switzerland address as the delivery address, but limited to products on Amazon.de which are listed directly by Amazon. Products listed by 3rd Party sellers on Amazon.de do not have this automatic deduction of German VAT.
I ́d say, with Amazon it ́s guaranteed to work, because they have their procedures in order.
Any Germany-based company using "outside of EU" as the delivery address must(!) deduct VAT, but few companies know and hence do.
However, when using a German delivery address and a Swiss billing address, sending back the stamped bill works in most (not all) cases.
Whenever it ́s critical, contact any vendor before buying and ask whether they ́ll do the refund. --> It may be worth to pay more where it ́s sure to get a refund, over paying less without a refund. Simple maths game.