VAT / Tax Refunds from EU; UK; US, MX

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1
Can anyone provide advice on eligibility for VAT refunds from outside CH. As a resident in CH I still purchase a lot of goods and services from outside the country. This includes:

Online purchases of goods that are imported into CH Purchase of services such as printing online

Purchase of exhibition space in the UK

General purchases for clothing, dining, etc... in the UK, online and instore General purchases when travelling.

All purchases are receipted.

2
You will have to contact the relevant countries.

Tom

3
if the service is provided in the UK / EU then VAT is applicable there. If you import into CH then VAT should not be applied and you just pay the Swiss VAT on importation.

4
But then several items OP lists is not importing so OP will be out of luck there.

5

As others have said you will have to look up the other countries tax regulations.

But as you mention exhibition space, it sounds like some of them might be business expenses. In that case be sure about your Bezugssteuer duties in Switzerland.

https://www.estv.admin.ch/estv/de/ho…zugsteuer.html

6
yes they are all business expenses.

i have registered as a sole trader here in CH for now and as we get more traction will register an AG entity.

i need to understand how i can claim back the vat from the uk.

7
See the answers above.

8
so how can this be claimed?

9

I don't think you can claim back UK VAT if you are not registered for VAT in the UK !!

You get an invoice from UK company for services + VAT and the entire invoice, VAT included is deductible as a business expense.

Are you registered for VAT (MwsT) in Switzerland as if not you cannot claim back and VAT paid in Switzerland.

Think carefully before you register if it is actually worth it, there is a lot of admin and double book keeping which sometimes out weighs the benefit of being Swiss VAT registered.

10

The USA does not have VAT so there is nothing for you to claim back in that sense. More info on the CBP site: https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Artic…language=en_US

11
Most US states have sales tax, and that CAN be claimed back!

Tom

12
Sales tax is not VAT. He may not have known that the USA doesn't have VAT, which is what I was pointing out with a link to a government source.

I may not have mentioned sales tax in my post, but it's there in the link I provided, along with a link to the relevant authorities in each U.S. state.

13
But in most cases he would not have been charged state taxes because the sales would have been out of state in any case.

14
HMS Revenue and the Swiss tax authorities published entire books on the subject and there are consulting firms on the subject. But much of what you have listed you could not claim a refund in any case.