Tax Free Shopping…Help

[Shone216]

On a recent European cruise we bought some gifts in one of the shops onboard. We were given a form to complete to get a refund on the tax and told we wouldn’t have to do anything else as Royal would deal with it and to expect the refund in a couple of weeks on the card used for purchase. We disembarked 23rd Sept and so far no credit received….has anyone else had this issue and if so could you advise on point of contact

[Biker19]

6 hours ago, Shone216 said:

has anyone else had this issue and if so could you advise on point of contact

I think you were given bogus info - most reporting suggest you should have requested the VAT refund at the point of departure airport.

[ARandomTraveler]

Are you talking about the VAT tax refund? There's a minimum purchase you have to make in order to qualify for it, but if you make that minimum purchase, you can request the VAT tax to be refunded at the airport before you fly home. 
 

In order to do that, you have to get some paperwork from the store when you make your purchase. There's 2 ways they can do it. One is the easy way (which requires you to have your passport with you), and the other is the "hard" way.
 

If you have your passport with you, the store will fill out some paperwork and give it to you in an envelope that looks something like this (below), which contains your purchase receipt as well as a form they filled out containing the amount of your purchase and how much of it was tax, your passport info etc., and it has a barcode on it.

 

When you leave the country, there are kiosks at the airport where you scan the barcode on the top of the form, and you'll eventually get the VAT tax refunded to the credit card you paid with. 
 

If you didn't give your passport to the store, there's a bit more work that you need to do at the airport. You still need to have gotten this paperwork from the store, but since the paperwork won't contain your passport information, I think you have to fill out some extra stuff at the kiosk, perhaps show documents to someone in person, and then drop the envelope in a mailbox of some sort. I'm not sure how that process works because I did it the passport way.

 

If you look at the bottom left of the envelope, you'll see the English instructions for using the kiosk. It says that if you scan your barcode and get a  green screen with "ok. Form valid" then you don't need to do anything further (this is how it worked for me).
 

If you get the red screen, it's because the store didn't do all the paperwork with your passport, and you have to go see someone (the instructions say you have to see someone at customs, but I recall there being someone on hand around the kiosks who could do whatever it is they do, and then after you see that person, you have to drop your envelope in a box for further processing). 
 

The store was mistaken, it's not automatic unless you gave them your passport and they filled out the form on your behalf. And even then, you still have to scan the barcode at the kiosk. If you didn't do that, you didn't complete the process, and I wouldn't expect the refund. 
 

Some stores can give you the VAT tax refund at the time of purchase (that's how this purchase in my photo below worked). I guess scanning the barcode is just for validation purposes.  
 

Edited October 26, 2022 by ARandomTraveler

[crazyank]

4 hours ago, Biker19 said:

I think you were given bogus info - most reporting suggest you should have requested the VAT refund at the point of departure airport.

Bogus info indeed.  VAT refunds should be done at point of departure before you leave the country.

[ARandomTraveler]

36 minutes ago, ARandomTraveler said:

Are you talking about the VAT tax refund? There's a minimum purchase you have to make in order to qualify for it, but if you make that minimum purchase, you can request the VAT tax to be refunded at the airport before you fly home. 
 

In order to do that, you have to get some paperwork from the store when you make your purchase. There's 2 ways they can do it. One is the easy way (which requires you to have your passport with you), and the other is the "hard" way.
 

If you have your passport with you, the store will fill out some paperwork and give it to you in an envelope that looks something like this (below), which contains your purchase receipt as well as a form they filled out containing the amount of your purchase and how much of it was tax, your passport info etc., and it has a barcode on it.

 

When you leave the country, there are kiosks at the airport where you scan the barcode on the top of the form, and you'll eventually get the VAT tax refunded to the credit card you paid with. 
 

If you didn't give your passport to the store, there's a bit more work that you need to do at the airport. You still need to have gotten this paperwork from the store, but since the paperwork won't contain your passport information, I think you have to fill out some extra stuff at the kiosk, perhaps show documents to someone in person, and then drop the envelope in a mailbox of some sort. I'm not sure how that process works because I did it the passport way.

 

If you look at the bottom left of the envelope, you'll see the English instructions for using the kiosk. It says that if you scan your barcode and get a  green screen with "ok. Form valid" then you don't need to do anything further (this is how it worked for me).
 

If you get the red screen, it's because the store didn't do all the paperwork with your passport, and you have to go see someone (the instructions say you have to see someone at customs, but I recall there being someone on hand around the kiosks who could do whatever it is they do, and then after you see that person, you have to drop your envelope in a box for further processing). 
 

The store was mistaken, it's not automatic unless you gave them your passport and they filled out the form on your behalf. And even then, you still have to scan the barcode at the kiosk. If you didn't do that, you didn't complete the process, and I wouldn't expect the refund. 
 

Some stores can give you the VAT tax refund at the time of purchase (that's how this purchase in my photo below worked). I guess scanning the barcode is just for validation purposes.  
 

I did a little more investigating into my own refunds because I haven't gotten them yet, and I realized there's a website on the envelope that you can go to, and input the numbers from your barcode on your paperwork. This will tell you where your refund is. 
 

The receipt in my photo above was from a purchase where I was able to get my refund at the point of sale, probably because it was a really small amount ($16). I still had to validate it at the airport though. 
 

I looked into all my other refunds and they all say that the refunds are still in process and that they take up to 30 days. I'm at 34 days and haven't received them yet, but assume I'll get them eventually. 
 

Here's the link to track your refund, assuming that the paperwork the store gave you has the barcode, you can check yours. If you didn't go to the kiosk at the airport though, I don't think your paperwork will have been processed, unless the cruise ships do it differently. Either way, go to this link and put in the numbers and you should have your answer.

 

https://www.planetpayment.com/en/home/#

Edited October 26, 2022 by ARandomTraveler

[Shone216]

Thankyou for your replies. Yes it is the VAT refund …..our purchase onboard was $347, we were told any purchase over $100 qualified for the refund. We completed paperwork at the onboard store (Marco Polo)the assistant said that Royal Carribean would take care of it and to expect the refund on our card used to settle our bill. She also did exactly the same with a couple who purchased goods at the same time as us. 
We bought a couple of items at ports and were given the appropriate receipts by the shops and had no problem getting a refund at Barcelona airport on our way home.

Looks like we as I suspect others have been duped…does anyone know of a specific email contact I could use to try and rectify

[Biker19]

4 hours ago, Shone216 said:

Looks like we as I suspect others have been duped…does anyone know of a specific email contact I could use to try and rectify

Even if you could contact someone, I don’t think there’s anyway to rectify or get the VAT refund after you’ve left. 

[Joseph2017China]

So, if it was done on the ship.....the ship only submits the paper work, and a tax office determines the outcome and refund amount.  

 

So all the ship did was submit the paperwork and it is now out of their hands