International visitors to Houston and San Antonio can receive the tax back charged to them if they submit their receipts along with their receipts, passport, airline ticket/I-94, and some times purchases. In Houston, the office is located in the Houston Galleria, thus making purchases their applicable to receiving tax back. Also, purchases done within close proximity to the Galleria can also qualify for tax back. A list of approved stores can be obtained in addition to more information can be found on the following website:
TAX FREE - UNITED STATES FOR VISITORS Also, in the United States, the Louisiana thread http://www.louisianataxfree.com/ is on target with a rebate for foreign visitors.
Other states just don't have a sales tax: Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Montana, New Hampshire http://www.visitnh.gov/tax-free-shopping.html and Oregon.
Still other states don't tax food items at a grocery, children's clothing, OTC medicines, etc. There is a Wikipedia web page on this, with the various state information links: Wikipedia Sales Tax Free Shopping U.S. FAQ page
Please note, that Hawaii most certainly charges a tax on things purchased, although it is not officially a sales tax. The states that do not have a sales tax are on most items: Delaware, New Hampshire, Alaska, Oregon and Montana. Many NE states do not charge sales tax on certain clothing transactions...including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and most of New York state.
To anyone who has read the initial thread, Canada has gotten rid of this. Nice visitor friendly country that. Might be best to stay stateside as a result.
I do not know of a centralized resource (FlyerTalk or otherwise) where one can access a list of countries that offer a rebate (cash, tax or otherwise) to visitors.
For example, I was in Italy twice and did not know that that country had a program.
The purpose of this thread is to give visitors of foreign nations, territories and other autonomous governments and regions a list of countries that offer a rebate of any sort, as well as a list of qualifications to apply for that rebate.
With the help of other FlyerTalk members, this thread will become quite a comprehensive list of resourceful information that may be quite useful to FlyerTalk members who could gain valuable knowledge and legally profit from it.
Besides the usual purchase refunds, if you are travelling on Business (you define it) and you are not an EC person, you can recover the VAT from your hotel bills, a goodly sum sometimes.
I got a booklet from HM Customs and Excise that gives the rules for the EC countries. Look at www.hmce.gov.uk See "VAT 65A - Application for refund of VAT by a business person who is not established in the community."
Of course it is up to you what you do with the refund...........
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The Canada rebate program changed in 2007. GST/HST rebates are limited to participants in defined tour operator programs and foreign conventions held in Canada. See http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/bsnss/tp.../menu-eng.html
ICELAND
Just returned from Reykjavik (KEF) Iceland.
You can get a tax rebate when you buy in one place for a minimum of ISK4000 (approx
us$ 35-40 )
You can get the money at several location in town + at the Airport.
Michael
With a bit of planning, foreign visitors to Texas can get the hefty sales taxes refunded... this website is in addition to the previous post mentioning a firm that offers rebates in Houston and San Antonio.
