Recently on a trip to Ireland and as I was exiting the country I stopped by the VAT refund desk to have my refund slips processed. I asked for the refund to be put onto my credit card in euros (as I had a AMTRAK Visa with a 1% currency conversion fee). They wouldn't do it, they insisted that I had to take the refund in the native currency of the credit card!. Of course the exchange rate was nothing short of highway robbery, well over 5% off the going rate. All this made me want to get a EURO denominated credit card just for that purpose. Does anyone know a way around this?

[This message has been edited by tsedg (edited 11-05-2002).]

The European V.A.T. refund schemes just skirt the boundary of fraud land in my opinion.

It was even worse before the Euro changeover... my refund was converted from lire into pounds into dollars... lost at least 30% in the transaction.

On the other hand, does New York (for instance) exempt tourists from its hefty sales taxes?

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"Yes, but at least mine will be found in a first class seat." -- Peattie and Taylor

Hefty? Perhaps in relation to most other U.S. jurisdictions but it's still lower (on goods) than whatever it is in the U.K. and most of Europe.

Anyway, I saw something about X'mas shopping in NYC in a U.K. paper (Times IIRC) a few years ago referring to an obscure sales tax rebate policy (not that I can find it again).

I got cheated by the Canadian so-called VAT refund plan.

Next time, I'm not even going to bother trying.

Did you use the official rebate system or one of those private ones? The private ones are a ripoff. The Government one is fairly good if slow.

I've used the public one and I'd agree with Terenz. The only problem is that cashing a cheque drawn on a Canadian bank in Europe can incur hefty fees and, in some jurisdictions, banks can be reluctant to accept them at all.
The South African system, where the claim is checked and the cheque issued right away and can be cashed immediately at the airport is much more user-friendly.

I've never had a problem with it and it does save me money. Allthough standing in line to get your receipts stamped with customs is not always worth the hassle.

Thanks for starting this thread -- I just got ripped off by the same scheme in Italy, this one operated by www.globalrefund.com. I even contacted their customer service to get the amount reversed and posted in EUR, and they did insist that they couldn't do it -- they would only reimburse in USD at a "seller's rate", which in my case was 6% worse than the actual exchange rate. Payment is also rounded to $.50, and am assuming it's always rounded to the LOWER $.50. Given that they already skim 7 percentage points from the 20% VAT rate, I ended up with a refund of 12.2% -- quite a rip-off.

BTW, supposedly if you get the refunds in person at their airport counter, you can choose to be reimbursed in cash, and that can be in EUR (no 6% exchange rate loss).

The above is just absolutely awful. I thought there were laws in EU countries that businesses are OBLIGATED to use the legal tender of the country (i.e. EUR) when asked -- anybody knows more about this?

Canada is another matter, as you (not the merchant) chooses who gives you the refund. As long as you don't give authorization to private companies scams to file the form for you, and you simply download and mail the official form at http://www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca/E/pub/tg/.../rc4031-e.html , you get 100% of the tax back -- even converted back to a US check payable in a US bank at a favorable exchange rate!!!

Let's compare ease of refund in various countries:

U.K. (LHR 4) - get forms endorsed and refunded (in GBP) after security - never had them look at the goods (what do you do with stuff that you have to check-in?).

Germany (FRA 2) - get the stuff looked at by customs after check-in (bags get accompanied to the post). Get refund in native currency after security/passport control.

LAst I looked the highest sales tax in the US was 8.25%. The highest in Europe is 20% or so. If you purchase many goods in NY under $120, there is no sales tax (on clothing items mostly, but also sales tax is not charged on everything the same as Europe).

Lastly if you make interstate transactions in the US you can often avoid sales tax altogether (oh yeah, and prices on most comsumer goods in the US are between 20%-40% cheaper than in most Eu countries).

I was annoyed in Hamburg when I didn't look up to see a little sign with small print posted above the check-in counter. It said to go to security first before check-in to present your items. Unfortunately, I had already checked my bags. Think the sign could have been bigger?

well, when diamonds are my wife's best friend it is always worth it to me.

"happy wife, happy life"

I never use the private agency Tax Refunds forms now being pushed at Canadian hotels. It is best to send them in to the Government office and get full refund in US dollars on check payable in the US.