Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/05/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]It depends on the retailer. The most common method is for the purchaser to pay the full price including VAT. The merchant will give you a special "tax free" cheque which you must have stamped by customs when leaving the EU (not necessarily the country of purchase, just the last country within the EU on your itinerary). After that, you can either mail it to the address on the cheque for processing, and you get your refund by mail, or you can cash it in selected banks at most major airports (I have done it at the UBS branch at Zurich airport). It is a bit of a hazzle but it works. The far more convenient method is the one practiced by some retailers, like Leicabeimeister in Hamburg. They simply deduct the VAT right away when sending an item to a non-EU country. They even deduct the VAT from the shipping charge! Nathan Bud Cook wrote: > This reminds me of when I bought my original kit of Leica R lenses in > Nuremberg. When we left Germany on the train, the German customs officials > climbed in through the window and filled out the paperwork so that I could > eventually recover the VAT. Since I had a bank account in Germany it made > it easy to arrange for the refund. > > I don't know how it works now. - -- Nathan Wajsman Overijse, Belgium and Zurich, Switzerland e-mail: wajsman@webshuttle.ch General photo page: http://members.tripod.com/belgiangator Belgium photo page: http://members.xoom.com/wajsman