I wish I had understood this better while I was in Spain, so I'm going to share it with all you Americans that want to buy big in Spain...

When you go to buy something significant, like luggage, shoes, jewelry, perfume, make sure the shop is willing to give you an official Tax-free Cheque. Most stores played dumb with us (we found out later it was because they themselves don't want to pay taxes on their sale) and didn't give us the Cheque. Word of advice: Pay a little more and get the Cheque.

Before you leave Spain, get your Customs to stamp it. When you return to the US, fill it out and mail it in the envelope you should have been given with the Cheque. You will be reimbursed 10% of your purchase price (the taxes).

You will not be refunded with only the store receipt. It MUST be the official cheque. Plaza del Sol promoted this in many store windows (tourist shopping is big there) and you can get info on it there.

[ 05-06-2001: Message edited by: Antonio ]

As long as you spend over 15,000 pesetas in one store, they should be giving you the tax free check form. And you can actually, in the Madrid airport at least, can get it stamped and mailed out right there. In some instances you will get your money right away (in the airport), others you can get it sent to you or charged back to your credit card. El Corte Ingles is great with the Tax Free checks, if I know I'm going to buy a lot of things, I just try to buy them there, so that most of my things will be on 1 check. They may have a little higher prices than some smaller places, but since your minimum purchase has to be 15,000 ptas, if you buy a lot of little things at all different stores, you'd never reach the minimum so you wouldn't get the tax money back on that stuff anyway, so it all evens out!

Thanks for the information. If I buy any Lladró figurines, those tax-free cheques would be helpful. What are they called? Who stamps them at the airport?

[ 05-06-2001: Message edited by: Carole Chiaro ]

There's a booth set up in the airport (inside the terminal for ticket holders only) with the "Tax Free" logo. You take your documentation there and get the stamps.
If anyone has a connecting flight in the EU, you need to have your documents stamped at the port of exit of the EU. Make sure you have plenty of time to do this. I've arrived on delayed flights without enough time. It's VERY frustrating, especially after having gone through the hassle of getting all the paperwork in order.

In years past you were able to request the tax return in US dollars at Barajas -for some reason this year the choice was Euros or Pesetas only ... or having the refund credit to your charge cards. Did this happen only to me .... or is this part of the move to Euros?

I just left another inquiry post about the same issue. The problem we had was.. WHERE in the terminal (Barajas) is this ^&%** office located....we looked and asked to no avail.
we really thought we had all the info until we got there...nobody knew what we were talking about!! Regards to all. VFF

[ 05-20-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

Hmmm-It's been a while, but if I remember correctly, it was just inside the main entrance, by the airline check-in counters (where the taxi dropped us off).

It was a little glass window (like a teller booth window). I spotted it because of the sign suspended from the ceiling, telling where the line formed. Hope that helps.

I remember it just like Friendly Doc. It was easy to find. We had Lladro and other goodies, and with each purchase we kept adding paper work to our collection. But when we got to the airport and got it all approved, we just hopped on the plane and came home. Two credit card billings later, we had been issued the credits for all our purchases @ 16% of what the price had been.

Of course you have to be aware that there's a chance you may be required to pay tax when you arrive in the US. Now, how can you avoid paying that tax? Hmmmm.....

Wolf

Avoiding taxes in the US is easy. You are allowed a whole bunch of $$ worth without duty (what, $300 per person??). And when you fill out your little declaration form, you put down all sorts of stuff and make sure it
doesnt add up to more than the exemption amount. I always put down the books, turron, little stuff, and oh, yeah, there's a $200 necklace that might be put down as worth $50.... Oh, hello US Customs and Imigration!

[ 05-21-2001: Message edited by: rgf ]

rgf,

Yes, there are ways, aren't there?

Of course I'd never recommend them to anyone. As an example, taking Cuban cigars and putting them into a box that Hondurans came in...

None of us would do anything like that...

Wolf