The Secrets of Tax Free Shopping and other Madrid, Spain Shopping Tips

Name of Shop: All Shops

Tax Free shopping is available for non-EC tourists and it means getting a refund for the VAT you paid . However, you won't get the full amount but part of it, usually around 10%, depending on the amount spent at each shop. Minimum purchase is 90 euros in the same store or chain of stores to qualify for the refund. You can add tickets for purchases made in different days and even cities, and then submit them to the shop to get the paperwork done.

To get your money back in cash you have to present these forms signed and stamped by both the shop and a customs officer at the airport where you dispatch your luggage to your final destination on your way back. Not the last airport you step in but the one where you last handle your luggage. Follow me?

The catch is that you are suppossed to show the goods that you purchased to a customs agent in order to get his approval and stamp your forms but this happens behind the airline counter AFTER you check in and handle your luggage in. Our purchase were moderate so the officer bypassed this requirement as we had already delivered our bags to the airline.

Now the final step. With the forms ready you either have to go to a Western Union office in the airport hall or a Duty Free Shop named Aldease on the preembark area. It all depends on which of the 2 Tax Free companies work with your shop. Then you get your money back in cash.



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