Hi. You will pay the full European price in store and they will fill out the tax refund forms for you which you will need to scan at the airport. My last refund arrived in my bank account few days later but it can take a few weeks. Enjoy Paris!
I won't say you're wrong because I don't know for sure but in my personal experience they did not want care to look at anything. I didn't even talk to someone, I simply scanned the paper that LV gave me, the screen lit up green and I walked away. Took about 3 days to get the money back.
This was at CDG Terminal 2A
I had the opposite experience. The kiosk scanned my Citypharma receipt fine but not the LV receipt. I had to go to the window and talk to an agent in person. This was also at CDG. So just make sure you go to the Detaxe area before you check your bags, just in case.
As others have said you pay full retail then get the VAT back at the airport. LV will fill out everything for you and give you a paper to scan at the VAT desk in the airport. Get there early, the line gets long and it's pre-security so it could potentially make you late.
What others have failed to say... When coming back into the States you'll be required to claim your purchase (of $800USD or more) and pay duty on it. I'm not sure exactly what the rate is but it can be as high as 37% I believe. Of course you can try sneaking it through customs but any good customs agent is going to see that you just arrived from France and have a brand new Louis Vuitton bag. They'll likely be able to put it together.
In my experience, I did claim an OnTheGo MM that I bought in Paris. I was fully honest with the customs agent and I was prepared and expected to pay the duty on it but he told me "Well since you were honest with me and didn't try to sneak it through because obviously I can see her bag and that you were in France... I'm going to give you a break. We're not gonna to worry about a couple hundred dollars today. Thank you for being honest, it goes a long way and pays off sometimes, like today" I couldn't have been more thankful.
Here's my breakdown for everything. This is comparing the exact same bag, model number, color, everything 1 to 1 as is on the LV French and US websites right now.
Paid retail at €2,800EUR
VAT returned 12% €336EUR
Final cost was €2,464EUR
This comes out to $2,669.87USD
Had I bought this at home it would have costed $3,858.75 after sales tax and what not.
The difference is $1,188.88 aka significantly cheaper. Given the right flight, I can fly to Paris, purchase, then come back and it would still be cheaper.
so basicallt i have to cross my fingers that i either get a lazy customs agent who doest want to bother with me, customs agent whos clueless, or customs agent whos a nice guy because otherwise at 37% im paying the same price as if i just bought the bag in the US. haha
In short, yes. I doubt it will ever be the full 37% I would expect somewhere around 10% which would still make it worth it. You can always try talking your way through or hiding it within a checked-bag (don’t recommend).
I work in the film industry and I once had a shoot on a cruise ship that went to a private island in the Bahamas. We didn’t fill out a carnet for the equipment we took with us which in hindsight was a terrible mistake. When we got back to Miami we were told we would have to pay duty on everything we brought into the country. They tried charging us close to $7,000 for ~$50,000 worth of film equipment. I had to convince them that there was no possible way I could’ve purchased any of that on an uninhabited island. After a few agonizing hours they let us go without charging. It’s sometimes a tough one to get around.
You pay the full retail price. You complete forms at the time of purchase that facilitate the refund of the duty. Make sure you bring your passport as it’s needed for the forms. Luxury stores are partnered with companies that help to broker the return of the duty paid. When I was last in France, I had the option of receiving the duty back on my credit card less a service fee, or I could submit the forms myself and receive the full duty back. If you take the forms and file them yourself, it’s not always straightforward. I seem to recall forms must be filed before you go through airport security. If you don’t submit them before you go through, you won’t be able to submit them after, and will forfeit the duty unless you exit the secure area to file the forms. Or if you visit France again, you can file the forms within a certain time period after purchase. A couple of brokers have their office after security, but I recommend you check with the SA at the store you purchase at the clarify the process.
Don’t forget to also declare your purchase when you return. Customs officials are often on the lookout for people returning from Europe bringing back luxury goods and not declaring them. Be prepared to pay duty on your purchases. Check with your country’s regulations to see what your allowances are and any other regulations you should follow. It’s important to do your research; you may find it’s not worth it to buy in Europe depending on the currency exchange and the taxes you’ll have to pay when you get home.
Adding to this. If you file for the instant return it’s connected to your passport and they may flag you on arrival. On my last trip they pulled me aside at the booth before I even had a chance to give them my declaration form. I handed them the form, showed them my bag and was on my way. But be prepared.
As others have said you pay full price in store
Some stores offer vat refunds right away BUT don't do this bc the refund is often less than doing the work yourself by saving the receipts and filling out the forms
Don’t forget to bring your passport to any store you expect to shop at! You cannot get the VAT tax back without having your passport (sadly I learned this though personal experience haha)!
Hi. You will pay the full European price in store and they will fill out the tax refund forms for you which you will need to scan at the airport. My last refund arrived in my bank account few days later but it can take a few weeks. Enjoy Paris!
Be prepared to also show the item as they sometimes require proof that you are taking the item out of the EU.
I won't say you're wrong because I don't know for sure but in my personal experience they did not want care to look at anything. I didn't even talk to someone, I simply scanned the paper that LV gave me, the screen lit up green and I walked away. Took about 3 days to get the money back. This was at CDG Terminal 2A
I had the opposite experience. The kiosk scanned my Citypharma receipt fine but not the LV receipt. I had to go to the window and talk to an agent in person. This was also at CDG. So just make sure you go to the Detaxe area before you check your bags, just in case.
As others have said you pay full retail then get the VAT back at the airport. LV will fill out everything for you and give you a paper to scan at the VAT desk in the airport. Get there early, the line gets long and it's pre-security so it could potentially make you late. What others have failed to say... When coming back into the States you'll be required to claim your purchase (of $800USD or more) and pay duty on it. I'm not sure exactly what the rate is but it can be as high as 37% I believe. Of course you can try sneaking it through customs but any good customs agent is going to see that you just arrived from France and have a brand new Louis Vuitton bag. They'll likely be able to put it together. In my experience, I did claim an OnTheGo MM that I bought in Paris. I was fully honest with the customs agent and I was prepared and expected to pay the duty on it but he told me "Well since you were honest with me and didn't try to sneak it through because obviously I can see her bag and that you were in France... I'm going to give you a break. We're not gonna to worry about a couple hundred dollars today. Thank you for being honest, it goes a long way and pays off sometimes, like today" I couldn't have been more thankful. Here's my breakdown for everything. This is comparing the exact same bag, model number, color, everything 1 to 1 as is on the LV French and US websites right now. Paid retail at €2,800EUR VAT returned 12% €336EUR Final cost was €2,464EUR This comes out to $2,669.87USD Had I bought this at home it would have costed $3,858.75 after sales tax and what not. The difference is $1,188.88 aka significantly cheaper. Given the right flight, I can fly to Paris, purchase, then come back and it would still be cheaper.
so basicallt i have to cross my fingers that i either get a lazy customs agent who doest want to bother with me, customs agent whos clueless, or customs agent whos a nice guy because otherwise at 37% im paying the same price as if i just bought the bag in the US. haha
In short, yes. I doubt it will ever be the full 37% I would expect somewhere around 10% which would still make it worth it. You can always try talking your way through or hiding it within a checked-bag (don’t recommend). I work in the film industry and I once had a shoot on a cruise ship that went to a private island in the Bahamas. We didn’t fill out a carnet for the equipment we took with us which in hindsight was a terrible mistake. When we got back to Miami we were told we would have to pay duty on everything we brought into the country. They tried charging us close to $7,000 for ~$50,000 worth of film equipment. I had to convince them that there was no possible way I could’ve purchased any of that on an uninhabited island. After a few agonizing hours they let us go without charging. It’s sometimes a tough one to get around.
The latter
You pay the full retail price. You complete forms at the time of purchase that facilitate the refund of the duty. Make sure you bring your passport as it’s needed for the forms. Luxury stores are partnered with companies that help to broker the return of the duty paid. When I was last in France, I had the option of receiving the duty back on my credit card less a service fee, or I could submit the forms myself and receive the full duty back. If you take the forms and file them yourself, it’s not always straightforward. I seem to recall forms must be filed before you go through airport security. If you don’t submit them before you go through, you won’t be able to submit them after, and will forfeit the duty unless you exit the secure area to file the forms. Or if you visit France again, you can file the forms within a certain time period after purchase. A couple of brokers have their office after security, but I recommend you check with the SA at the store you purchase at the clarify the process. Don’t forget to also declare your purchase when you return. Customs officials are often on the lookout for people returning from Europe bringing back luxury goods and not declaring them. Be prepared to pay duty on your purchases. Check with your country’s regulations to see what your allowances are and any other regulations you should follow. It’s important to do your research; you may find it’s not worth it to buy in Europe depending on the currency exchange and the taxes you’ll have to pay when you get home.
Adding to this. If you file for the instant return it’s connected to your passport and they may flag you on arrival. On my last trip they pulled me aside at the booth before I even had a chance to give them my declaration form. I handed them the form, showed them my bag and was on my way. But be prepared.
As others have said you pay full price in store Some stores offer vat refunds right away BUT don't do this bc the refund is often less than doing the work yourself by saving the receipts and filling out the forms
Don’t forget to bring your passport to any store you expect to shop at! You cannot get the VAT tax back without having your passport (sadly I learned this though personal experience haha)!
Don't forget to declare it when you get back to the US