Logistics of VAT refund question

Your VAT refund has to be processed when you leave the European Union, in your case that'll be the flight from Warsaw. And yes, you'll need to have the purchased item(s) in your hand luggage, as customs can ask you to show them. More often than not I've been asked to produce the purchases.

90 min transfer time in Warsaw will likely be too short to get this done, but it's worth a try. There is also an option to apply from the US, however it involves AFAIK a trip to a consulate or embassy.

When I had a connection in Europe, assuming it’s all on the same ticket, I have always gotten the VAT processed at my first flight. I would try at Milan

They open very early there, so I would not be surprised if they are open when you get there. And if you get lucky and can do it all by the scan. It won’t matter anyway.

You don't have to do VAT at a layover and you don't have time in Warsaw. You do it at your airport of departure, Milan. Good luck on the office or kiosks being available at that hour. You might be out of luck here.

It depends if you stay airside in Warsaw. If you stay in the transit area in Warsaw then your tax and passport issues are sorted in Milan. If your flight is exclusively a EU internal flight you then have to do the leaving the EU stuff (passport stamp, tax refund) in Warsaw.

Thanks all for the responses. Now I'm more confused with the varying answers haha. Even if I get access to the kiosks I still have to visit someone at customs to get the forms stamped, right? Although now that I think about it, last year when I did the refund leaving FCO the customs office turned me away and told me to go directly to the Planet Tax refund desk (after security) and the gentleman took care of it all there. I checked the MXP website and I think the first office opens at 7:30 am, which obviously doesn't work for me. I should try to research some more and see if kiosks are available there.

It's worth noting that if I have to do the paperwork in Warsaw, I will be flying business class (MXP-WAW and WAW-LAX) and I'll be one of the first off the plane. I suppose the same would be true when going through passport control (I'm assuming I'll have priority access). I looked at the map of the airport and it's relatively small so I kinda figured the 90 mins should be enough time if I have to process the paperwork there.

Thoughts?

A couple of background matters first (even though you did not ask). Don't buy anything that if you do not get the refund it is going to be a huge problem. I have done the refund process probably 60 times in several airports in Europe including CDG , MXP and WAW and have gotten every refund except one but I know people who have not been successful. I used to think that the people who do not get their refund must be doing something wrong but on a trip to Paris with girlfriends in 2021, two of the three of us from the United States did not get all of their refunds and we all used the Pablo kiosk on the same day in the same terminal at CDG. I got refunds for all three of my purchases, one friend got one of two back, and the third got four of five. Also, don't forget to keep the item unused and preferably in its original packaging until you exit the EU. Finally, don't waste your time with the embassy process if you cannot find a way to do the refund at the airports. It will cost you a fee at the embassy and here is what the French custom site says about the procedure "This procedure does not apply to travelers who did not present the VAT refund form and/or the related purchases when exiting EU territory. However, if your VAT refund form (issued in France) was not stamped by French Customs upon your departure from the European Union for reasons attributable to French Customs, you may request retroactive certification of the form from the customs office with territorial jurisdiction." Note the attributable to French customs language. On top of that you would have to make an appointment at your local French embassy for certain documentation and pay a fee per item. And again, your request will in all likelihood be denied.
The rule is that you should do the refund at the last stop in the EU and generally speaking if the item is in your hold luggage you can usually get the refund done at your starting point. If I were in your shoes, I would try to do it at a PABLO kiosk at Orly or CDG assuming you are flying to Milan. I know this is contrary to the rules but the kiosks only work for purchases made in the country where the kiosk is located and if you do not use your items and really do leave the EU as planned you will be following the spirit of the rule. If you can't do it Paris, try to do it in Milan. I have been told by a friend who travels to Milan frequently that the customs office is open 24 hours per day. I have no idea if that is correct. You have a short layover and customs officers can be reasonable though I did once see an officer in Rome refuse to do the stamp for a person flying home by way of London back when the UK was still in the EU. That person had a long layover in London. The customs office that I know of in Milan is on Level 2 of check in Area 1. If it does not work out for you in Milan, try in Warsaw but you might not have time because I think the customs office there is outside of security so you would have to go land side and then go back through security to get to your flight.

Thanks a lot for the insight. I will not be flying out of CDG to MXP. I'll be in Cinque Terre and then train over to a hotel near MXP the day before my flight. Like you, I highly doubt that the customs office in MXP is open 24/7, so I'm not going to bet on that.

And you are correct about the customs office in WAW located landside, which is HUGE inconvenience. So what I'm going to do is email Planet Tax Refund (to the best of my knowledge, this will be the tax refund company that Goyard uses). I know for sure that last year when I left FCO and, coincidentally, used Planet Tax the guy behind the window said everything was automatic and I just needed to place my refund form in the mail box next to the window. I got my refund a little over a month later. So, in a way, I'm hoping that the same would be true if I were to claim my refund in WAW, which would eliminate the need to see a customs officer. I'm going to ask them if this is what's being done at WAW.

Also, has there EVER been an instance in which customs can stamp your forms the day before you depart? As I said in my original post, I'll basically have most of the afternoon free at MXP and I figured by then I would already have my boarding pass on my phone (I forget if they need your boarding pass). If this is at all a viable option then I would try doing it this route.

My purchase will be a lot of $$$, so I do think it's worth it to get the refund.

I am interested in hearing what Planet Tax has to say. I am especially interested in knowing if the automatic processing applies to purchases like yours that are processed for refunds in a country that differs from the purchase country. Also, please make sure to ask them if dropping the envelope in the box in Italy will get it to wherever it needs to go to process a refunds for a purchase made in France. I mention that because in 2016 (so yes a long time ago) a dear friend bought a bag Chanel in Paris and did her VAT refund process at her connecting airport. I had a Louis Vuitton purchase and I did the same thing that she did but did it through Global Blue, LV's refund processor, and I got my refund and she did not. It turned out that the postage prepaid envelope from Premier (Chanel's VAT refund processor) was only good for mailing from France. Premier is now Planet.

I will report back as soon I hear from them.

I did more digging and found through the official Dogane website that customs is open 24/7 in T1 at MXP, which should be the terminal I’ll be leaving from. But Planet doesn’t open until 7 am. So, let’s hope I can have customs stamp it in MXP and then I can drop off paperwork at Planet in WAW.

If dogane refuse to stamp my form in MXP then I can only hope that Planet can process automatically in WAW.

Hi all, I called Planet directly to address my questions above. The woman on the phone told me that I would have to do the customs and paperwork stuff in WAW. She also happened to mention that there is a customs office airside in WAW airport.

When I asked her about getting the customs stamp in MXP she said that it's illegal because the flight info will show that my last EU stop is in WAW. So it begs the question of how others were able to get their paperwork sorted prior to their last stop.

In regards to the automated process, she said that only works in France and Italy if you're leaving directly from there.

Does anyone have any more thoughts on this matter?

your ticket is Milan to the US (one ticket right?) with a transfer in Warsaw. I would try to get it all done in MIlan which you probably can do. Once you have your stamp you can deposit in a box in Milan or you can mail it once you get home. You should not have to do anything in Warsaw. If you can do it airside in Warsaw, great -- but I would not worry if you can't.

AND. the advice to never buy anything you would not buy without the tax refund is good. We have had fair luck with this but although we have always done everything we are supposed to do, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. This last fall we had the money in our credit card in about 4 days so I assume the Pablo kiosk sufficed and we didn't need to mail the paperwork. We had dropped it in the box, but there is no way it had gotten to the offices in eastern Europe in that period of time.

Yes, all one ticket.

Since the customs office in MXP is supposedly open 24/7, I will ask there and see what they tell me. If they tell me to do it in WAW then I'll just try to do it there. It's at least comforting knowing that there is a customs office airside.

The nice thing about Planet, from previous experience, is that you can search for the progress of your refund on their website by entering the form number (I've only used Planet and don't know if Global Blue does the same). I mailed mine last year and although it took a few weeks to get my refund the customer service reps were pretty responsive when I asked about the status of the refund.

One other thing I will try to ask for is an instant refund in the store (is that even an option?). I'm ok losing a little bit of the refund if it will save the hassle of getting the paperwork processed at the airport. Since I'm not leaving Paris I doubt my form will have the Pablo logo btw.

"When I asked her about getting the customs stamp in MXP she said that it's illegal because the flight info will show that my last EU stop is in WAW. So it begs the question of how others were able to get their paperwork sorted prior to their last stop."

You can process at the beginning of the trip because there are real people at the customs office who can make exceptions to the general rule as stated by the customer service rep. As said up thread, the rule is that you process the refund at the last stop in the EU. IRL, agents can look at your itinerary and make the judgement call at your first leg of the trip. They are especially willing to do that if the item is in your checked luggage (see below). I mentioned before that I have seen people with a connecting flight in the EU allowed to process at the starting point and I have seen it not allowed. I never do the automatic refund in the city because no matter what you will still need the customs stamp. If that stamp does not come eventually come through, the credit is reversed and your card is charged for the amount that was credited and with exchange rates moving all the time, it is possible that you will be charged more than you were credited.
As I said up thread, do not buy anything that if you do not get the refund, you will be in a "situation" financially. Even if everything goes well, you might not get the refund and you have a lot of spots where it might not work out for you. That being said, try in Milan and if they do not process your refund, try again in Warsaw but be mentally prepared for you not to get the refund either because of the timing or because of a mess up at the VAT refund processor.
Note: If the item is in your checked luggage, you get your boarding pass and do the customs process and then check the luggage. Often if you get your boarding pass manually, the desk agent will tell you to just return to them when you are done with the VAT process and you will not have to wait in line again.

"This last fall we had the money in our credit card in about 4 days so I assume the Pablo kiosk sufficed and we didn't need to mail the paperwork. We had dropped it in the box, but there is no way it had gotten to the offices in eastern Europe in that period of time."

I have been telling people for past couple of years that for purchases made in France, you do not have to mail in the form if you get the green light at the kiosk. I have gotten a refund through Global Blue in a couple of days as well. Global Blue has an online refund tracker that works quite well: https://mcc.globalblue.com/autoTaxRefund

Thanks a lot JHK. I wasn't processing the difference between getting the stamp and processing the refund. Now this makes sense.

JHK. people were debating this at the site and no official seemed to know so we did both just - belts and suspenders.

And Gabriel don't ask permission in Milan to do it there; just do it. They might refuse -- but unlikely. If you ask then you will get the dithering confusing responses you are now getting. We have done this for years always at the airport of departure even if changing planes somewhere else in the EU. And of course advice you get on the internet is worth what you pay for it. But I would confidently present your paper work -- if asked where you are going, it is to the US. You should have that boarding pass in hand.

The correct bureaucratic response to any query is always 'no'. don't ask.

Thank you, much. I'll play "dumb."

Hi all. Back home now and wanted to offer an update on my original post. I had 4 tax free forms from France and one from Italy. In France, the shop owners said I could process the forms in Milan and I didn’t have to do it in Warsaw.

In Italy, I arrived to Milan Malpensa airport the evening before my flight since I was staying at a hotel nearby. I went straight to the Planet Tax Refund window and the woman processed my Italy form immediately. I played dumb and told her my flight was that day (it was actually the following morning).

I had given her the 4 forms from France and she said I need to take them to customs to stamp them and then I could come back to her. Went to customs, the guy asked for my boarding pass (which I had) and he saw my flight was for the following day. He said no, I have to come back tomorrow to get it stamped. Darn! I asked him what time they open tomorrow and he said about 5 am.

I came back the following day at 5 am and to no surprise of mine no one was there. I waited patiently for almost an hour and still no one showed up. I finally asked an airport staff member what time customs opens and she said 7 am. I told her what they told me yesterday and she said today they open at 7 am. I had to get my bags checked in, so I left and I figured I would do it in Warsaw.

In Warsaw I asked where the customs office was and a staff member said there’s one after passport control. Passport control was a mess! Took way longer than anything I’ve experienced before. The gentleman next to me was on the same flight as me and he said he flys out of Warsaw twice a month and that passport control always takes forever due to the war in Ukraine.

Finally got through passport control (and he was right, it was not an easy process) and the customs office was right there in front of me. As I approached the window they were closing up the blinds. I was like, no wait! A woman came out and asked if I was doing the Tax free form and I said yes. She said wait a few minutes. I guess they were dealing with some guy on a different flight that was suspicious. Anyhow, someone eventually attended to me and stamped all 4 forms and didn’t even ask to see the items. He then pointed me to the cash refund desk.

I didn’t want a cash refund because I was concerned about the loss of money due to fees and conversion rates. The lady at the cash refund desk said there are no mailboxes here where I could put the forms in to get mailed. I thought that was strange. She said I can mail them to Europe once I get back home. In hindsight, I should have just did the cash refund, but I knew I had to get to my plane and I didn’t have much time to think about it. The good thing is that all forms were stamped and I’ll be mailing those back to Europe soon.

Moral of the story…don’t trust Italians haha

When you mail them using whatever method (registered or certified mail) the post office offers that allows you to get a proof of delivery. It will cost more that regular postage and is worth it if your refund is large enough.

Yep, that’s the plan.