VAT Cash Refund in Paris downtown?

You get your VAT forms stamped WHEN YOU EXIT THE EU. The customs stamp certifies the goods have left the EU. You then send the stamped form back to the shop, and they reclaim the VAT and refund you. I am very doubtful that anybody would give you a refund before receiving your stamped form, as they are taking a big risk that you won't bother to send in the form, and they then have a loss.

If you are continuing from Paris to Rotterdam, you are not exiting the EU. France, Belgium and the Netherlands are all in the EU and there is no customs between. You need to get it stamped when you finally leave the EU, wherever that is.

Chris is right.

Sometimes a store will not charge the VAT but put it on a separate credit slip and then just run the slip if they don't receive the stamped form back. You get the stamp at the airport when you fly out of the EU.

I have been able to get my VAT refund on the spot in Italy but never in France. e.g. in Taormina I bought some boots and then walked down the street to a VAT refund place. You could ask at the place where you made the purchase or ask at a major department store. perhaps, they know of a place you can go to in Paris. That was the case in Italy but I haven't found that in France.

Hi All,

thanks for the input. I really appreciate it :)

Yes, I've been able to get a cash refund in downtown Milan on my daytrip from Lugano, Switzerland. I obtained my stamp from the border when the train made a transit. Sometimes the conductor is willing to get onboard the train so the passengers could just stay inside the train. This would happen if there are numbers of passengers who needs stamping.

I don't know as well why I was advised to get the stamp from the train border. From there, I mailed back my stamped form in Lugano, Switzerland. btw the VAT office hold my credit card ID after giving me the cash refund as a guarantee that I'm not staying more than 3mths.

I try to browse through and see there's a downtown tax office in Paris at Rue Scribe, has anyone tried to get cash refund from here?

TIA

Jen, It makes sense now.
Switzerland is not in the EU. If you bought these goods in Switzerland (Lugano), then you got the Swiss forms stamped when you exited Switzerland on the train. If you bought your goods in Milan you would have got your EU forms stamped by Italian customs on your return journey to Lugano.

If you buy goods in an EU country (Paris, Milan, Helsinki, ...) you get the forms stamped when you leave the EU, and only then can you get a refund. The EU is a customs union, so it counts as one big country for customs.

"when the train made a transit" - I assume you mean when the train crossed the border.

"Sometimes the conductor is willing to get onboard the train so the passengers could just stay inside the train. This would happen if there are numbers of passengers who needs stamping." - It is not the conductor, that is the railway company employee who checks tickets, only customs officers can stamp your VAT forms. The customs officers don't know if anybody on board has forms to sign. They get on the train anywhere, walk through the train and do random luggage inspections. Stamping your forms is not their main job.