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UK-visiting and general VAT refund issues

Posted by on

Hi everyone!

I'm an international student who will be going on an exchange program in London. I'll be travelling throughout Europe during these 6 months, but I just need to confirm some things!

Say I have to go back to London (to school) after going to Paris for a short getaway, and I have shopped for things in Paris, am I able to apply for a VAT refund (for paris purchases) immediately at CDG before flying back to London?

ALong that line of thought, then can I apply for VAT refund (for my London purchases) at LHR before I fly out to go on a short trip to Paris (after which I will be coming back to continue studying?

I'm not a UK citizen so I'm not sure how this will work.
I'm also a non-visa national who will be applying for entry clearance as a student visitor.

I've heard of students getting stopped at their home country borders and asked to produce/purchase a return ticket home (to make sure that they are returning within 6months)
Is this part of a UK visiting policy?

Any advice on this will be much appreciated!

Posted by
8889 posts

No and No, for two reasons.
1) You claim back the VAT when you leave the EU, so for anything you bought in London or Paris, you must claim the VAT when you finally leave the EU to return to your home country.
2) You can only claim back the VAT if you are not a resident of the EU. It is residence that counts, not citizenship. Since you will have entry clearance as a student visitor, you will be a resident of the UK and cannot claim back VAT.

If students are stopped at their are home country borders, that is to do with the laws of their home countries, not anything to do with UK visiting policy.

Posted by
5333 posts

Look at VAT Notice 704/1 for the UK situation.

If you qualify as an overseas resident studying or working in the UK you can use the scheme if you plan to take the goods out of the EU by the last day of the third month after the one in which you bought them. If you don’t export the goods by the deadline, you won’t get a refund.

Posted by
3603 posts

A couple of other limitations on claiming a VAT refund are:

1) The goods must be unused, and you have to be prepared to show them.

2) There is some minimum value that must be reached before a store will bother with the paper work. It's not an insignificant amount.

3) You can only apply for the refund when you are about to leave the EU; that is, the airport office where you get the required stamps on your documents is beyond security; and you have to show your boarding pass.

Posted by
19 posts

Hi all,

Thanks for your advice.

a very important question I have now is that:

does anyone know whether it is sufficient to buy a ticket from London to Rome (then coming back 30days later) in April, to show as proof that I am leaving the UK within 180 days?

(I will be in London to study for an official period of 5 Feb to 22Jun and will have to show the official student letter)

I really do not want to purchase a return ticket from LHR first as I would prefer to keep my plans flexible and fly out of another country.

It is too late to purchase an open jaw ticket since I already have a one way ticket there.

Please help, I am leaving next week!

Posted by
32905 posts

Buying a ticket is not sufficient. You have to actually use it.

Posted by
5333 posts

Be aware that arriving with no booked final departure from the UK as a student is quite likely to start raising red flags in the minds of the UK Border Force. At the least this could be a long period of questioning.

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