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Horizon tax free card

Posted by (Michigan, United States) on

We are going on a tour of Ireland beginning next week and our tour company (CIE Tours) sent us these plastic Horizon cards to use for tax free shopping. When I go online to register, they want my passport number. Not comfortable giving that info so my question is this...how much taxes can we expect to pay in Ireland on goods? Just buying general souvenirs so I don't expect to be spending an exorbitant amount of money in Ireland. Guessing maybe $500 or less. What would be the tax on that? Just need to decide if its worth it to do this. We've been to London, Paris, Rome, Venice & Paris and never did a VAT tax refund before. Thanks in advance.

Diana

Posted by
23296 posts

The VAT is around 20%. I don't know these cards work. My understanding of the VAT refund is that it is only good for the items that you take out of the country and not on anything consumed in the country. But I would not be concerned about giving my passport number since it is nearly meaningless. It only ties to your record in the gov't's computer. It is not like a credit card number that can be duplicated on a fake card. Cannot make a fake passport from your number.

Posted by
69 posts

You know we spent about the same amount last time we went and I don't remember any excessive amount of tax. We never even bothered with the Vat tax refund. I think if you were gonna go over and spend several thousand dollars it might be worth it.
We are returning in June and actually going to buy wedding rings so will be checking into it this time.

Posted by
1172 posts

It is only on merchandise that you are taking out of the country. Like you, I was not comfortable putting my passport number on a site. You can also register at a kiosk at the airport. For what we brought back, it was not worth the hassle to stand in line.

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