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VAT refunds when leaving Lisbon airport

Posted by on

A heads up if you are leaving Europe from the Lisbon airport and want to get a VAT refund. It took my son almost an hour to figure out and wait in the lines to get his VAT refund. There weren't any directions/instructions as you enter the area (after you go through security and before you enter the duty-free shopping area.) I hope this might save you some time and headache:

  1. Be sure you have your receipt for a VAT refund filled out at the shop where you bought the item. (We watched several people who did not have the proper form wait in line only to be turned away.)
  2. First you have to stand in line to get your receipt stamped by the customs company (it's to your right as you enter the area.) We were there on the morning of 6/29/23 and there was only ONE person working this counter, the line was LONG.
  3. After your receipt is stamped then you are directed to the third-party vendors that contract to offer the refunds. Those offices are to the left as you enter the area. Many people waited in those lines only to discover they had to have their refund forms stamped first.

Give yourself plenty of extra time if you plan to get your refund.

Posted by
131 posts

I don't tend to get VAT refunds unless I've made an expensive purchase. It's usually too much of a pain to be worth it for just some souvenirs. But thanks for the tips, just in case! :)

Posted by
1 posts

We just returned from our Europe Trip from Lisbon last week. Same thing happened to us, along with many others. Mostly everyone went directly to Global Blue Counter and redirected back to the right side. Only ONE person working- to stamp the receipts, verifying the purchases AND CHECKING the items. The Line up was LONG, some left the line not to miss their Flights.
Then returned to Global Blue- another line up for the VAT refund.
Because my purchases were outside Portugal, I cannot use the kiosk. (Quick option)
We spent more than an hour on the line. We arrived at the Airport 3.5hrs before our Flight, we got to our Gate and the boarding has started.

Posted by
16 posts

This reminds me the other pain at the Lisbon airport is you have to go through the passport control point before you can go out to the gates departing for the US and other non EU countries. This line was also long. It took us 20 minutes to get through. Six years ago we it took us 30 minutes to get through this point.

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