VAT Refund in the EU?

[msamyfarrahfowler]

I need help figuring out where I should claim my VAT refund.  

I'm flying to the UK, where I plan on doing most of my shopping. From the UK, I'll travel to Norway for a week. My return trip from Norway to the US includes a five hour layover in Sweden.   I may or may not venture outside of the airport for the brief layover. 

Do I have the option of claiming the refund in the UK?  Or am I required to get the customs stamp in Sweden?

[Deleted]

You'll need to claim VAT in Norway. It needs to be your last point of departure from the EU.

7.1.2 I'm leaving the UK for another EU country:
Show your goods, till receipts and refund form to customs in the last EU country you visit. The deadline for exporting the goods stays the same regardless of how many countries you visit.

customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageImport_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000141&propertyType=document

[msamyfarrahfowler]

But Norway is not a member of the EU, right?

[frlcb]

Mar 10, 2014 6:19:38 GMT -5 msamyfarrahfowler said:

But Norway is not a member of the EU, right?

It's not. I wouldn't leave the airport in Sweden with only 5 hours and I would claim it in the UK

[Deleted]

Do you have a ticket leaving the EU?

I claimed in Finland even though we went back through Heathrow because I was ticketed all the way through to the US

[GilliC]

Mar 9, 2014 22:57:21 GMT -5 msamyfarrahfowler said:

From the UK, I'll travel to Norway for a week. My return trip from Norway to the US includes a five hour layover in Sweden.   I may or may not venture outside of the airport for the brief layover. 

You should be able to claim it when you're leaving the UK for Norway, because that's when you're leaving the EU after making the purchases. I would definitely at least ask at that point, because otherwise you could end up with problems having taken the items out of the EU and then back into the EU.

[msamyfarrahfowler]

Mar 10, 2014 8:53:21 GMT -5 GilliC said:

Mar 9, 2014 22:57:21 GMT -5 msamyfarrahfowler said:

From the UK, I'll travel to Norway for a week. My return trip from Norway to the US includes a five hour layover in Sweden.   I may or may not venture outside of the airport for the brief layover. 

You should be able to claim it when you're leaving the UK for Norway, because that's when you're leaving the EU after making the purchases. I would definitely at least ask at that point, because otherwise you could end up with problems having taken the items out of the EU and then back into the EU.

How would customs know that I'm taking the items out of the EU and then back in again?  If I get everything stamped in London during the first half of my trip, I intend to store the items in checked baggage for the rest of my flights.

[msamyfarrahfowler]

Mar 10, 2014 6:59:49 GMT -5 @septimus said:

Do you have a ticket leaving the EU?

I claimed in Finland even though we went back through Heathrow because I was ticketed all the way through to the US

Yes, I'll have a ticket for London --> Oslo, Norway. 

[GilliC]

Mar 10, 2014 9:04:16 GMT -5 msamyfarrahfowler said:

Mar 10, 2014 8:53:21 GMT -5 GilliC said:

You should be able to claim it when you're leaving the UK for Norway, because that's when you're leaving the EU after making the purchases. I would definitely at least ask at that point, because otherwise you could end up with problems having taken the items out of the EU and then back into the EU.

How would customs know that I'm taking the items out of the EU and then back in again?  If I get everything stamped in London during the first half of my trip, I intend to store the items in checked baggage for the rest of my flights.

No, I meant if you tried to claim it in Sweden, instead of the UK.

Some of the airlines like to combine boarding passes for multiple flights, so it's possible that your boarding pass could show Norway->Sweden and Sweden->US on the same card. In which case, the VAT counter in Sweden would know that you'd taken the merchandise out of the EU before claiming the VAT, since you'd clearly just arrived from non-EU Norway.

[Deleted]

Mar 10, 2014 6:37:16 GMT -5 frlcb said:

Mar 10, 2014 6:19:38 GMT -5 msamyfarrahfowler said:

But Norway is not a member of the EU, right?

It's not. I wouldn't leave the airport in Sweden with only 5 hours and I would claim it in the UK

Sorry, ignore me. I stupidly assumed that Norway was part of the eu.

I would claim it in the UK.