Hi everyone,

I plan to buy some stuff in Germany this weekend but have just realised that my flight back to Basel will be too early in the morning before the Global Blue office opened at Berlin airport...

Is there any other way round to get my tax-free forms stamped and refund claimed?

Many thanks for this!

there should be a tax point from where ever you buy or will have a form, just have it stamped by the office give back to the shop and if its below 300 chf you will get the money back in refund.

1. The Global Blue Offices do not stamp the Global Blue forms. You need to go to Customs to obtain your stamp (German customs in Germany etc.) .
2. Once the form is stamped you can obtain your refund by mailing it to Global Blue or by taking it to the next Global Blue office. There may be a one-year term for doing that. You should find their locations on the envelope that is usually being handed out by the shops giving you the Global Blue form.
3. The 300 CHF threshold reflects the general threshold for having to pay import duties in Switzerland when taking goods purchased abroad back to Switzerland. It has nothing to do with tax refund at all.

Is this Global Blue thing something new? I've been shopping in Germany for a few years now and only once (the last time) did I get the Global Blue form. Bloody nuisance (if you're not in an airport) having to find an office to collect your VAT., especially as the information on their envelope is out of date and incorrect (the form gives a different address to the one on the envelope). Previously I always sent the stamped VAT refund form back to the shop and had the VAT refunded to my Bank account or Credit card.

On one occasion I brought back goods by car from the UK and was told by UK customs in Dover that they could not stamp the form but I would have to have it stamped at a border crossing leaving the EU (in my case Germany). It worked.