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Who Qualifies:
Any non-Thai visitor who is not an airline crew member and departs Thailand by air from an international airport. (These are Bangkok, Chiang Mai, U-Tapao, Hat Yai, and Phuket)
How to Shop and Get Your Refund:
1. Shop must display the "VAT Refund For Tourists" sign.
2. Total purchases must be at least B5000 per person (VAT included). [Not sure what they mean, if a family of 4 is traveling together, do they need at least B20,000 in purchases to qualify for refunds or if only one person in the group is claiming a refund on an item, he/she must have made at least B5000 in purchases during the trip?]
3. Spend minimum of B2000 (VAT included) per store per day. [I assume this means per any one shopping day one is claiming a refund and not for each day of one's stay in Thailand.]
4. Show passport and complete VAT Refund Application at the store on the date of purchase.
5. Attached the ORIGINAL TAX INVOICE[S] to the Refund Application. [Does this mean the sales receipts or is this a separate or duplicate receipt the store provides? As has been posted before, you may need the original receipt to claim warranty service on some items]
Claiming A Refund:
1. BEFORE check-in, present the purchases, completed refund application, and tax invoice[s] to the airport customs office in the departure terminal. (This is before passing immigration/passport control.)
2. Small luxury goods (jewelry, gold, watches, pens, etc. worth B10,000(+) per item must be reinspected at VAT Refund Office after passport control. [I suspect to prevent someone claiming the refund at the customs office before passport control and then passing off the item back to someone in the departure terminal and the item remaining in Thailand.]
3. Receive VAT refund at the VAT Refund Office. [Unclear if this is at the office before passport control or after?]
* If in a hurry, after all customs inspections, completed refund application may be left in a provided box at the Refund Office or mailed to the Revenue Department
** Reminders: No customs inspection = no refund. Purchases less than B5000 per person are not entitled to a refund.
How Refunds Are Paid:
Refund of B30,000 or less in cash (baht), bank draft, or credit card account. [Not sure if you get a choice or they credit the same way the items were originally paid for.]
Refund more than B30,000 - bank draft or credit to credit card account.
Refund Fees:
100 baht processing fee for all refunds (plus any bank/postage charges for bank drafts or credit card refunds).
Non-Qualifying Purchases:
1. Prohibited items. [?]
2. firearms, explosives, and similar items.
3. Gem Stones [assume unset].
Where:
Swampy -
The Custom Inspection office is located at the back of the departure terminal at the end of check-in rows H/J.
the VAT Refund Office is next to the Customs Inspection office (at the end of check-in rows F/G.
Re-inspection office for high value items (post passport control) Concourse area D1-D4 (to the left after passport control) and Concourse area D5-D8 (right after passport control).
Contacts:
VAT Office Swampy: 02-134-0674-8
VAT Refund Office Revenue Dept. Main Office: 02-272-8196-8
www.rd.go.th/vrt
Edited by FarangBuddha, 2010-02-26 12:16:39.
