Purchasing in out-tax stores during a trip is a real way to do good business. But you still have to keep this detail in mind so as not to have unpleasant surprises on arrival …
During a trip abroad, many people are delighted to go through the Duty Free. These shops, often established in international ports and airports, but also sometimes in particularly tourist places, do not apply the various taxes on consumer goods provided for by the law of the country in which they are found. It is therefore an opportunity to do good business!
But you still have to be well informed of the regulations. For example, the out-of-tax sale has been removed in the context of internal trips to the European Union, because it is a customs union. This means that you may have to pay taxes even for a purchase made at the Duty Free in Paris, and that we go to Madrid, for example. Then, you should know that what we buy in his country of departure must be declared to the customs of this country on the return.
This is explained by the creator of content specializing in law, economics and finance Masdak. To take the example he gives in his video, if you buy a luxury bag at the off -tax store, so that it costs 2500 euros instead of 3000 euros, starting from France to Dubai, we can think that VAT will not be counted, since we go well abroad. Except that customs officers will be able to sanction you on the return: “Purchases to duty free are exempt from VAT only if they are exported definitively outside the European Union. The goods are taxed in the country of their final consumption” recalls the specialist.
Thus, in the case cited above, if customs intervenes when we return to France, it can be very expensive! It will indeed be necessary to pay customs duties, which can quickly be expensive (they climb to 600 euros in this example), and potentially a fine for non-declaration. So you have to keep this in mind, because, instead of having a good deal, we can end up paying more than what taxes would have cost …
In short, the transition to duty free is not always synonymous with good deals. Between European rules, customs thresholds and export conditions, it is better to find out before buying. This small shopping detour can quickly turn to the puzzle-or to the salt note-if you do not anticipate the controls on the return. Before falling for a bag or a bottle, it is therefore better to check if the tax exemption really applies.
