Recently I was in Europe with a few travel companions that are really into luxury goods. Apparently Europe is the place to get them for a huge savings, and I accompanied them while shopping in Vienna, Milan, and Zurich. I’m not into luxury goods, but I learned a lot in the process that I thought I would share for anyone who might want a one-off luxury product for themselves or interested in getting started on reselling these.
Our route involved traveling by plane from Vienna to Milan (both part of the EU) and then traveling by train from Milan to Zurich (Switzerland is not part of the EU). You can only get a VAT refund from the last country you exit the EU from. This is easy if you’re flying, since you just do it at the airport, but it was more complicated for us since we were taking the train (btw, it was a gorgeous train ride and the train itself was really nice, clean, and high-tech). After spending many hours combing the internet to figure out how to get the customs stamp we need for the refund, we discovered we needed to stop in the border town of Chiasso, get the stamp, and then continue on the next train to Zurich. Finding the right trains as to have a reasonably short layover in Chiasso was the hardest part.
The following instructions were written by one of my travel companions (with minor edits for clarity):
Receipt of the customs stamp that enables a tax refund for duty free shopping with Global Blue or Planet Payment is somewhat challenging when traveling by train to Switzerland. From Italy, you must stop at Chiasso station for a minimum of 11 minutes (with no line at the customs office; it’s a pretty quiet station so there likely will not be a queue).
The customs office is in the middle of the single hall of the station and has a fairly obvious Italian flag with a sign “Tax free” above its door. The office is open 24 hours daily. You must present the goods, the goods’ invoice (receipt), and the matching passport.
The customs agent will issue a digital stamp to the transaction. The goods’ invoice is not physically stamped. A separate receipt (ADM Italy in this example) is provided to record the digital stamp that you should keep in case of any issues with the cash refund.
A continuing train departing 30 minutes after our arrival was available and cost less than the direct train.
Separately, the cash refund can be issued for a nominal 3-5€ fee at a city office or your departure airport. I believe refunds to credit or debit card have no fee. If you prefer to submit by mail, that is also an option.
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Our other travel companions arrived later and performed the same tasks as we did, then they stayed in Chiasso until the next train to Zurich, which was in 2 hours. Chiasso is a quiet town, but there are some good pastry shops in the area if you’re into that. My primary travel companion and I didn’t want to stay too long and wanted to get to Zurich before dark so we could walk around, so to each their own.
Hope these circles and arrows help someone in a similar position as us, who did shopping in the EU but then are taking a train to Switzerland!
Thank you!!! This is exactly what I needed, was not able to find a satisfactory answer anywhere else. Do you have any tips on shopping luxury goods (bags/watches) from Milan and Zurich?
Thanks for the appreciation! Always glad to hear when a post is helpful especially on a topic we had trouble researching ourselves. I’m not the luxury goods expert so unfortunately can’t help all too much on the actual shopping tips!
Just to clarify- The VAT refund documents will be stamped at the Chiasso station in Italy and I will need to submit them at the Travelex desk at Zurich airport before my departure to the US? So the actual refund (I prefer back to credit card) will be issued at Zurich before my departure and not Italy, right? Thanks again for all the help!
That’s correct!
I heard when they inspect the items for VAT stamp (Chiasso for us) they need to see the items in unused condition; do they also need to see the original packaging/box, or I can throw them away?
Will they again inspect the purchased items at Zurich airport and expect to see them in unused (with tags intact and all) condition? We might use some of them in our weeklong stay at Switzerland, wondering if that would be a problem.
Thank you again for all the help!
The agent didn’t ask to take the items out of the packaging. Don’t throw them away before Chiasso. Zurich didn’t ask to see anything at all.
Hi, thanks for all the info. I followed the process and the officer there generated a digital receipt at Chiasso train station but he didn’t give me any physical evidence of this. He just said while exiting from Zurich airport, u go to the counter and sumit ur bill and passport and they will find it online. Is that ok?
The customs agent issues a digital stamp on the transaction, and your invoice is not physically stamped. My friend got a paper printout of the digital receipt in case of any issues. Didn’t need to use it though. Did you take a picture of the digital receipt?
Thanks for the detailed post. Followed the exact same instructions and it works. Mine is also digitally stamped and the custom officer provided us with a print out as well for our reference.
Our GlobalBlue tax status immediately changed to Refund Processing in the app.
Thanks for reporting back, I’m glad it worked well for you!!
thank you for this extremely helpful info!