Monday, 9 July 2007
Tax free shopping at Tesco: frustrating
In January my friend from Russia was visiting me here in Watford. One day he felt an urgent need for a photo camera by next morning :). It was 10pm so we went to Tesco Extra Watford, an 24hr supermarket, to buy one. While at the checkout I remembered that my friend could claim the V.A.T. back as he lived outside the EU. So we asked for it at the customer services. The lady searched the drawers and found the tax return form which he proudly handed to us asking to fill it. We filled it, then she added some purchase specific info and signed. She advised us to claim the money at the airport's customs desk. So far so good.
At the Heathrow airport the tax refund desk was in the duty free area so we parted with my friend and headed home. Couple of days after we spoke with him and he told me that the officer at the tax refund desk stamped the form and asked to take it back to the retailer for the refund. Things started to get more complicated. OK my friend posted the form back to me and I posted it to Tesco Watford and in just three weeks got it back with the cover letter saying that Tesco do not do tax refunds and I should go to customs to claim my money. OK I phoned the relevant department in HMRC just to find out that it is always the retailer that does tax refunds and that Tax-Free Shopping is the voluntary scheme and they can't force the retailer into it. I made couple more phone calls to both parties to make sure they still cross reference each other.
I went then directly to the Tesco store where I was initially given the form and heard the same story again with the addition that I should probably come to the customs desk at Heathrow as a last resort. Which I never did as was getting very busy with home renovations. Besides, the amount to be refunded was not actually worth the efforts I had already spent on it.
The story is a bit frustrating. I would not expect so much hassle from what should have been an established routine task. Has anybody ever had any experience getting a tax refund from the Tax Free Shopping scheme in Britain?
At the Heathrow airport the tax refund desk was in the duty free area so we parted with my friend and headed home. Couple of days after we spoke with him and he told me that the officer at the tax refund desk stamped the form and asked to take it back to the retailer for the refund. Things started to get more complicated. OK my friend posted the form back to me and I posted it to Tesco Watford and in just three weeks got it back with the cover letter saying that Tesco do not do tax refunds and I should go to customs to claim my money. OK I phoned the relevant department in HMRC just to find out that it is always the retailer that does tax refunds and that Tax-Free Shopping is the voluntary scheme and they can't force the retailer into it. I made couple more phone calls to both parties to make sure they still cross reference each other.
I went then directly to the Tesco store where I was initially given the form and heard the same story again with the addition that I should probably come to the customs desk at Heathrow as a last resort. Which I never did as was getting very busy with home renovations. Besides, the amount to be refunded was not actually worth the efforts I had already spent on it.
The story is a bit frustrating. I would not expect so much hassle from what should have been an established routine task. Has anybody ever had any experience getting a tax refund from the Tax Free Shopping scheme in Britain?
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Just wanted to thank you for the info. Wonder whether it's the same situation with the rest of the shops in UK.
Hello, Alex.
I thought you would be posting here the technology related articles. The experience with Tesco is hardly relevant one :)
Cheers,
Rustam.
I thought you would be posting here the technology related articles. The experience with Tesco is hardly relevant one :)
Cheers,
Rustam.
Hi Rust, thanks for coming by. This is just my English blog. As with all blogs, I will be posting here whatever I fancy :)
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