VAT tax in Europe

Some retailers will do the paperwork for you, if you spend a certain amount. You can make the claim yourself, with receipts and merchandise in hand, at the airport, if you want to spend the time pursuing it. It is mostly not worth the hassle unless you've done some major shopping.

Also important to note: the stuff you buy must be unused while in the EU in order to qualify for the VAT refund. So no wearing those cashmere sweaters or spritzing that perfume if you want to get your VAT back.

I did this last week at the Venice airport for some leather we purchased in Florence. The shop we purchased from gave us a long receipt that we filled in with address, email, etc. If you want a refund back to your cc, you fill out the cc info. When we left from Venice, we checked in for our flight (I'm pretty sure you need your boarding pass), then went to the Customs window (before security) to get a stamp. I had to hand over the receipt, passport, and boarding passes. They didn't actually inspect our goods although they can ask. I had ours in a carry on.

The shop we bought from did everything through a third party called Global Blue. Their Venice airport window opens at 6 a.m. I think in Venice you can totally skip the customs window IF Global Blue is open (it isn't like this at every point of departure in Italy). They weren't when we got there, so I went ahead and got the customs stamp. They did open after we were done with that, so I went to their window and got cash (in Euros, for a fee) instead of having it put back on my cc. If they are closed and you get the stamp, you can drop off the completed form in a provided envelope there and eventually you are supposed to get a refund back to your cc.

It was a 12% refund (minus the 5 euro fee we paid for cash back).