Refund of French VAT: end of exemption

Languages

Service navigation

Search

Navigation

Refund of French VAT: end of exemption

Ausrufezeichen

To date, a procedure has existed whereby France and Switzerland had arranged for part of the export formalities to be carried out by the destination country. Thus, the FOCBS processed the forms by stamping them to confirm that the goods had crossed the Swiss border, and then forwarded the forms to the French authorities.

As of 1 July 2023, neither the FOCBS nor the French customs will carry out the formalities for export from the other country for VAT refund purposes. Travellers who have purchased items in France and would like to have this tax refunded must travel via an attended French border crossing (see below). The reverse applies for travellers entering France and wishing to reclaim the equivalent Swiss tax.

When passing through an unattended border crossing, travellers must always place import declarations in the declaration boxes in Switzerland. Indeed, the fact that the destination countries no longer carry out the tax refund procedures does not exempt travellers from performing customs clearance for goods being imported. Goods can also be easily cleared through customs using the QuickZoll application. You can find more information about QuickZoll here.

Opening times of border crossings

Top of page

https://bazg.admin.ch/content/bazg/en/home/information-individuals/travel-and-purchases--allowances-and-duty-free-limit/importation-into-switzerland/refund-of-foreign-vat/rueckerstattung-franzoesische-mehrwertsteuer.html