Can you get a tax refund on shopping, and how?
Short answer
Yes. Foreign visitors can reclaim value-added tax on purchases — either taken off at the till or claimed at the airport.
Two routes, and the shop decides which
Some shops deduct the refund at the register, so you pay the lower price and walk out with nothing left to do. Others sell at full price and issue a receipt you present at the airport.
Which route applies is a property of the shop, not a choice you make. Look for refund signage at the counter, or ask before paying rather than after.
What you need with you
Your passport, at the moment of purchase. A refund cannot be attached to a receipt afterwards, which is the single most common way people lose it.
Keep the paperwork and the goods accessible until you leave. Airport processing can involve showing what you bought.
At the airport
Allow time before your flight rather than treating it as a last errand. The counters and kiosks are before departures, and the queue is worst at the same hours everyone flies home.
The amount recovered on a single ordinary purchase is small. On a shopping trip it is not, which is the case where the extra half hour pays for itself.
Good to know
- Ask about the refund before you pay — it cannot be added to a receipt later
- Immediate-refund shops are the easier route; there is nothing to do at the airport
Yes — 2,000 baht per day per store, a P.P.10 form issued at the till against your passport, and customs inspection at the airport before you check in.
Yes: spend NT$2,000 in one day at one store carrying the Taiwan Tax Refund label, then claim at the airport before you check your bags.