VAT Refund: Tax Free Shopping

Most travelers never see the refund they were promised. You spend €1,000 in Paris expecting €200 back. But the shelf price already included VAT, so the VAT inside it is €166.67 — not €200. Then the refund operator takes a fee. Then they convert the currency at their own rate. The number that finally reaches you is smaller again. This app shows you that number before you shop. WHAT YOU SEE Enter what you paid, pick a country, and get a receipt-style breakdown: - The VAT actually inside the price - The refund operator's fee - The currency conversion markup - What lands in your pocket — and what percentage of your purchase that really is COMPARE OPERATORS SIDE BY SIDE Global Blue, Planet, Wevat, or a direct refund at the store — each takes a different cut. We rank them by what you actually receive and show the difference in money, not percentages. An operator will never tell you a competitor pays more. We will. DON'T LOSE YOUR REFUND AT THE AIRPORT The most common way to lose a refund isn't maths — it's procedure. Check your bags before customs has seen the goods and your claim is dead. Every country gets a step-by-step airport checklist: - Whether to use a self-service kiosk or a manned customs desk - Where your purchases need to be when you reach customs - What order to do things in - How long you have to leave the country We also say plainly that refunds sometimes fail — customs strikes, closed offices, broken kiosks. No operator will tell you that. MINIMUM SPEND, EXPLAINED PROPERLY Spain has no minimum at all. Germany needs €50.01 on a single receipt, one store, same day — separate receipts don't add up. Get this wrong and you buy something for nothing. The app warns you before you're short and explains exactly how each country's rule works. TRACK YOUR WHOLE TRIP Save every purchase and see it grouped by country with a running claimable total. Purchases under the threshold are flagged, not silently counted. 34 COUNTRIES WITH REFUND SCHEMES Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Türkiye, UAE. WHERE YOU CAN'T CLAIM We list these too, because knowing early saves you a wasted trip to the customs desk: - United Kingdom — the visitor scheme ended in January 2021 (Northern Ireland has separate rules) - United States, Canada, New Zealand — no visitor refund scheme FREE, OFFLINE, NO ACCOUNT - Works with no signal — every rate and rule is stored on your phone - No sign-up, no email, no passport scan - No ads on the calculator screen - Nothing about your purchases leaves your device A NOTE ON ACCURACY This is an estimator, not a refund service. It calculates from what you enter using published VAT rates and thresholds, last verified May 2026. Operator fees are their published rates; the currency markup is an estimate and is labelled as one in the app. Your actual refund depends on the store, the operator, and the customs officer in front of you. Treat a refund as a bonus, not as money you already have.