Customer Service

VAT REFUND
If you make purchases directly in the company or if you ask for an order to be sent to a temporary address (hotel, B&B, other) and you are a traveler residing or domiciled outside the European Union, you can purchase goods for personal or family use in Italy without paying value added tax (VAT). This is what is provided for by Italian law, based on EU regulatory provisions.
This benefit is a definite advantage for foreign travelers as it entails a saving corresponding to the current VAT rate applicable on the purchased goods. However, the benefit can only be obtained if you strictly comply with all the modalities provided by the Italian law in this regard.
Namely:

The benefit may be recognized under the following conditions:

• the foreign buyer must be resident or domiciled outside the European Union;
• the goods must be for personal or family use and must be carried in personal luggage;
• the total value of the purchased goods must be more than 154.94 Euro (including VAT);
• the purchase must be evidenced by a commercial document called an invoice, in which the goods must be described and the personal data of the traveler himself and the details of his passport or other equivalent document must be indicated;
• the goods must be transported outside the territory of the European Union within three months after the end of the one in which they were purchased;
• Some special customs formalities must be completed;
• the invoice must be returned to the Italian seller within four months of the end of that in which the purchase was made.

Purchase and direct transportation of goods out of the EU in personal luggage
The purchased goods and the corresponding invoice must be simultaneously presented to the Customs Office of exit from the territory of the EU.
After matching the invoice and other requirements, the Customs Office shall affix the CUSTOMS VISA on the invoice, which proves that the goods have left the territory of the EU. The Customs Office responsible for affixing the CUSTOMS VISA is the one in the last EU state from which the traveler leaves to return to the country of residence or domicile. For example, if the traveler buys goods in Italy and then continues his or her journey to Austria, the office competent to endorse all invoices (including Italian ones) is the Austrian Customs.
However, where the traveler has a single travel ticket and performs a single check-in, with simultaneous issuance of a double boarding pass, one for the first domestic or EU flight and the other for the subsequent non-EU final destination (e.g. Bari-Rome-New York or Milan-Frankfurt-Tokyo), can obtain a visa on the purchase invoice for goods intended for personal or family use from the national customs office located at the airport of departure. It is good to remember that the goods must always be shown to the Customs Office: if the traveler intends to introduce them in the luggage entrusted to the air carrier, he or she must go to the Customs Office before checking in.
The checks carried out by the Customs Office and the certification required to obtain the VAT refund may require some waiting time, especially at major airports and coinciding with departures of international flights bound for some non-EU countries.Therefore, in order to avoid unpleasant inconveniences, it would be preferable for foreign travelers residing or domiciled outside the European Union to report to the airport at least two hours before the departure of their plane.

Purchase and direct transportation of goods outside the European Union in personal luggage: what to do if the goods are too bulky or heavy
In the hypothesis in which the goods intended for personal or family use are particularly bulky or heavy and, therefore, cannot be transported out of the Community customs territory directly in the passenger’s accompanied luggage also for reasons of economy, the traveler residing or domiciled outside the European Union can forward them at his or her foreign domicile through the system of shipment as unaccompanied luggage, that is, as “personal property” that the traveler does not carry directly with him or her but entrusts to the airline for shipment to destination and whose withdrawal takes place at the cargo arrival terminal. This facilitation applies on condition that the traveler leaves Italy with a direct stopover in his or her home state. The transaction is the subject of an actual air transport contract: the airline issues an Air Transport Letter (LTA) and, for the transport of goods abroad, requires the payment of an additional fee. In such a case, the purchase of the goods must be documented by a separate invoice from that for any other goods that the foreign traveler decides to carry as personal carry-on or checked baggage. The original of such an invoice must be presented to the airline for the issuance of the Air Waybill (LTA) for goods shipped as unaccompanied baggage, and the relevant customs office shall affix the required endorsement on it for VAT refund purposes.
In order to enable a verification of the correspondence between what is stated on the invoice by the Italian seller and what is shipped abroad by the airline on behalf of the foreign traveler, resident or domiciled outside the EU, it is necessary that the Air Waybill (LTA) shows identity between the goods described therein and those indicated on the invoice itself, as well as coincidence between the names of the sender and the consignee of the goods shipped.
The Air Waybill (LTA) must also be annotated with the details of the same identification document of the foreign traveler (passport or other equivalent document) that is indicated, under Italian law, on the invoice issued to him by the domestic transferor.

HOW THE VAT REFUND IS MADE
A traveler residing or domiciled outside the European Union may obtain a refund of the VAT advanced only if he/she returns DHG the original invoice duly endorsed by the Customs Office within the period of four months from the end of that in which such document was issued.
The refund is made directly by DHG, according to the terms agreed with the foreign buyer at the time of purchase (e.g., by crediting the bank account or credit card, by check, etc.). Please note: VAT refund is never made by Customs Offices.