[Help] Getting back your Tax Refund in Amsterdam Schiphol

This is our personal experience that we encounter in Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, hope that it can help friends who are visiting Europe for the first time or soon departing from the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.

To note that all Tax refund procedure in Europe is pretty much the same, there are currently 3 companies that are handling the VAT refunds. Global Blue,  Premier Tax-free and Vatfree.com.

 TAX REFUND- Step by step guide

Step 1- Get your Tax Free Validation Stamp

The Customs Tax-Free Validation desk is at Departure Hall 3, next to check-in desks 29 and 30. The other office is located behind passport control, at Lounge 2 (Airside). (No Stamp = No Refund)

At Departure Hall 3 ⇓:

The Tax-free Validation counter:

Operating hour:

06:00 – 22:00 (Daily)

If the Customs office is closed or busy, call +31 88 – 15 83 900 or +31 88 – 15 83 440. You can also get a Customs stamp in your home country upon arrival. **Not really sure about getting the custom stamp in our home country, anybody has done that before?

Get these things ready before you approach the counter:

Little tips:

All your goods or products should be packed in a hand-carry bag. If small items put it in a transparent bag, it will be easier for the customs officer to see it. Don’t start digging all your goods at the counter, as is a waste of time for you and the others queuing behind.

Step 2 – Do Your Airline Check-in OR after you done your tax refund, either way, is okay 

Once you had your validation stamp, you can proceed to the airline counter to check in your luggage or you can actually go ahead to queue at the tax refund counter. There are no hard and fast rules to it, just see which queue is shorter.

Step 3 – Get Your Tax Refund

Kindly note that you will have to go through this procedure separately if you have 3 different tax-free forms (Global Blue, Premier Tax-Free, and VATFREE.com).

Global Blue- Tax-free forms

• The Global Blue desk is just next to the Tax-Free Validation Desk, at departure hall 3.  The staff  at the counter will check your stamped form and receipts and ask if you want cash or a credit to your credit card.
• Even though lots of people online would suggest you take the cash, but the staff at the counter will encourage you to get the refund credit back to your credit card and in a way is actually not that bad. From what we understand from the staff is that if you get to the counter and request to credit back to your credit card it will take within 5 days. Which is what we did, and I got it back within 3 days.
• As for people who mail it or drop the tax refund form into the letter box it will take 3 weeks for the refund sent to credit card, bank account or in the form of cheque and 10 days for refunds sent to Alipay account.

Opening Hours:

Mon-Sun:

07:00 – 20:30

To Note:

-Cash/ Credit card refund limit – 1500 EUR / Form (Max)

-Alipay mailbox available.

– A handling fee of 3.5 EUR for CASH refund is charged for each Tax Free Form.

– Credit card refunds are not subject to this fee.

Premier Tax Free- Tax free Form

• Travelex is the refund point for premier tax free in Netherlands.
• Refund are process within 30 days upon receiving your original export-validated Tax Free form
• For the credit card procedures in place by credit card companies, refunds generally appear on your bank statement in the month following the transfer of your refund amount from Premier Tax Free to your bank.
• Getting the cash back will be easier and faster with Premier Tax free, than waiting for the money to credit back to your credit card

Where(GWK Travelex)?

Departure Lounge 1 (start of the D-pier)
06:00 – 20:30 (Daily)
Tel: +31 20 316 2090

Arrivals Hall 3
06:00 – 22:00 (Daily)
Tel: +31 20 653 5121

To Note:

-Cash/ Credit card  refund limit – 1500 EUR / Form (Max)

-Alipay mailbox available.

-For CASH refund a handling fee is charged for each Tax Free Form. Credit card refunds are not subject to this fee.

Vatfree.com- Tax Free form

I couldn’t provide much information about it as we have not used its service. However, you could visit their website for more information.

Where?

Operating Hours:

8:30 – 17:00

Suggestion:

Get to the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport 2-3 hours earlier, make sure you have enough time to claim back your Tax.  Queuing at the Tax-free Validation counter can be more than 30-45 minutes. On that day, at the Validation counter even though there were 3 officer and only less than 10 people queuing but we still have to wait quite some time. Pack your goods properly, as the customs officer might ask you to show your goods, which the customs officer did ask us.

Always take a photo or make a copy of your receipts and form before you mail or post it out.