Customer service

To have your form stamped, you need to validate it before the end of the third month following your purchases.
If your last point of exit from the EU is in France: scan the barcode of your tax exemption form using a PABLO terminal (found close to the Customs Office in Paris airports) and consult the information that appears on the screen:
green screen “OK form valid”: your form has been validated electronically and has been approved by customs.
Red screen “Form invalid”:
1) You must go to the Customs Office to have your tax exemption form stamped manually. If not presented at the Customs Office, your tax refund form will be refused automatically. Tax will not be refunded.
2) Present your passport, travel documentation and your tax free purchases (to be carried with you).

3) Then send your tax refund form stamped by Customs, using the pre-paid envelope provided in store when you made your purchases.

If your last point of exit from the EU is outside France: present yourself at the Customs Office, then return your stamped tax exemption form to us by post at DETAXE SAS, 66 rue de Miromesnil, 75008 Paris or use the pre-paid envelope provided in store when you made your purchases.

Example: You stayed in France but you visited Germany and you returned to your country of residence from there, you should have your form validated by German customs.

You must have the pink and green sheets stamped by customs at your last point of exit from the European Union, then send them to us using the pre-paid envelope provided. You can keep the green sheet. Do not forget to include your invoices and other receipts with the pink form (if a description of the goods is not provided).

Example: If, before returning to your country of residence, you stayed in Holland for a few days, you should have your tax refund form validated by Dutch customs. 

Only non-residents of the European Community (for over 6 months of the year) are eligible to be considered for tax refunds.

Note: Members of diplomatic and consular missions and international organisations posted to France are not eligible for tax refunds.

If it has been validated electronically using PABLO, make a written request by e-mail or post to DETAXE SAS, 66 rue de Miromesnil, 75008 Paris.

If your PABLO form has been physically stamped by Customs or is an Emergency Procedure form, send it with a written request by post to our head office, accompanied by the tax refund forms to be reimbursed.

Do not forget to indicate the form number and the number of your bank card WITHOUT the security code, in your request.

The steps to take for a request for regularisation are as follows:

1-Go to an embassy or consulate of a European Union country with your tax refund forms and purchases. Once your case has been examined, you will be given a certificate attesting to the export of your goods.

2-Send us:
The certificate provided by the embassy in your country of residence
The tax refund form(s),
your travel information,
a copy of your passport,
a letter explaining why you were not able to have the form(s) stamped.

Our service will make a request for regularisation to French customs.

Situations where tax refund forms can be regularised:

– PABLO was unavailable and customs officials were unavailable
– Exceptional event: evacuation of the terminal

Any other cases resulting from the situations mentioned can not be regularised.
The list below is not exhaustive:

– delay
– non-presentation of goods
– incomplete tax refund forms
– extension of stay in the EU to more than 3 months after purchase

Warning! You have 6 months to send us your complete dossier.

For flights with stopovers, you should have the export of goods in the hold certified by the customs service in the country you depart from (European Union country).
Objects in your hand baggage must be certified by the services of the country you are passing through.

Examples:
You fly from Paris to Beijing (your country of residence), but stopover in London.
> You should validate your tax refund form in Paris.
You fly from Paris to Beijing, but spend a few days in London.
> You should validate your tax refund form in London. Your last point of exit from the EU.

If you wish to recover a tax refund for a third person in a bureau de change or using our service, here is the list of documents you will need to provide:
a copy of the purchaser’s passport + a copy of a piece of identity of the mandated person,
a procuration signed by the purchaser,
the pink and green sheets validated and stamped by customs.
Or the PABLO form validated at the terminal or stamped by Customs

See a list of bureaux de change by clicking here

If returning to Switzerland by train
• Go the embassy or consulate of a European Union country or a Swiss Customs Office to validate your tax refund form, taking your goods with you.
• Send us the documents mentioned below so that we can carry out regularisation with French Customs.
– your tax refund form validated by the embassy, consulate or Swiss customs
– a copy of your piece of identity or passport
– a letter explaining that you could not find a French customs official in your return train

If returning by car
• Scan your tax refund form at a PABLO terminal.
If it is an Emergency Procedure form, have it validated by French customs when you cross the Franco-Swiss border.
 In the absence of French customs officials or a PABLO terminal, present yourself at Swiss customs to have your form stamped.

• Send us the documents mentioned below so that we can carry out regularisation with French Customs.
– your tax refund form validated by the embassy, consulate or Swiss customs
– a copy of your piece of identity or passport

If returning by plane
See question What to do with the PABLO form provided by the store?
What to do with the Emergency Procedure form provided by the store?

When a customs official refuses to validate a tax refund form he stamps it with “Validation refused” and indicates the reason. You should then send the form that was refused validation to us by post to DETAXE SAS, 66 rue de Miromesnil, 75008 Paris, including an explanatory note.
This will allow us to make a subsequent claim to the DGDDI (French customs and indirect taxation authorities).

Send us your tax exemption form by post to DETAXE SAS, 66 rue de Miromesnil, 75008 Paris

Delivery by transporter is outwith the framework authorised for tourist tax refunds.

The three main criteria for tourist tax refunds remain the same:
• A minimum purchase amount (including VAT) of €175.01
• A client whose place of residency is outside of the European Union for more than 6 months per year, who is present at the time of purchase
• You must travel with your goods during export. They cannot be exported at an earlier or later date.

Send us an e-mail using the following link.