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Tax-Free Shopping at Disneyland Paris: How We Use SkipTax
If you are eligible and you shop for Disney merchandise, this is money we would not leave behind now.
Download SkipTax and set up the trip
We download the SkipTax app, register and complete the account details, including the requested identity check. Then start a new tax refund and enter the trip: when you arrived in the EU, when you leave, the last country you will visit before returning home and how you are leaving.
For our driving trip, that meant France as the final EU country and car as the method of departure.
Why it helpsDo the account setup before you are standing outside a shop with a receipt in your hand.
Add each eligible receipt there and then
When we buy eligible merchandise, we open the active refund in SkipTax and add the invoice. Take a clear photograph of the receipt and enter the purchase amount and VAT details requested by the app.
Then we forget about it until the next shop.
We do not save a wallet full of receipts until the final night. Doing each one at the time takes seconds and means there is no big admin job at the end of the holiday.
Why it helpsBuy it. Photograph the receipt. Add it. Done.
Think goods you are taking home, not the whole holiday
Tax-free shopping is about eligible goods being exported from the EU. For us that means the Disney merchandise we are bringing home: clothes, ears, bags, pins and similar purchases.
It is not a refund on everything you spend at Disneyland Paris. Meals, drinks and the normal cost of being on holiday are not the point of the scheme, and there are formal eligibility rules and excluded goods.
SkipTax and French Customs should always be checked for the current rules before relying on a purchase being eligible.
Why it helpsKeep the goods and receipts available. Customs can ask to inspect the items you are claiming for.
Generate the barcode and do not forget the customs validation
Once the shopping is finished, we complete the refund in SkipTax and generate the tax-free barcode/form.
The critical part is validating it when you finally leave the European Union. If France is your final EU departure point, use the appropriate PABLO/customs facility for your route and follow the instructions there. Scan the barcode and make sure you get the successful validation.
Do this before you have put the relevant goods somewhere customs cannot inspect them. The exact process and location depends on whether you are leaving by road, rail, ferry or air.
Why it helpsPhotographing every receipt is not enough. The export/customs validation is the step that completes the tax-free process.
€240 back across our last two trips
On one trip we had €864 of eligible shopping and received €116 back. On another, €952 of eligible shopping resulted in a €124 refund.
That is €240 back across two Disneyland Paris trips. The effective refund in our two examples was around 13%, but we would never promise that as a universal rate. The amount depends on the purchases, VAT, the refund operator, fees and refund method.
For us, though, getting more than €100 back from shopping we were going to do anyway is absolutely worth a few seconds of admin after each purchase.
Why it helpsUse our numbers as a real example, not a guarantee of what your own refund will be.
How much could you get back?
Enter roughly how much you expect to spend on eligible goods you are bringing home, such as ears, cuddly toys, clothes, bags and pins.
This is an illustration using the standard 20% French VAT rate and a refund equal to 80% of the VAT contained in the purchase price. Your actual refund can differ depending on eligibility, VAT rate, fees and refund method. Always check the current SkipTax and French Customs rules.