8 October 2026 Money

Can tourists get a VAT refund in the UK? Not since 2021

Tax-free shopping for visitors ended in England, Scotland and Wales on 1 January 2021, and the Treasury said in December 2025 it has no plans to bring it back. You can still avoid the 20% VAT if the shop posts your purchase to an address abroad. Northern Ireland still runs a refund scheme.

Many visitors arrive expecting to fill in a form at the till and collect their VAT back at the airport, as they would in Paris or Milan. In Great Britain that has not been possible for several years, and a lot of travel pages still describe the old system.

The short answer

If you buy something in a shop in England, Scotland or Wales and carry it home in your luggage, you pay the full price including VAT, and there is nothing to reclaim. The standard rate of VAT is 20%, and it is already included in the price on the shelf.

The VAT Retail Export Scheme, which used to give visitors that refund, was withdrawn in Great Britain on 1 January 2021.

Is it coming back?

Not as things stand. Retailers have campaigned for its return, and the opposition has promised to restore it, but neither is government policy. In answer to a written parliamentary question in December 2025, the Treasury said the government has no plans to introduce a new tax-free shopping scheme in Great Britain. A further answer in September 2026 repeated the official estimate that the change saves around £540 million a year and announced nothing new.

We will update this page if that changes. The next point to watch is the Autumn Budget.

The legal way to avoid VAT: have it posted abroad

GOV.UK says you can only buy tax-free goods from shops in Great Britain if they are delivered straight to an address outside the UK. In that case the shop treats the sale as an export and does not charge UK VAT.

• The shop has to arrange the delivery itself or through its freight agent. You cannot take the goods with you and claim later.
• It is up to the shop whether it offers this. Ask before you pay, especially in department stores and for watches, jewellery and designer goods.
• Your own country may charge import duty or its own VAT when the parcel arrives, so compare the total, including shipping.

Northern Ireland is the exception

The Retail Export Scheme still runs in Northern Ireland for visitors from outside both the UK and the EU. You buy in person, the shop gives you form VAT 407, and customs stamps it when you leave. The goods must leave Northern Ireland and the EU by the last day of the third month after the month you bought them.

There is a catch that ends most people's plans. You get no refund if you travel from Northern Ireland straight to Great Britain, or to Great Britain through an EU country such as the Republic of Ireland. It works only if you leave for somewhere outside both. Shops also do not have to take part.

What about airport shopping?

Duty-free is still sold at UK airports, but it now means alcohol and tobacco only, sold in approved shops to passengers flying to a destination outside the UK. Clothes, perfume, electronics and everything else sold airside carry the full 20% VAT, just as they do on the high street. The government removed tax-free sales of those goods across the UK at the same time, on 1 January 2021.

Bringing things in when you arrive

The rule in the other direction is separate. Arriving in Great Britain from outside the UK, you can bring goods worth up to £390 for your own use without paying tax, plus allowances for alcohol and tobacco. If you go over the £390 limit, tax is due on the full value of the goods, not only on the amount over it.

Large amounts of money have their own rule: carrying £10,000 or more means a customs declaration, which we explain in bringing cash into the UK. For everyday spending, your own card works as well as a British one, as we cover in can a visitor open a UK bank account.

Checked against the official sources below on 8 October 2026.

Check whether you need an ETA More posts