Guide to Tax Refund at Sydney Airport in Australia

I haven't worked in Sydney Airport for a long time, but I have witnessed all kinds of comedy tragedies every day, especially for the tourists who come to Australia from China, who are unfamiliar with their places and don't speak the language.

I'd like to share it with you based on what I met at work and what my colleagues heard. I hope you can read it carefully before going out and returning to avoid unnecessary troubles during the trip. The following is only for travel reference. Please refer to the relevant regulations of Australian Customs and Sydney Airport for specific changes.

===TRS (Tourist Refund Scheme) tourist tax refund ===

This is the most concerned issue for all tourists who come to Australia to travel or return from Australia. However, many people often go to the airport without knowing the specific circumstances, and then find that the tax refund process is often not smooth and give up the tax refund. Not to mention the loss of money, and ruined the mood of the whole trip. You'd better pay attention to the following points to prevent similar problems from happening to yourself.

1. Conditions for tax refund

The conditions for tax refund are very simple. Within 6 days before departure, you can apply for a tax refund as long as you spend more than 3 Australian dollars in any Australian store. What you buy must be goods, and GST( Goods and Services Tax) for services is non-refundable.

GST is listed on the receipt. However, it should be noted that it is necessary to check whether the GST on the receipt exceeds 27 Australian dollars. If it is less than 27 Australian dollars, it will not be refunded. The reason is that if calculated according to the minimum consumption amount of 3 Australian dollars, 27 Australian dollars of every 3 Australian dollars are turned over to the Australian government by GST (that is, for example, the actual value of the goods you buy is 273 Australian dollars, multiplied by 1% GST, to get 3 Australian dollars of your total consumption amount). Some goods are not charged GST in the sales process, so even if the consumption amount on the receipt reaches 3 Australian dollars, GST may only be about 1 Australian dollars, which does not meet the tax refund standard. If the accumulated GST you spend in this store does not exceed 27 Australian dollars (that is, the total effective consumption does not exceed 3 Australian dollars), the Australian Customs will not refund the receipt.

Some small tickets often have the guest's name on the list. When tax refund is made, you must personally hold your passport and boarding pass for tax refund. If the name on the list is different from the passport name, the Australian Customs will not refund the tax.

2. The problem of checked baggage

This link is often a problem encountered by 9% of passengers. Passengers with similar problems should pay attention to the following details

TRS tax refund requires passengers to hand-carry all items that need to be refunded (note! It's hand-held, and it must not be checked, except for the items mentioned below.) Take it into the airport, pass the Custom and Security check, and then go to the TRS counter in the duty-free area of the waiting hall for tax refund. Any passenger who does not bring with him the goods that need to be refunded for inspection by the customs officers proves that the goods that need to be refunded left Australia with the passenger, and the customs officers have the right to refuse to refund the tax to the above passengers. Therefore, many passengers don't know. They check all the brand-name bags, shoes, clothes and electronic products (laptops, iphone) that need to be refunded, and only after entering the airport do they find that they can't get a refund. Once, a passenger bought 6 pairs of UGG boots, 3 designer bags and various jewelry necklaces, all packed in a suitcase for consignment. When he arrived at the airport, he found that the above items could not be consigned, resulting in a direct loss of nearly 2, Australian dollars in GST.

However, TRS allows LAGs (Liquids liquid, Aerosol spray, Gels gel) and oversize (oversize baggage) to be put into the check-in checked baggage (because according to international air law, the above items cannot be carried on the plane). If there are similar items that need to be refunded, you need to go to the Customs and Quarantine Office in Arrival (arrival floor) of Sydney Airport to have the customs officers unpack and check them to prove that the refunded items left Australia with the passengers. Therefore, fish oil, cosmetics, propolis, wine and other products, as well as oversized luggage (TV, checked luggage, quilts and so on) can avoid carrying them into the airport for tax refund inspection. As long as it is checked in the Custom and Quarantine Office, the customs officers will stamp the receipt, and the passengers will enter the TRS office in the airport waiting hall with the receipt for tax refund.

Many visitors to Australia will buy a lot of health care products and food to send back to their relatives and friends, but the quantity is huge, so they must be checked and cannot carry them. As health care products like calcium tablets and vitamins, candy, do not belong to the above LAGs items, so according to the regulations, it is necessary to carry them into the airport for inspection. But sometimes the customs will turn a blind eye when checking (because the amount is not as huge as brand-name bags), so it will allow the consignment and stamp the receipt. But personally, I don't recommend this kind of luck, because sometimes it will be merciless when it is strict.

3. TRS Office in the waiting hall

After all the above things are done, you can check in and change your boarding pass, go through the customs and enter the waiting hall. TRSoffice is the corner where you enter the duty-free shop area and sell wine on the left hand side after passing the security check. In the morning, there are China Southern Airlines (China Southern Airlines is A38 in the morning, and there are about 8 people at a time), and three flights of Air China and China Eastern Airlines leave Sydney in nearly two hours, so Sydney Airport can welcome nearly 1, China tourists to leave the country every morning (only domestic airlines, not considering China passengers on other foreign flights). And the passengers here basically have to get a tax refund, so TRSoffice is the busiest department in the morning. In this department, there are often only less than 1 customs staff to handle tax refund procedures for passengers, so passengers often have to wait here for a long time.

For this reason, Sydney Airport has implemented the form filling during the morning rush hour to speed up the tax refund processing. If the total spending amount of passengers during their stay in Australia (6 days before departure) is less than 1, Australian dollars, the tax refund must be made by filling in a form. If it is higher than 1, Australian dollars, you will queue up on the spot to wait for the customs officers to apply for tax refund. Therefore, if the spending exceeds 1 yuan, passengers who have to check their checked baggage at the arrival floor of the airport should prepare enough time in advance to avoid queuing, but the plane will take off when it is their turn. It is often seen that unprepared passengers queue up at TRSoffice half an hour before boarding the plane, and then before the Final Call plane takes off, airline staff rush to pull the passengers away. I recommend queuing at TRS office one hour before the plane takes off to avoid delaying the trip.

passengers who fill in the form will be required to fill in personal identification information in English, as well as the number of small tickets (note! Many people think that it is to fill in the total amount of consumption, but it is actually the total number of small tickets for tax refund), as well as bank information. After completing the form, put it in an envelope, write the receiving address on the surface of the envelope (both in Chinese and English, and the address at home and abroad is not limited), put the form and all the receipts in the envelope and put them in the TRS mailbox at the door, thus avoiding the queue time. The receipt will be sent back to the recipient's address on the envelope after the tax refund is processed. Australian customs provides three payment methods for tax refund:

1) Credit card

GST refunded is directly credited to the provided credit card. Just fill in the bank card number when filling out the form, but the credit card must be Visa or Master Card, which is not accepted by China UnionPay.

2) Bank deposit account

Passengers must provide the bank account number, BSB (this is the Australian bank code, which seems not available in China, so I don't know the situation of domestic banks very well), as well as the name of the bank and the name of the account owner.

3) Cheques

Cheques will be sent back to the recipient's address on the envelope together with the receipt of the small ticket. The supported currencies are Australian dollars, US dollars, British pounds, Japanese yen, French francs, etc. RMB is not supported.

If there are passengers who don't know English but need to fill out the form, don't worry. The airport has assigned two volunteers who speak Mandarin (in red) in TRSoffice to help them fill out the form. However, due to the large number of people filling in the form and the insufficient number of volunteers, it is also recommended to arrive at the airport early to prevent unprepared.

The above are some details and precautions of tax refund at Sydney Airport in Australia, hoping to help friends who are about to travel to Sydney.