France Tourist VAT Refund & Export Deadline Calculator
Estimate the refund after your confirmed fees for goods bought in France. Review each export form, its EU export deadline and the documents to prepare.
Separate the VAT in your receipt from the refund
Estimate net refunds and EU export deadlines for goods purchased in France using your confirmed charges. Customs validation and seller payment are still required. Import taxes at home are separate.
Sources checked: 2026-09-24 · Planning calculation using 2026 guidance
3. Net estimate and export deadline
Confirmation needed
Total net benefit
Pending
Total in KRW
Pending
Reviewable subtotal (0/1)
€0.00
Any unresolved or unmet unit holds the total. KRW uses the optional exchange rate. Estimates for planned validations remain conditional on customs approval.
BVE 1
Confirmation needed
Embedded VAT · estimated tax
Pending
Fixed deductions
Pending
Conversion charge
Pending
Net benefit
Pending
Estimated payout
Pending
Net benefit in KRW
Pending
Export deadline from first purchase
Pending
Days to deadline from export · negative means late
Pending
Confirm eligible non-EU residence at purchase; nationality alone is insufficient.
Confirm a stay strictly under six months and no excluded status.
You must be at least 16 at every purchase.
Enter the final date the goods leave the EU.
Confirm your route and customs validation point. Connection time, checked luggage and counter access can change the location.
Ask the seller to confirm eligible French goods, personal export and aggregation on one BVE.
Confirm that a BVE export form has been or can be issued; a till receipt alone is insufficient.
Enter the VAT-inclusive amount and receipt VAT rate.
Confirm operator, extra payout and conversion charges. Enter 0 only when no charge is confirmed.
Enter first and last purchase dates, using the same date for a single-day purchase.
Documents and next steps before departure
Prepare the BVE and receipts, passport/residence proof, goods and transport ticket.
For direct French exits, check PABLO or the customs counter; for other EU exits, check local customs. On connecting flights, establish the validation point before checking bags.
Manual-form return and exceptional retrospective validation have separate deadlines. Six-month guidance is not an extension of the normal export deadline.
Customs validates export; the seller/operator pays. Reconcile the payment date, exchange rate and amount with the operator.
Estimate the money you may recover from French shopping
A tourist buying a bag or clothing in France may compare the purchase price with a price at home after subtracting an expected VAT refund. Multiplying the full receipt amount by its VAT rate overstates the tax already included in that price. First extract the VAT, then subtract the operator and payout charges and any separately quoted currency conversion cost. This calculator keeps those amounts alongside the normal deadline for exporting the goods from the EU.
The result supports a purchase decision and departure preparation. Customs still has to validate export, and the seller or operator must process payment under its terms. The calculator applies French guidance to goods purchased in France; it does not apply French thresholds to Germany, Italy or other purchase countries. Import taxes on your return home are a separate question. Save the form-by-form review and reconcile it with the operator’s paperwork before treating the estimate as money recovered.
Residence, age and visitor status determine the initial checks
At least 16 and an eligible non-EU resident
Enter your youngest age at any of the purchases: you must have reached 16 when buying the goods. Nationality and residence are different. A non-EU passport does not establish eligibility if you habitually live in the EU; an EU citizen living outside the EU may be able to provide qualifying residence evidence. Check Monaco, Northern Ireland and special or overseas territories with customs instead of deciding eligibility from the country name alone.
A stay strictly shorter than six months
The visitor check covers a stay in France or the EU of less than six months and the absence of an excluded status. Long-term students or trainees, people relocating or taking up an overseas post, diplomats and transport crew travelling for work require particular attention. Leave this answer unconfirmed until you have checked both the duration and your status. Being old enough does not establish the other conditions.
Hotel bills, meals and other services consumed during the trip do not belong in this goods-export model. The purchase must have a personal, non-commercial purpose and you must be able to present and export the goods yourself. Tobacco, petroleum products and certain weapons, vehicles, cultural goods and restricted exports are excluded or need separate procedures. A VAT rate on a receipt does not prove that the item qualifies.
Use one confirmed export sales form per unit
A BVE is a bordereau de vente à l’exportation, or export sales form. A till receipt alone is insufficient: confirm that the seller offers tax-free sales and will issue the required form. The same brand name does not necessarily mean purchases can be combined. Check the seller’s grouping arrangements, relevant same-city and VAT-number requirements, and the actual BVE that will cover the goods before aggregating purchases.
The EUR 100 boundary and three calendar days
The general customs guidance and Article 24 bis of CGI annexe IV describe a threshold above EUR 100, whereas DA 26-044, effective 2026-04-24, uses wording that includes EUR 100. This calculator therefore marks EUR 99.99 as below the threshold, exactly EUR 100 as awaiting confirmation, and EUR 100.01 as passing the amount check. At exactly EUR 100 it does not automatically declare either eligibility or legal ineligibility. The net amount stays out of the total while that boundary remains unresolved with the seller or customs.
The purchase window includes the first and last dates and must span no more than three consecutive calendar days. Friday through Sunday is three days; weekends and holidays count. For a single-day purchase, enter the same date twice. Do not combine separate BVEs or purchases outside the permitted window just to reach the minimum. Each calculator unit supports one VAT rate. For a BVE containing mixed rates, ask the operator for an itemised tax and refund quote; inventing a blended rate or splitting the form can distort the threshold check.
Enter confirmed fees and an optional exchange rate
Operator and additional payout charges
Enter the total operator deduction from this BVE’s VAT in euros. Use the additional payout field only for a separately charged amount, such as an extra cash-payment charge. Do not repeat a charge already included in the operator’s deduction. Blank and zero are different: blank means unconfirmed and holds the net estimate; zero means you have confirmed there is no charge. The calculator does not supply an assumed universal refund percentage or an operator price list.
Conversion charge and KRW value
The conversion percentage applies to a positive balance after fixed deductions. If the operator uses a different fee basis, obtain an appropriate quote before using this model. The optional exchange rate is Korean won per euro; leaving it blank holds only KRW conversion, so a euro estimate remains available. When your effective payout exchange rate already includes conversion costs, enter 0 for the separate conversion percentage. The example rate is not a current market quotation.
Use the actual VAT rate on the receipt. France’s standard 20% rate and other rates such as 10%, 5.5% and 2.1% are not interchangeable, and a rate does not establish export-refund eligibility. Use the eligible final price after discounts and returns, then compare it with the amount on the valid BVE. Cash and card refund methods may have different terms; run and save each confirmed quote separately when comparing them.
How embedded VAT and the net amount are calculated
Reverse the tax-inclusive price
Embedded VAT = roundCent(TTC × r / (100 + r)) Balance after fixed charges = embedded VAT − operator deduction − extra payout charge Conversion charge = roundCent(max(0, balance after fixed charges) × conversion percentage / 100) Net benefit = balance after fixed charges − conversion charge Estimated payout = max(0, net benefit) Net benefit in KRW = round(net benefit × KRW per EUR)
TTC means the tax-inclusive amount; r is a percentage number such as 20. For EUR 1,200 including 20% VAT, the tax component is EUR 200, not EUR 240. The model rounds euro stages to cents and the final converted amount to whole won; an operator’s item-level rounding can differ slightly. If charges exceed the tax, net benefit remains negative while estimated payout is floored at zero. The negative amount identifies the excess of entered costs over tax; whether the operator actually collects that excess depends on the contract.
The normal export deadline ends after the third following month
French guidance requires the normal export validation by the end of the third month following the purchase month. That is not a fixed 90 days or the same numbered date three months later. A purchase on 2026-09-24 produces a deadline of 2026-12-31. Export on 2026-10-01 leaves a calendar margin of 91 days. Export on the deadline shows 0 days; the following day shows −1. Dates are treated as calendar dates independently of the browser’s timezone and daylight saving. The result does not guarantee that a counter will be open or that there will be enough time to complete the procedure.
Confirm the validation location for connecting flights
For direct departure from France out of the EU, prepare to use PABLO or the customs counter. If you leave the EU from another member state, check its customs process and the return of the validated form to the French seller. Connections shorter than three hours, inaccessible checked goods or access to the refund counter can change where validation takes place. Some itineraries require validation at the first departure airport. The calculator therefore asks you to confirm the connection plan rather than universally directing you to the last airport. Resolve the route with the airline and customs before checking your bags.
For a permitted group of purchases crossing a month boundary, the calculator uses the earlier first purchase month as a conservative preparation deadline. Confirm the BVE’s date and the applicable deadline with the seller. Separate six-month rules for manual-form return or exceptional retrospective validation do not extend the normal export deadline. Sources distinguish sale dates and BVE issue dates, so this tool does not invent one universal retrospective due date. Arriving late at the airport does not itself guarantee a later correction.
Use the calculator in five steps
Check your journey: Confirm residence, age, stay and status, then enter the actual final EU export date. Keep the connection plan unconfirmed until the validation point is established.
Record each BVE: Enter the first and last purchase dates, eligible tax-inclusive amount and receipt VAT rate for each seller-confirmed group. A shop label is sufficient; do not enter passport numbers or other unnecessary personal information.
Add confirmed costs: Use the actual operator, payout and conversion terms. Enter zero only for confirmed free items, and save separate cash and card scenarios when their charges differ.
Resolve the reasons shown: Review amount shortfalls, late export, invalid dates and missing information. A refused customs validation is not overridden by apparently valid dates or amounts.
Save a preparation record: Download the TXT review or print it, then compare the amounts, deadlines and pending items with seller and customs instructions. The review is not a BVE and is not proof of customs validation.
Worked example with fictional charges
The example button uses an eligible 45-year-old traveller buying in France on 2026-09-24 and leaving directly out of the EU on 2026-10-01. It assumes EUR 1,200 including 20% VAT, an operator deduction of EUR 40, an extra payout fee of EUR 3, a conversion charge of 2% and KRW 1,500 per euro. These are illustrative inputs, not official operator fees or a live exchange rate.
Fictional French VAT refund calculation and cost breakdown
Item
Amount
VAT-inclusive purchase
€1,200.00
Embedded VAT
€200.00
Operator + additional payout fee
€43.00
Before conversion charge
€157.00
Conversion charge at 2%
€3.14
Net benefit and estimated payout
€153.86
Converted value
230,790 KRW
The same purchase can produce a different net result under another operator’s deduction or payout currency. When comparing an advertised refund percentage, check which charges are already included. Until you receive the refund, track it separately from cash available for your trip. An expected future recovery does not fund today’s hotel bill or another purchase.
Interpret partial totals and understand the limits
A reviewable subtotal is not the complete total
If one of two forms lacks a fee quote, only the reviewable form contributes to the subtotal and the complete total remains pending. Unconfirmed costs are never silently treated as free. A below-threshold form is not added to another form to pass EUR 100. Read the count beside the subtotal to see how many units contributed. A subtotal with no reviewable units means nothing is ready to total, not that the operator has confirmed a zero refund.
Planning, validation and payment are separate
A reviewable estimate means the entered conditions and charges support a calculation. A planned validation remains conditional on successful customs processing; even a completed validation does not establish that the seller has paid. For delayed payment, contact the seller or operator rather than asking French customs to issue the refund. The tool does not inspect goods, establish authenticity, rule on prohibited exports or assess the legal accuracy of a declaration.
Do not assume that family members’ purchases can be consolidated under one person’s form. Confirm that the named traveller and the person presenting the goods match the paperwork. After a return or exchange, obtain corrected documents and rerun the calculation. This is a planning model using 2026 source material, not a promise that rules will stay unchanged for a trip in 2027 or later. Recheck official guidance and the contract before committing to a substantial purchase.
Frequently asked questions
Does 20% VAT mean a refund of 20% of the price?
The tax in a VAT-inclusive price is price × 20 ÷ 120. Confirmed charges then reduce the possible recovery, so embedded VAT and the amount paid to you are different.
Why is exactly EUR 100 held for confirmation?
General guidance and the implementing provision differ from the 2026 circular on the strict versus inclusive boundary. The tool does not automatically settle eligibility or net recovery before seller/customs confirmation.
Can I combine receipts from every shop?
Only use a group the seller confirms can appear on one BVE. Check the same-city, VAT-number and operator requirements and the three-consecutive-calendar-day window.
Is departure 90 days after purchase always in time?
The model uses the end of the third month following the purchase month, not 90 days. Compare your actual final EU export date with that deadline.
Where should I validate when connecting through Germany?
Connection duration, checked goods and access to the counter matter. An exception may require validation at the first airport, so establish the route with customs and the airline before checking bags.
Can I enter zero when I do not know the fees?
Leave unknown fees blank to hold the net result and full total. Use zero only for confirmed zero charges, and check whether the operator deduction already includes the payout fee.
Can I always fix a missed validation within six months?
Six-month guidance concerns separate manual-return or exceptional regularisation procedures. It does not extend the normal export deadline, and late airport arrival alone does not guarantee an exception.
Does this determine my Korean import declaration value?
No import valuation or customs duty is calculated here. Retain the receipts and refund records and check South Korean traveller baggage rules separately when returning there.
Official sources and review date
Sources were checked on 2026-09-24; DA 26-044 took effect on 2026-04-24. The review used French customs’ purchasing and PABLO guidance, the economy ministry’s explanation and official VAT-rate information. CGI Article 262, cited by older guidance, is shown as a historical version ending on 2026-09-01, so it is not presented here as the current provision. The recodified successor reference and the exact EUR 100 boundary require further maintenance checks. Access to the successor article’s full text could not be verified; this tool does not fill that gap with an automatic legal determination. It provides a preparation estimate based on the verified operational guidance.
Enter a real quote and save your departure checklist
Start with one receipt and confirmed charges. Add each further BVE after verifying its grouping, and save an updated review when pending questions are resolved. Keep the trip budget and expected recovery separate so you can distinguish cash needed now from a possible later refund.