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Is 'Tax Free' shopping the same as 'Duty Free' shopping?

Tax free versus duty free - what are the differences?

Josh avatar
Written by Josh
Updated over a year ago

They are different!

Tax free shopping is the phenomenon in that tourists are able to shop at stores within a country, pay the full price (including VAT), and then receive a refund of the VAT amount when leaving the country to return home.

Duty free is specifically the shopping that occurs (generally) after security check-in at the airport where stores are offering a discount (duty free) for tourists.

Which is better?

Well - this depends on who you ask, but generally speaking, with tax free, you are able to shop at nearly every store in the country, but duty free has a limited selection of goods to buy.

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