If you buy them in France and and the shop has a VAT refund policy, you are entitled to the French VAT refund. Ask in advance if they do VAT refund. The shop needs to fill in a special form for you and attach the receipt to it and there is a minimum amount for which they do it, usually around 200 euros. I know Espace Montagne in Epagny do it and they have a good selection but not sure about other shops. When existing France with the articles you need to have the form stamped at the customs, so choose one of the major border crossings, the smaller ones are often unmanned. You should then declare them to the Swiss customs when entering Switzerland and pay Swiss VAT on them so your gain is 19 - 8 = 11%. You can choose not to declare them and keep all of the 19% but bear in mind there is a risk.

I'm not sure how things work in Italy since each country makes its own rules but I assume it should be similar.

Alternatively check eBay, sometimes last year's models have such good prices that it's worth to pay the shipping from the US eg I got for $250 a snowboard worth 700 in Switzerland. Good luck!

Thanks a lot, catalin. 

Not a big fan of buying online, however I see there are many advantages. Btw, no tax levied on eBay purchases, either from US or EU?

Sorry if I ask too many questions, I've realised bureaucracy here is a killer! Still want to double check whether, being exempt from income tax, I can actually claim VAT back. Just to be on the safe side...

Income tax and VAT are not linked.

You arfe buying goods in the EU (Italy France or Germany etc) and bringing them into a non EU country - Switzerland, so you are entitled to claim the VAT back.

The most important thing is to cross a manned border point ie with French customs officials present.  Normally the shop gives you a stamped addressed envelope with the form and you just put it into a French post box.  

Even where there is no customs official there is a box you put the envelope into without the stamp. Not sure how this works but at Moillesulaz there is a notice which I have not yet read.

In UK form instance below a certain value, you just put the form into a box at the airport (and in fact you could in theory not export the goods)

Try to pay the Swiss VAT - not sure what the procedure is when only French officials are there but if you ask them you are probably covered morally.

You must have your passport and permit with you when you go to the shop.

Once coming out of Germany (Basel) the official refused to stamp the form, insisting that my permit was not valid.  The Swiss customs official quite happily insisted that I pay Swiss VAT on top of the German VAT that I had already paid.  I got round that by driving to the Ferney border the following day and reexported the item, saying I had driven through France from Germany - kept a bit of lggage oin the cat to make it look as if I had 

What would be the minimum eligible amount? And does it apply just to single purchases or also to a number of items bought on the same day/trip? 

Shouldn't be a problem with skis, but since I'm travelling to 3 more EU countries in the next coupla months, it's be helpful to know. is there a recommended reference website?

Thanks

It is for items purchased in the same shop on the same visit. You noramlly cannot return to the same shop the next and add on to you previous purchase

The minimum purchase varies from shop to shop.  Some shops esp UK use a central agency which takes aound 5%. The minimum amount is usually arond 100 euros but you are allowed to import I think more than 350 CHF worth of goods per person per car so in theory you can avoid the Swiss import duty.

No idea about websites.  I did post the Swiss cutoms tarrifs about a month ago but cannot remember the namne of the forum. Found it by googling swiiss customs tarrifs are something like that

The amount is decided by the shop as explained in my previous post and it's cumulable but only for items purchased in the same shop.

You can quickly get around import tax from EU countries by having it delivered to a friend in nearby France instead of Geneva. For goods from the US there was a discussion recently, bottom line is that sometimes they tax it sometimes they don't, it's a bit of a lottery. Somebody pointed out that the maximum charge that can apply is 70 CHF. US Post is significantly cheaper than DHL or UPS, have an email exchange with the ebay seller and ask them to ship via US Post when possible, they usually agree.

Websites for the US: eBay, the-house, backcountry, dogfunk

Reference for the EU: bluetomato.at but significantly more expensive than the US

Catalin, could the sender prepay Swiss customs and duty and therefore avoid all of the hassle and admin fees?  I bought a watch from an EU-based seller, they added duty to my invoice, and the package sailed straight through customs with no delays or fees.  I'm wondering if this was normal...

I'm not sure about EU sellers, whenever I order in the EU I have it delivered in France and avoid the problem altogether. American sellers will not do it for sure because they are not familiar with the Swiss customs and they are risk-averse.

Catalin, but if I have a bulky item such as say a pair of skis delivered to a friend in France voisine, I'd still have to cross the French-Swiss border to take them home, wouldn't I? This is just out of curiosity, I haven't been here long and all my good friends live in CH :-)

Richardm, living in Switzerland and buying watches abroad seems ironic... ;-)

It's a German watch -- I hide it under my sleeve when crossing the border back into Switzerland...  =)

Yes but 1) it's the season so nobody will think a pair of skis is suspicious and 2) there are many unmanned border crossings

Comparison cheapest pair of women's skis available on the website:

the-house $119              backcountry $199            bluetomato.at 329 EUR

Enough said.

gotta find a stay home friend in France, pronto ;-)

checked the-house. Basically all skis cannot be shipped over here :-(

Will keep looking...

International Shipping Restrictions:
Brands that CANNOT be shipped internationally:

The following brands can only ship to the States (orders that are shipping to FORWARDING COMPANIES are not able to be processed with restricted items, please submit your order with an address that is from a Family Member or Friend that is within the US):
32, 686, Adidas, Analog, Anon, Arbor, Bonfire, Burton, Capita, Cappel, Coal, Dakine, DC, Dynastar, Electric, Emerica, ES, Etnies, Fischer, Forum, Foursquare, Fox, Full Tilt, Giro, GNU, Gravis, Jeenyus, K2, Lib Tech, Liberty, Line, Marker, Merrell, Morrow, Nike, Nixon, North Face, O'Neill, Oakley, Pro Tec, Quiksilver, Rayban, Red, Reef, Ride, Rossignol, Roxy, Salomon, Special Blend, Tecnica, Thirty Two, Union, Vans, Volcom, Volkl, Von Zipper, Liquid Force, Atomic, Armada, Connelly, CWB, Patagonia, Quicksilver, Rada, Ronix, Rome, RVCA, Smith

Warranty issues and manufacturer restrictions prevent us from shipping certain products to all geographical locations. We do not ship to freight forwarder addresses.

Best is to call or email them, calling being preferable. A lot of websites publish these disclaimers because they have to, but will not enforce them very strictly in practice. I had items shipped from the States before although officially they were not allowed to.

Second option, if you or one of your friends will travel to the States in the following months, you can have them delivered to the hotel and bring them back by plane as sports equipment.

Third option, if you have a friend in the USA you can have them delivered to them (usually free of charge) and they can then ship them to you. Voila.

eBay is your best bet though since they are much more flexible than the big websites.

yeah, don't really want to ask my socialite cousin in NY to ship skis to CH... might crumple her style ;-)

Thanks a bunch for your help!

Hello everybody, one more question on this topic if you don't mind: if I buy this famous pair of skis and don't claim French VAT back, do I still have to pay Swiss VAT (it will be more than 350 francs)?

Thanks again!!!

daniela

I wouldn't claim because the shop doesn't do tax refund

Yes, if you declare them / order them online with delivery to Switzerland.

"Any shop when the products are shipped outside of the EU and they are in charge of the shipment will have sufficient export proof to exempt the supply; i.e. not to charge VAT on the supply."

Not true. It is not a requirement and some shops don't care / don't bother. This is from my personal experience buying a shitload of stuff only, without being an international direct, indirect or otherwise tax advisor of any kind.

*online

Thanks a lot, Reka.

The reason I reopened the post is that I've been directed to a shop in France where I can get a discount (long story, sort of a wholesale shop but don't have details yet), and I'm not sure whether they issue the necessary papers.

Thanks everybody for your precious help!

d.