VAT refund kiosks in UAE available at major malls, hotels

The UAE's Value Added Tax (VAT) Recovery Self-Service Kiosks for Tourists scheme has been expanded to major shopping malls and hotels, said a report.

The new locations are in addition to air, land, and maritime entry and exit ports across the UAE, said a report in WAM citing an announcement from the Federal Tax Authority (FTA).

The expansion aims to provide additional services to tourists, enhancing the UAE’s status as a leading destination on the international tourism map.

Planet, the company authorised by the FTA to operate the electronic system for the Tax Refunds for Tourists Scheme, debuted nine self-service kiosks in stage one of implementing the plan, setting them up at multiple shopping malls and hotels, the report said.

The kiosks allow tourists to process VAT refund requests from the convenience of their hotel or at shopping malls in a matter of minutes.

Applicants can scan their boarding pass to prove they will be leaving the UAE in the next 24 hours, as well as their original passport (or identity card for GCC nationals), and then follow the simple instructions displayed at the self-service kiosks. it said.

The FTA revealed that Planet intends to deploy up to 55 new self-service kiosks by the end of 2020 – 25 of which would be stationed in malls and 30 in hotels.

FTA director-general Khalid Ali Al Bustani said: "Our objective from expanding the self-service kiosk is to provide further facilities and additional options for tourists looking to recover taxes,"

"Eligible tourists who meet the necessary criteria for reclaiming the VAT they incurred on their purchases in the UAE can process their refund applications from the convenience of their own hotels or from a list of major shopping malls around the country," he added.

"This latest development further upgrades the services we offer through the electronic system of the Tourists Refund Scheme, which has seen increasing success and a growing number of users taking advantage of its speed and ease of use," Al Bustani said.

The number of digital transactions under the Tourists Refunds Scheme grew to 3.2 million in the period between its launch in November 2018 and the end of 2019. By end of June 2019, the total stood at 1.52 million transactions; the number leaped by 1.68 million applications in the second half of 2019, marking a staggering 110.53 per cent growth during that period. Meanwhile, the daily average number of tax refund transactions for tourists grew 2.64 times from 3,720 in the scheme’s first month to 9,830 daily transactions in December 2019.

The Authority asserted that to be refundable, tax invoices need to have been issued by the retail stores included in the Scheme and registered in the system; these venues can be identified by visibly showcasing ‘Tax-Free’ stickers on their storefronts, the report said.