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In India,

  • If you are a tourist to India
  • You purchase something and take it out of the country

in theory you can claim and get a refund of the GST. (GST is the local term for sales tax or VAT.)

{Currently (2018) they are thinking about installing "sales tax refund desks for tourists" at airports - as is common in many countries - but it's not there yet.}

In fact, has anyone ever actually claimed and received a GST tourist refund from India?

The process seems completely opaque, and only theoretical. Most hearsay is that in practice it is impossible.

In fact, has anyone ever actually claimed and received a GST tourist refund from India?

Fattie
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1 Answers1

16

According to this news report (emphasis mine)

Although a provision for GST refund to tourists has been made in the GST law, it is yet to be operational. The law has defined the term 'tourist' as a person who's not normally a resident in India, who enters the country for a stay of not more than six months for legitimate non-immigrant purposes.

It looks like there is no refund mechanism as yet but government will setup an airport refund desk in near future which will, in the beginning, only process refunds for purchases made at "big retailers".

The answer to your question in short is - No one has claimed GST refund yet as there is no mechanism to claim a refund yet.

RedBaron
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