VAT refunds on purchases from the UK

[Nova]

I believe residents of the Canary Islands are eligible to claim back tax paid on UK purchases, but does anyone know how I do this?  Has anyone successfully achieved a VAT refund on this basis?  Normally it wouldn't be worth bothering, but I've realised that the VAT on my new laptop is likely to be upwards of £150 so I'm thinking that might be worth the hassle!

Any advice?

[Delderek]

You must  request a vat free sale from your UK supplier. f they are familiar with exports it will not be a problem. But if a small company. They will not know how to do it.

[Perikles]

Del is right - they need to send it without charging VAT.

[Myrtle Hogan-Lance]

Which is what Amazon does, and what their third party sellers refuse to.

[Briz]

If you have received the goods then I believe you are too late to claim a refund.

[Nova]

Well I'm looking at 2 preferred logistical options plus a third possibility.

1.  Get the laptop shipped directly here.  John Lewis have quoted me £50 shipping costs.
2.  Get the laptop shipped to my parents' house and bring it back with me on the plane.  This will require paying for hold baggage at a cost of ~ £50 if I want to be able to bring my clothes back with me as well.

3.  Physically go to a shop to buy the laptop and bring it back with me on the plane.  The problem with this is I'm only there for a few days and don't want to run into any out-of-stock issues.

I haven't yet decided which laptop I want and that will have a bearing on which logistical option I run with, so would any of these options complicate the VAT-free purchase bit?

[Briz]

You have to have the goods sold vat free and supply proof of export to the seller, or at least that was the case when I sold goods.

You could purchase the goods and fill in all the forms showing proof of export and then claim the monies back but you only have a limited period to complete the transaction.

Plus you must pay import tax in the Canaries if you have the goods vat free.

[Perikles]

The only way to avoid VAT is to have it shipped directly to Tenerife. Then you still have to pay IGIC plus another tax, a total of about 70 euros, instead of the VAT. The difference is not so large, but at least you could avoid being taxed twice.

edit - cross-posted

[Delderek]

With vat at 20 percent it's gotta be worth saving. Igic at 7 percent no contest. Another option is duty free shop at the UK airport. You can claim the vat back there and then from customs. But allow a bit of time. Many retailers will also give you a form to present to customs at the at the airport. Not to sure in your neck of the woods but this is common st London airports. And if hand luggage. Nothing is going to be charged in TFS

[Perikles]

With vat at 20 percent it's gotta be worth saving. Igic at 7 percent no contest.

I'm afraid it's not quite like that, because there is another tax besides IGIC. When I bought my computer last year, I ordered it from Mainland Spain, saving the Spanish tax of around 100 euros. Then I paid IGIC 40 euros plus another 40 (?) euros for a tax with a name I can't remember. Cheaper, but not that much.