Tax and Duty Free shopping

Duty Free and Tax Free shopping are located only after security control.

Duty Free Shopping

Duty Free shopping is available only at World Duty Free stores. “Duty Free” shopping means that no duty on items will be paid to the government (HM Revenue & Customs) and as such, items which are “Duty Free” must be exported. Items which are “Duty Free” are those which are to be exported to countries outside the tax territory of the EU. In essence, the tax territory of the EU is the “rest of the world” other than the core EU member states, but there are some detailed exceptions, which means that the tax territory of the EU is in fact slightly smaller than the EU itself. Please see below for a full list/explanation.

Passengers who have purchased Duty Free goods who are travelling to a final destination outside the tax territory of the EU may be requested to pay tax on their purchases on arrival at their destination and/or if they bring the same merchandise back into the UK on their return to the UK.

Tax Free Prices

Shopping at “Tax Free Prices” is available at all stores after security control, except newsagents, bookstores, pharmacies, catering outlets and bureaux de change. “Tax Free Prices” mean that (where required to do so) the retailer will pay the amount of VAT due on the sale to the government (HM Revenue & Customs) and where they do pay the VAT the merchandise does not need to be exported. Hence Tax Free Prices are available to all passengers, regardless of where they are travelling to. The Tax Free Price is equivalent to the selling price of the relevant merchandise prior to the addition of Value Added Tax at 17.5%.

The savings for “Tax Free Prices” do not apply to products for which no high street price comparison is displayed (because those items are exclusive to the Airport).

Which countries are in the EU and which countries are not within the tax territory of the EU?

The EU includes the following 27 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, the UK.

There are a number of other islands or territories which, despite being within the “footprint” of the EU, or being sovereign states of those 27 members of the EU, are not within the tax territory of the EU. They are as follows:

• Faroe Islands and Greenland (which are part of Denmark);
• The Aland Islands (these are part of Finland), 
• The overseas departments of France, being Martinique, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Reunion, and St Pierre and Miquelon; 
• Busingen and the Isle of Helgoland (these are part of Germany); 
• Mount Athos (part of Greece); 
• The communes of Livigno and Campione d’Italia (these are part of Italy); 
• The Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla (these are part of Spain)
• The Channel Islands and Gibraltar (these are part of the UK).

This means that whenever you are flying to those countries/areas listed above, you can buy goods at “Duty Free” prices.

For clarification, the Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Ibiza and Menorca), the Azores, the Isle of Man, Monaco and Madeira are within the tax territory of the EU and this means that goods at “Duty Free” prices are not available to passengers travelling to those destination.

The BAA Shopping Collection Service

The BAA Shopping Collection Service is not available to those passengers who are travelling outside the tax territory of the EU. This is because no excise duty or VAT is paid by the retailer to the government, and hence the goods must be exported.