Tax free shopping in the USA?

mummyonamission

Just a quick question, can you claim the tax back when you buy certain items in the USA? I'm looking for a special gift for my hubby's 40th birthday next year and am looking at either a watch or chain. Can you get the tax back or is a discount is applied on purchase?

Thanks for any advice x

ferf1223

There's no way to (or right to) claim tax back for purchases in the US....Macy's do a out-of-state discount, but wouldn't be applicable to a watch - pretty sure they would class that as 'jewelry'.

http://www.visitmacysusa.com/visitors/savings.cfm

Edited to add - there may be an exception, seem to recall someone posting previously that there was one state that had a process to claim back tax.

Caz3121

With the exception of 5 states they all have sales tax which ranges between about 4% and 9%, you cannot reclaim this
"The United States Government does not refund sales tax to foreign visitors. Sales tax charged in the U.S. is paid to individual states, not the Federal government"

the states with no sales tax are Alaska, Delaware, New Hampshire, Montana and Oregon so items would be cheaper there

hermante

Caz3121 wrote: »

With the exception of 5 states they all have sales tax which ranges between about 4% and 9%, you cannot reclaim this
"The United States Government does not refund sales tax to foreign visitors. Sales tax charged in the U.S. is paid to individual states, not the Federal government"

the states with no sales tax are Alaska, Delaware, New Hampshire, Montana and Oregon so items would be cheaper there

... apart from DE (and maybe NH) they will cost more to get to!

MoneyQueen

I think in Texas, you can get the tax refunded on the airport.

This site has the information

http://www.taxfreetexas.com/

HTH

jackieblack

hermante wrote: »

... apart from DE (and maybe NH) they will cost more to get to!

As OP doesn't state where in the USA they are going, this is not necessarily the case

mummyonamission

Thanks for the reply guys. We're going to New York over his birthday in October and I didn't know whether to buy a pressie before we go or whilst we're there.

Caz3121

Some things may be cheaper there but maybe not by much, remember there is a limit on what you can bring back tax free to the UK

telboyo

I would buy it here before you go, that way you will have ten months to find the right thing at the right price. If I was to go to NY for a major birthday I wouldn't relish the pressure of traipsing around the shops looking for the "right" thing, there may be a tendency to buy the first thing you see just to ensure you have a present, in which case it would probably be the "wrong" price and the the "wrong" item.