Recently I was in Europe with a few travel companions that are really into luxury goods. Apparently Europe is the place to get them for a huge savings, and I accompanied them while shopping in Vienna, Milan, and Zurich. I’m not into luxury goods, but I learned a lot in the process that I thought I would share for anyone who might want a one-off luxury product for themselves or interested in getting started on reselling these.

Our route involved traveling by plane from Vienna to Milan (both part of the EU) and then traveling by train from Milan to Zurich (Switzerland is not part of the EU). You can only get a VAT refund from the last country you exit the EU from. This is easy if you’re flying, since you just do it at the airport, but it was more complicated for us since we were taking the train (btw, it was a gorgeous train ride and the train itself was really nice, clean, and high-tech). After spending many hours combing the internet to figure out how to get the customs stamp we need for the refund, we discovered we needed to stop in the border town of Chiasso, get the stamp, and then continue on the next train to Zurich. Finding the right trains as to have a reasonably short layover in Chiasso was the hardest part.

The following instructions were written by one of my travel companions (with minor edits for clarity):

Receipt of the customs stamp that enables a tax refund for duty free shopping with Global Blue or Planet Payment is somewhat challenging when traveling by train to Switzerland. From Italy, you must stop at Chiasso station for a minimum of 11 minutes (with no line at the customs office; it’s a pretty quiet station so there likely will not be a queue).

The customs office is in the middle of the single hall of the station and has a fairly obvious Italian flag with a sign “Tax free” above its door. The office is open 24 hours daily. (edit: 4/30/2024 – please check their website for current operating hours) You must present the goods, the goods’ invoice (receipt), and the matching passport.

The customs agent will issue a digital stamp to the transaction. The goods’ invoice is not physically stamped. A separate receipt (ADM Italy in this example) is provided to record the digital stamp that you should keep in case of any issues with the cash refund.

A continuing train departing 30 minutes after our arrival was available and cost less than the direct train.

Separately, the cash refund can be issued for a nominal 3-5€ fee at a city office or your departure airport. I believe refunds to credit or debit card have no fee. If you prefer to submit by mail, that is also an option.

Friend of Demflyers
Arriving at Chiasso Train Station (this is the view from Track 1)
If you arrive on any other track other than Track 1, you will have to walk through this tunnel to get into the station.
Once you go through the tunnel and take the escalator up to enter the station building, you will see an orange line on the ground leading down a long hallway past the convenience store and ticket issuing office. There may also be a blue sign that says “Customs Checks.” Go down the hallway following the orange line. It will also have blue arrows saying “per l’Italia”.
Follow the orange line down the long hallway past the ticket office (on the right).
Keep following the orange line for per l’Italia!
Now you’ve reached the customs office, on the right. It’s the door with the flag of Italy above it that says “Tax Free.” Ring the doorbell or knock on the door.
Here’s a closer look at the door. Note the Global Blue Refunds Mailbox next to the door. You don’t need to use this if you’re flying out to the US – it’ll be faster to submit your paperwork at the airport.
This is a look inside the Tax Free office. The official will take your passport, look at the goods you bought, and process the paperwork to issue you a digital customs stamp. You will then take this to the airport (Zurich International Airport for us) on your way out of the country. At Zurich we took it to the Travelex counter to process.
This is the redacted evidence of the customs e-stamps provided by the customs official.
These are the train tickets we booked through SBB. The first leg was on a regional train. Second leg was on a really nice Swiss SBB train. As you can see, we gave ourselves 36 minutes in Chiasso just in case there was a line (there was literally nobody else, as you can see in the photos).

Our other travel companions arrived later and performed the same tasks as we did, then they stayed in Chiasso until the next train to Zurich, which was in 2 hours. Chiasso is a quiet town, but there are some good pastry shops in the area if you’re into that. My primary travel companion and I didn’t want to stay too long and wanted to get to Zurich before dark so we could walk around, so to each their own.

Hope these circles and arrows help someone in a similar position as us, who did shopping in the EU but then are taking a train to Switzerland!