The Tourist Refund Scheme returns the 10% GST on goods you buy in Australia and carry out with you. The invoice must total $300 or more from a single business, dated within 60 days of departure, and you must have the goods with you at the airport.
What is the Tourist Refund Scheme actually for?
GST is a tax on consumption in Australia, so goods leaving the country with you were never meant to carry it. The Tourist Refund Scheme gives it back, run by the Australian Border Force at international airports and some seaports. It refunds the 10% GST, and 14.5% Wine Equalisation Tax on wine.
It is open to every departing traveller, including working holiday makers. Nothing about your visa affects eligibility, and using it has no bearing on your tax return or your super claim.
Which purchases actually qualify?
A purchase qualifies only if it meets all five conditions, and failing any one disqualifies the claim. The one that catches people is the single business rule: $300 has to come from one ABN, not $300 of spending across a shopping centre.
- Goods bought from a single business trading under a single ABN
- A total invoice of $300 or more, including GST
- Purchased within 60 days of your departure date
- The goods with you and available for inspection
- Physical goods, not services
Electronics, cameras, phones, laptops, watches, jewellery, luggage, clothing and sporting goods all qualify. Services do not, so accommodation, tours and massages are out, and so are tobacco, GST free items, anything you have already consumed, and anything you posted home.
What do you need to bring to the desk?
Four things: passport, boarding pass, the original tax invoices, and the goods themselves. Missing any one ends the claim, and the invoices are the item most often left in a hostel or thrown away weeks earlier.
The invoice has to show the seller's name and ABN, the GST paid or a total including GST, a description of the goods and the purchase date. For invoices over $1,000 your own full name must appear on the invoice, which the retailer has to add at the time of purchase rather than afterwards.
How does the claim work at the airport?
Check in as normal, keep the goods in your hand luggage, and go to the TRS facility after security in the international terminal. Staff check the passport, boarding pass and invoices, inspect the goods, and process the refund to the payment method you nominate.
Allow real time. Queues run long in the departure peaks and the desks close well before your gate, so arrive 90 minutes before the flight rather than the usual 60. The MyTRS app lets you lodge the details in advance, which shortens desk time but does not remove the inspection.
How and when is the money paid?
The refund is paid to a credit card, an Australian or overseas bank account, or by cheque, and you choose at the desk. Credit card is the most common and the fastest, usually landing within about five business days.
If you are closing your Australian bank account before you fly, nominate a card rather than that account, because a refund sent to a closed account has nowhere to land.
Is it worth the time for a working holiday budget?
On a single large purchase, clearly. On a scattered year of small spending, no. The 10% comes back on the GST inclusive price, so $1,000 of electronics returns about $91 and $3,000 returns about $273, against roughly half an hour of queueing.
- A $1,000 laptop refunds about $91
- A $2,000 camera refunds about $182
- A $500 watch refunds about $45
Buying the laptop or camera you were going to buy anyway in your final fortnight, so the invoice falls inside the 60 days, is legitimate and common.
What decides whether your claim succeeds?
Four facts about how you shopped, all settled long before you reach the airport. Whether the $300 sat with one business, since multiple receipts from the same retailer combine and ten shops at $30 do not. Whether the purchase date falls inside 60 days of departure, counted back from the flight. Whether you still have the original invoice. And whether the goods are physically with you rather than in the hold, mailed home, or already worn out.
Oversized items are the edge case. A surfboard or a large instrument cannot go through the cabin, so inspection has to be arranged with the airline and the TRS desk before check in, days ahead rather than on the morning.
Where does the TRS sit in the rest of your departure?
The TRS is the one part of leaving Australia that cannot be done afterwards. Once you pass through the gate the claim is gone permanently, whereas your tax return and your DASP super claim can both be lodged from home months later.
The refund at the airport is worth tens or low hundreds of dollars. The return and the super claim are usually worth considerably more, and they are the ones that survive the flight.