Palma Airport Tax Refund

Know Before You Fly

Shopping is often a highlight for many people having a vacation in Palma, the capital of Spain’s Balearic Islands and the largest city on the island of Mallorca. Whether you’re buying souvenirs, clothes, toys, artwork or more, there’s plenty on offer that you can either purchase as a memento to remember your trip or buy to give as a gift to a friend or family member.

But did you know that you might be able to get a refund on the some of the tax that you paid in Mallorca when purchasing your items? Keep reading to learn about how to claim your refund at Palma Airport on the day that you are planning to fly back to your home country.

Spanish shops charge a type of value added tax called IVA that adds to the cost of items, which is effectively a sales tax, but you may be able to get a refund once you’re at the airport.

In order to qualify for a potential refund the item must be something that you bought in Mallorca and are taking back to the country where you live within three months, you must have purchased it from a shop that offers what’s known as a DIVA form, and you need to plan on using the goods yourself or as a gift, not to resell the items when you get home.

When you are buying something during your time on the island, you should ask the business owner to give you a DIVA form that shows your purchase is eligible for a refund. Shops that offer these forms usually have a logo with the word DIVA in the window, but if you are uncertain then you can always just ask individual business owners if they offer tax-free forms.

Make sure you keep these forms in a secure place, because once you get to the airport on the day of your flight home you will need to have these forms validated at a DIVA machine.

You can find these machines on the second level of the main airport terminal, but if you cannot located them then just ask one of the airport staff members to show you where they are.

The machine will ask you to choose your preferred language, and you will then be prompted to place the barcode on your DIVA forms over the barcode reader on the machine.

You’ll then either be told that your forms have been validated, or that the forms cannot be validated. Whichever response you get, you should then walk over to the Best & Fast office located in the airport where you can present your forms for a refund. If there are any issues with processing your forms, this is the location where you can hopefully get them resolved.

At the office, if you have successfully validated your DIVA forms you will be approved for a refund of the sale tax that you spent, given to you either on your card or in cash.