Residents of the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla
We inform you how to recover the VAT paid for purchases you have made in the peninsula or the Balearic Islands
VAT refund. Residents of the city of Melilla
Upon arrival in Melilla, as soon as you disembark you must go to the tax office, which, after verifying your identity and the goods documented in the Electronic Refund Document (DER) or invoice DIVA , will proceed to process the date of entry of the goods into the City. Please note that if more than 3 months have passed since you made your purchases, even if the tax receipt can confirm the date of entry into Melilla, you will not be able to process the refund.
Based on these documents you must settle the IPSI corresponding to the purchases made. This procedure is carried out before the tax services of Melilla, which are responsible for establishing the procedures, whether telematic or in person, as well as recognizing, where appropriate, the right to any type of exemption or franchise.
The traveler must present to the Melilla Customs the Electronic Refund Document (DER) or DIVA invoice completed by the Tax Receipt, as well as proof of the settlement of IPSI . Once all the documentation is in order, Customs will proceed with the electronic visa of the DER. You can submit the documentation to Customs through the following channels:
- In person, for which it is advisable to make an appointment to avoid waiting
- Telematically through the electronic headquarters
- By email to the address: diva.melilla@correo.aeat.es
The traveller will send the DER endorsed by Customs to the supplier, who will refund the fee charged within the following fifteen days by check, bank transfer, credit card payment or other means that allows proof of reimbursement. Since the system is electronic, some providers process the refund directly by verifying the valid Customs visa, others request that the traveler prove the valid Customs visa, sending the documentation via email, or by traditional correspondence.
Refunds of the tax may also be made through collaborating entities authorized by the State Agency for Tax Administration.
Travelers will present the electronic reimbursement documents endorsed by Customs to these entities, which will pay the corresponding amount, stating the traveler's consent.
No. The entire procedure is recorded electronically and it is an essential requirement that the operation be documented in an Electronic Refund Document (DER) or invoice DIVA .
If you meet the rest of the requirements, and provided that you can prove that your purchases have arrived in Melilla within 3 months of their purchase (you can request that your purchases be verified upon disembarking), you can ask the seller to issue you the Electronic Refund Document (ERD) afterwards.
No. The entire procedure is recorded electronically and it is an essential requirement that the operation be documented in an Electronic Refund Document (DER) or invoice DIVA .
However, the retail establishment cannot deny you your right to a refund nor can it refuse to issue the DER. In this regard, the Binding Consultations of the General Directorate of Taxes V0564-20 and V1978-20.
The seller must issue the corresponding invoice and an electronic refund document (ERD), available at the e-Office of the Tax Agency, in which the goods purchased and the corresponding tax must be stated separately.
Thus, the issuance of the electronic reimbursement document by the seller is not configured as an optional or discretionary circumstance for the seller but as a genuine legal obligation at the same level as the obligation to issue an invoice.
The seller's refusal to issue the electronic refund document, which is required by law and regulations, could be considered a tax dispute so that the consultant could file the corresponding economic-administrative claim before the Local Economic-Administrative Court of Melilla, a body that does not depend on the AEAT .
Neither the VAT nor the IPSI regulations regulate this period. The traveller's request may entail the seller's obligation to rectify the transferred fees, for which he has a maximum period of 4 years from the moment in which the Tax corresponding to the operation was accrued.
In accordance with the above, the traveller must send the invoice to the supplier within four years from the accrual of the transaction documented therein, so that said supplier can fulfil the obligation to rectify the assessed fees stated therein. After this period, the supplier will not be obliged to rectify these fees or return the amount thereof.
Therefore, the IPSI settlement and the corresponding Customs visa must be made available to the seller within 4 years from the purchase (see query 0348-02 of the General Directorate of Taxes).
Please note that, as the procedure is electronic and there is a maximum period of 3 months for purchases to reach Ceuta or Melilla, registering transactions outside this period requires manual actions that may lengthen the processing by several days.