Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/244624
25 Letters maltatoday, SUNDAY, 19 JANUARY 2014 Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075 E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted. Tourists complain about months' delay before receiving VAT refunds Being Russian citizen living in Malta for 17 years, I have my parents visiting me twice a year. So you can imagine how many times we've faced the troubles of obtaining VAT refund from Malta. I do not know where those big amounts of refunds go being issued every year, however I'm totally positive that not much of that figure goes into the Russian tourist's claims. And here is the story to explain why. First of all, the whole procedure of filling the refund claim form at the Luqa Airport is very inefficient. There are no forms to be found at the first floor prior to Check-In. And it is important to fill the form and show the goods to the customs officer BEFORE one checks in his/her luggage. However, the Customs office that takes care of the VAT refunds is situated UPSTAIRS, where you arrive only after check-in completed. How is that convenient? So every time my mother flies back to Russia I have to press the button 'VAT Refunds' near last check-in desk. If I'm lucky, the officer replies and every time, twice a year during the past 10 years, I have to explain all over again, that "my mother does not speak English, let alone write it. Therefore, kindly come down, get the refund form with you so I can fill it for my mother in English and kindly check the goods and compare them with the VAT receipts before she goes for Check–In". Then we are waiting for the officer to come down. Usually that's what used to happen. However, in September 2013, when my mother was travelling back to Russia, the Customs Officer – whom I had to call from the Information desk as nobody answered the 'VAT Refund' buzzer – told me on the phone that since my mother is flying through Frankfurt to Russia, then the VAT refund has to be obtained at Frankfurt Airport, as that would be the last EU country she crosses before leaving EU. I tried to reason with the officer why it is that during the previous 10 years, the form has been filled in Malta, the goods were checked by the Customs officers in Malta, and they used to stamp the Refund form as a way of approval for obtaining the refund although my mother always flown through Frankfurt? The officer said that this shows the other Customs Officers were committing a mistake all these years! So we had to do as he said. After talking to me on the phone, the Customs Officer came down, brought us the Refund claim form which I filled in front of him, and which my mother was told to take with her to Frankfurt airport – all for just for a stamp! Thank God, at Frankfurt Airport the VAT refund officer had stamped the form without any hesitation, and it took my mother less than a minute to get the form stamped. Ridiculously, since the goods were purchased in Malta, this form had to be placed on the envelope and mailed BACK to Malta to the VAT department! Isn't it another bureaucratic implication to make life of a client harder? What a complicated way to get your money back – the money that rightfully belongs to my mother. Why is it that the officer in Malta couldn't stamp the form as the goods were purchased in Malta, especially if this very form had to be sent back to Malta? Doesn't this make a mockery of people? Obviously, my mother had neither an envelope nor a stamp, and since there was a swift connection between her flights, she had to keep the stamped Refund Form and take it with her to Russia, where eventually she managed to mail it to the VAT Department of Malta. Well, if you think this ordeal is over, I can assure you that it isn't. Now, she will have to wait six months (as that's how much it takes for the cheque from the Maltese VAT department to arrive to Siberia), just to face the fact that NO banks in her region accepted the cheque issued by Central Bank of Malta. My mother has been advised to take this check to Moscow banks to cash it. For the benefit of your readers: there is a 2,000 km distance between Siberia and Moscow. In order to cash this check she would have to take a 12-hour plane. Therefore, we decided to cash this check in Malta during her next visit. To our immense surprise neither HSBC nor BOV have accepted this cheque from us (no wonder Russian Banks were refusing it!). We've been advised to go to the Central Bank of Malta to cash it. When we arrived to Valletta (I'm omitting the story of parking space search), at the main building of Central Bank (just opposite the Castile) they told us they do not work with general public and once again we were redirected to another Central Bank building. It is situated just below the main one, however, in order to reach it we had to go by walk along the main road as the drive in was too narrow and no space for visitor parking. Finally, after passing the sign-in procedure at the reception desk, we were allowed to enter inside. The cheque has been processed. The last annoying complication arose at the bank – the cheque was issued in Sterling as there was NO euro option to be picked at the Vat Refund Form! Isn't this strange, since Malta is an EU country which has adopted EU currency since 2004, and yet there is no 'euro' box to be ticked at the form as a preferred currency of VAT refund payment – only Sterling, US Dollars and even Australian Dollar are provided as a choice. Why would I need to get Australian dollars back as a refund money if I spent Euros in this country? Anyway, after cashing the cheque, we had to exchange the sterling into euro, thus losing on the exchange rate, to add to our suffering! Well, now you realise what I mean when I say that not a lot of Russians would have nerves to pass all those stages in order to get VAT refund back. Malta is the only country in Europe that I know with such a complicated procedure of obtaining the VAT refund back. I really do hope that Malta officials would read this letter, and that some measures are taken in order to simplify the procedure. Why not to adopt the same way of other EU countries and let people obtain their money – which rightfully belongs to them – straight at the airport? Marina Cassar Via email That Simon Busuttil and the Nationalist Party of which he is leader are convinced that the Individual Investor Program is going to be a success can be gauged by the hysterical way the PN is reacting to the radically revamped final version of the IIP. The PN's spokesman, Jason Azzopardi, went completely overboard while addressing a press conference on the IIP. He described the final version of the IIP as "worse than the original". How can those who have not yet taken leave of their senses come to the same conclusion as Azzopardi? These are some of the changes made to the original IIP: The total package value is going up from €650,000 to €1.15 million; There must be investment in property of a minimum €350,000 or rent at a minimum of €16,000 annually tied to a minimum period of 5 years in both cases; A total of €150,000 must be invested in local stocks and bonds, also tied for a minimum period of five years; The secrecy provision found in the origvinal IIP has been removed; The IIP is being capped at a maximum of 1,800 applications; Due diligence has been increased with the introduction of a fourth tier, equivalent to the MFSA; Maltese operators will be able to apply directly in the name of their clients, with Identity Malta, serving as an interface. From the above, one can easily judge how radical the changes which have been made or added are. I am now very curious to see whether Simon Busuttil will advise all PN-leaning lawyers and financial advisers not to apply on behalf of clients they may have who would be interested in the IIP! Eddy Privitera Mosta Simon Busuttil PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD PN is going overboard with IIP criticism