Tourist Refund Scheme – How To Get Your Tax Back In Australia

There’s a quiet satisfaction in starting a holiday with a tax break before you’ve even boarded. Australia’s Tourist Refund Scheme (TRS) lets anyone leaving the country — visitors and Australians alike — claim back the GST on eligible goods bought here in the 60 days before they fly. I do it most trips: a new phone, a pile of Icebreaker gear, whatever I’ve bought that I’m taking with me. Done right it takes a few minutes at the airport. Done wrong, you miss the cut-off and watch the refund evaporate. Here’s how to get it right.

The $300 minimum — the rule everyone asks about first

You need to spend at least AUD$300 (GST inclusive) at a single business before you can claim anything. The important nuance most people miss: it’s $300 per business, identified by its ABN — not $300 per receipt. So you can combine several invoices from the same store, even bought on different days within the 60-day window, to get over the line. Buy a $180 jacket at Icebreaker today and a $140 base layer next week, same ABN, and you’re eligible on the combined $320.

What you can’t do is add up purchases from different stores to reach $300. I learned this the embarrassing way: I once loaded up on travel clothes through Amazon specifically to clear the $300, feeling rather clever. It was only the night before, when I sat down to print my invoices, that I noticed no GST had been charged and there was no ABN on the receipt — so there was nothing to claim. The saving grace was finding out at the kitchen table rather than at the airport. The lesson is simple and worth more than the refund I missed: no ABN on the invoice, no GST, no refund. Check your invoices have an ABN the night before — while you’ve still got time to do something about it — and remember the $300 only stacks within the same ABN.

How much will you actually get back?

The refund is the GST component of the price — exactly 1/11th of what you paid. It doesn’t matter how many people are in your party; the refund is worked out on the invoices, not the headcount. Here’s what that looks like at a few common spend levels:

Or just put your own numbers in. This works out your refund, and — because the bit that actually catches people is the trip home — your group’s duty-free allowance coming back in:

The 60-day rule

Goods must be bought no more than 60 days before you depart, and you lodge the claim on your departure day. If you fly out on 15 April, only purchases from 14 February onward qualify. Online purchases from an Australian retailer count too — but you’ll need to print the invoice; the TRS counter won’t accept a phone screenshot or a digital copy. Original paper invoice, every time.

Get to the airport early — earlier than you think

Officially, you must have the claim processed at least 30 minutes before your scheduled departure (60 minutes for a cruise). But “processed” is not “in the queue” — and the queue is the problem. The ABF themselves advise getting to the TRS facility about 90 minutes before departure, and on a busy morning that’s not padding, it’s survival.

I learned this the hard way transiting Brisbane on the way to Singapore. I’d given myself 90 minutes to get from Domestic to International and blithely forgotten I was also claiming tax back on a new Pixel phone. Between a delayed plane and a late transfer bus, I missed the cut-off by 15 minutes — and I was more upset about the refund and the lost lounge time than the connection. (Brisbane, to their credit, processed the paper claim anyway. Don’t count on that.)

I once watched a bride arrive at the Sydney counter with all her wedding dresses, only to leave the queue in tears because she’d missed the cut-off. The TRS desk does not bend for anyone. Build in the time.

The good news is it’s got a lot faster. These days, with your invoices already entered in the app and a QR code ready to scan, the counter step itself takes a minute or two. I’ve had claims processed quickly enough that I’ve still had time to wander off to the lounge for a drink before boarding — which, if you’re choosing where to sit and wait, is the whole point. (Here’s which lounges you can actually get into at Sydney.)

Where the TRS counter actually is — Sydney, Brisbane, Perth

The TRS facility is after you clear outwards immigration and security — airside, not before. A few airport-specific notes from doing this repeatedly:

Sydney (SYD): it’s roughly in the middle of the T1 departures concourse — look for the large replica of the Charles Kingsford Smith aircraft, the counter is right by it. Hard to miss once you know the landmark.

Brisbane (BNE): the counter is immediately on your right as you come through customs — the easiest of the three, in my experience. Note that if you’re transiting from Domestic you have to bus across to International first, which eats time (see above).

Always check your departure airport’s own website for the exact location — and remember it’s the airport where you clear immigration that matters, not necessarily where you checked your bags.

Bulky and oversized items — claim before you check in

Normally the goods have to be with you as carry-on so the officer can sight them. But if you’re claiming on something oversized or restricted — snow gear, a bike, golf clubs, liquids over the cabin limit — you can’t carry it on. In that case you take it to the ABF client services office for verification before you check your bags, then lodge the claim airside as normal. Skip that step and the claim falls over, because nobody can sight the item.

This is how I once claimed the GST back on a bike. I bought it here for around $2,000, had it verified at the client services counter, and flew out with it — getting roughly $180 of GST back. The interesting part is what happened on the way home. I did bring the bike back, which normally means the claimed goods count against your duty-free concession. But it had been ridden hard for months overseas, and on return its depreciated value had dropped well under the $900 concession — so there was nothing to repay. That’s the bit most people miss: Border Force assess the goods at their used value on re-entry, not what you paid. A well-worn item can come back under your concession even if it cost more than $900 new.

The $1,000 invoice rule (the one that catches people out)

If a single invoice is $1,000 or more, it must show your name (matching your passport) — and you usually have to ask the retailer to put it on at the time of purchase. Turn up at the counter with a $1,500 invoice and no name on it, and the claim gets rejected on the spot. For a big-ticket item, sort this in the shop, not at the airport.

Use the TRS app to skip the slow part

Download the official My TRS Claim app (Android and Apple, free — search “Tourist Refund Scheme”) before you fly. Important: the app does not lodge your claim. All it does is store your invoice details and generate a QR code that the officer scans, which makes the counter step much faster. You still have to front up in person with the goods and the paper invoices. Enter your details in the quiet of the lounge, not in the queue.

Don’t be greedy — and the bit about bringing goods back

Here’s where that “$900” figure actually belongs. When you come back into Australia, you have a duty-free passenger concession of AUD$900 per adult (AUD$450 under 18). A family of three can pool it — $900 + $900 + $450 = $2,250 of goods brought in without duty. Anything you claimed under TRS counts toward that concession on the way back. Go over it and you may have to repay the GST you just claimed, plus duty — on the entire value, not just the excess.

So the move is honest and simple: claim the tax on things you’re genuinely taking overseas, or that stay under the concession when you return. If you try to claim more on your way out and then bring it back over the limit, they’ll tell you at the counter that you’ll owe it — so just don’t. I’ve heard of people claiming a very expensive diamond “because they won’t be bringing it back,” who got the refund and then got the third degree on re-entry. Not a line you want on your customs record for the sake of a few hundred dollars.

What you can’t claim

Most physical goods with GST in the price are fine — clothes, electronics, souvenirs, cosmetics. What’s out: services (accommodation, car hire, restaurant meals), GST-free goods (most basic food), anything consumed or partly consumed in Australia (the opened perfume, the half-eaten box of chocolates), and beer, spirits and tobacco. Wine is the one alcohol exception — you can claim the GST on it (and the wine equalisation tax), which makes the refund on wine a little higher.

Tourist Refund Scheme — common questions

The short version

Spend $300+ at one store (check it has an ABN) within 60 days of flying. Keep the original paper invoices, with your name on them if any is over $1,000. Carry the goods, or get oversized ones sighted before check-in. Get to the TRS counter airside at least 30 minutes before departure — really, 90. Use the app to generate your QR code in advance. Claim what you’re actually taking, stay under your $900 concession on the way back, and the refund lands on your card within a couple of months. As Kerry Packer put it: “if anybody in this country doesn’t minimise their tax, they want their heads read.”