8 years ago I vacationed in a euro country.
I bought my wife a $8,000 necklace and paid close to 20% vat.............. they told me that I could file given papers in the airport to get my VAT back since I was a US citizen.
I filed papers and since I was a good us citizen I told customs about the purchase.
US customs nailed me a coulple of percent and the credit card showed the credit the next month
what a red tape mess.............. how can small business there pay all the people needed to file all this stuff