Lithuania refunds €5 million in VAT to Belarusians in a year

December 18, Pozirk. Belarusians filed 174,000 value-added tax (VAT) refund applications from October 2022 to November 2023, Delfi reported citing the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service.

Lithuania refunded €4.77 million in VAT for purchases exceeding €40, it noted.

Belarusians accounted for 85 percent of all submitted VAT refund declarations for purchases with an average worth of €235 this year, said Denis Grinevičius who heads Global Blue Lietuva in charge of the VAT refunds.

Electronic appliances make up more than a quarter of all VAT refund applications, followed by household goods (22 percent), clothing and footwear (18 percent) and food (8 percent), he noted.

The number of Belarusians crossing the border with Lithuania has decreased in the last few months, said Giedrius Mišutis, a spokesman for the Lithuanian border guards.