Where to get the export stamp: customs offices at the Swiss border

How to get your form stamped

Tax-free shopping only pays off once the export is confirmed. That happens at the border, at the customs of the country you leave, and only there. Swiss customs cannot do it for you, and since 1 July 2023 Swiss and French customs no longer do it for each other.

1. At the tillPay the full price and ask for the export form: the Ausfuhrschein in Germany, the détaxe form in France. Show your passport or ID so the shop can fill in your details. In Germany each receipt must be over €50, in France your purchases at one shop over €100.
2. At the German or French customs office, before you crossStop at an office from this list and show three things: your passport or ID, the forms with the receipts, and the goods. In Germany the officer checks that the name, address and passport number match and stamps the form. In France the form is validated electronically in PABLO.
3. Then Swiss customsIf your goods are worth more than CHF 150 per person and day, or you carry more meat, alcohol or tobacco than the allowance, declare them: in the QuickZoll app or at a staffed Swiss office. Swiss VAT is due even when you get the foreign VAT back.
4. Get your moneyBring or send the stamped form back to the shop, or to the refund company named on it. What you keep after fees and Swiss VAT: the VAT refund calculator works it out receipt by receipt.

What to bring to the customs office

• Your passport or identity card. In Germany the stamp is given only if your name, address and passport or ID number on the form match the document you show.
• The forms and the receipts, filled in by the shop.
• The goods themselves, within easy reach and best still unused: customs confirms only what it can see. Goods you send by post or use up before you leave do not count.

How the hours work

The finder shows the hours for travellers where the office page lists them separately; several German motorway offices handle travellers around the clock. It works out open or closed on your device every minute, in Swiss time, which is also the time in Germany and France. Dated closures from the office pages are included.

The French posts come from the list of Swiss customs (BAZG), which gives their hours by weekday but no holiday hours, so on French public holidays the office’s entry says so. The list names the posts by crossing, without street addresses: the map positions and the road names come from OpenStreetMap.

Some German offices publish no hours at all, such as Konstanz-Paradieser Tor. They show in grey, so you can plan the stamp at an office that is open.

Questions and answers

Can Swiss customs stamp my German or French form?

No. Swiss customs does not refund foreign VAT and does not confirm foreign exports. Germany does not accept a confirmation from a customs office outside the EU, and since 1 July 2023 Swiss and French customs no longer do the export formalities for each other.

The office was closed. What now?

Germany: the stamp must come from the German exit customs; a German embassy or consulate in Switzerland can confirm the export later, for a fee, if you show it the goods. France: on the road to Switzerland only staffed French posts count, and you can ask the customs of your exit point for a late validation within 6 months, but not after leaving through an unstaffed crossing.

Do I still need a stamp with the dAKZ app?

Not at the crossings the app lists and in shops that take part: there the app has replaced the paper form since 16 June 2026, and a green signal lets you drive on. Everywhere else you need the paper form and the stamp.

Where can I go on foot or by train?

Each entry says what the office page states. Konstanz-Emmishofer Tor, for example, is about 5 minutes on foot from the Schnetztor bus stop, German customs has an office in Basel Badischer Bahnhof, and French customs a post at Genève-Cornavin station, open from 06:30 to 18:30.

How much do I get back?

That depends on your receipts, the fees and the Swiss VAT at the border. The VAT refund calculator works it out for Germany, Austria, France and Italy.

Is the list complete?

Not yet. It has the 11 staffed French posts from the Swiss customs list and the German offices whose official pages have been checked so far. The others along the Rhine and at Lake Constance follow.

What happens to my position and my filters?

Near me uses your position once, on this device, to sort the list. It is never sent or saved. Your filters stay only in this browser.

More free tools

• VAT refund calculator: which receipts from Germany, Austria, France and Italy get the VAT back, and what you keep after Swiss VAT.
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Sources

• Germany: the office pages on zoll.de, linked from each entry, for the Zollämter Weil am Rhein-Autobahn, Weil am Rhein-Otterbach, Deutsches Zollamt Basel, Stetten, Rheinfelden, Bad Säckingen, Rheinheim, Jestetten, Bietingen, Konstanz-Autobahn, Konstanz-Emmishofer Tor and Konstanz-Paradieser Tor (address, hours for travellers, public holidays, the Swiss office opposite, public transport), read on 15 October 2026; Federal Ministry of Finance, Merkblatt zur Umsatzsteuerbefreiung im nichtkommerziellen Reiseverkehr, March 2025 (what to show at the border, no confirmation by customs outside the EU, confirmation by an embassy); zoll.de, the dAKZ app, checked on 14 October 2026. All in German.
• France: Swiss customs (BAZG), Refund of French VAT: end of exemption (the staffed French posts, their hours and the change of 1 July 2023). The French customs website was in maintenance on 15 October 2026.
• Switzerland: BAZG, QuickZoll app and Refund of foreign VAT (Swiss customs does not refund foreign VAT, and Swiss VAT is due even when the foreign VAT is not refunded).
• Map: positions of the offices from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map tiles from OpenFreeMap and OpenMapTiles.

All checked on 15 October 2026. The opening hours and closures are checked every month.

Hours change, especially around public holidays: the office page decides. This page helps you plan, it is not a statement of any customs office.

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