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Tax Free is good for countries.

Since its inception in the eighties, Tax Free has helped governments attract more foreign visitors, and make them spend more in your local retailers. The scientific consensus is that these gains outweigh the lost revenue in sales taxes. (pending: cite relevant studies).

Additionally Tax free help the Government to increase the Country GDP.

But Tax Free is trapped in the eighties!

As Tax Free nears its 40th anniversary, governments worldwide realize they’ve been failing to benefit from the full potential of Tax Free, with only 20% to 30% of purchases by foreigners resulting in a successful tax refund.

This is the result of serious shortcomings in present schemes:

Tax Free is awkward for travelers

Showing their passport in stores, filling in forms, joining extra lines in the airport… the Customer Experience of Tax Free for foreigners is slow, cumbersome, and burdens your visitor with unnecessary inconvenience.

Only some retailers support Tax-Free.

Travelers can initiate their tax refund request process only in only some large stores with agreements with Tax Free operators, leaving most of retailers unbenefited.

Travelers are charged very large fees.

20% to 30% of travelers’ refunds go to the pockets of tax free operators, which in turn offer a cut to the retailers.

Digitizing the old scheme is just a half measure.

Some countries have partially digitized their Tax Free schemes by using digital services to issue refund requests, and by installing electronic stamping systems in their borders.

This somewhat relieves travelers from some of the obstacles to their refunds, but does nothing about the poor store coverage or the disproportionately large commissions.

The crux of the matter is something large incumbents Tax Free operators don’t want you to know.

The root cause of this situation lies in two very specific aspect of Tax Free systems:
operational involvement of the retailer, and who is given freedom to choose a tax free operator.

Safe, fraud-free operation involves performing two vital operations at the time of issuing a tax refund request:

Proof-of-ID

Ascertaining the identity of the traveler.

Proof-of-Purchase

Ascertaining the contents and amount of the purchase.

When Tax Free systems were designed in the eighties, there was no option but to put the retailer in charge of these operations, who trained their staff to perform them at time of purchase.

In addition to retailers being put in charge of these operations, they were given the freedom to choose the tax free operator that would lead their travelers through the rest of the refund process.

This resulted in the market of Tax Free operators becoming a game in which operators compete for retailers who will be willing to sign a contract with them. And the main incentive to attract retailers is to offer them a cut from the commission. The larger the cut, the more likely a retailer will find an operator preferable.

Meanwhile, travelers don’t have any freedom of choice: if they want a refund, they have no option but to use the operator chosen by the retailer. And they will have to pay whatever commission the operator decides to charge, or else, call the whole thing off. Travelers are a captive client.

That’s why commissions have been so high for the last forty years. And there is no reason for this state of matters to improve, no matter how much technology lowers the intrinsic transaction cost.

Until now.

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We have brought a radical advance to the system

We at have developed a 100% mobile procedure where something’s crucially different:

We are already operating with this model

Travelers love the system

Not only don’t they have to wait in line at the time of purchase and they also can use electronic stamp kiosks, but they are also payed their refund electronically, sparing themselves yet another line in the airport.

Retailers also love us!

They are no longer operationally involved in the process of issuing a refund request. They just handle travelers the ordinary sales receipt and forget. So they can use their time to do what they do best: selling.

But the radical improvement comes with an additional advance in the legal framework. Transferring freedom of choice of operator where it belongs: to travelers.

Doing so reshapes the competitive conditions of the Tax Free Market into a radically healthier game: instead of operators competing for retailers’ contracts with higher and higher cuts on large commissions, operators compete for travelers with better and better user experiences, and smaller commissions.

In the meantime, the benefits of Tax Free automatically become available to any traveler who an handle a sales receipt. That is, every retailer in your country, large and small.

Small commissions, universal retailer coverage, and improved experience for everybody. This is the new game of Tax Free 3.0. Who wouldn’t want that?

We help governments

We can assist governments in the process of embracing Tax Free 3.0 in many ways:

Technical and legal assistance.

We can assist you with the new necessary regulatory or how to change its, including transitional regimes that make it possible for Tax Free 3.0 and the old system to coexist if this is the case.

Putting together your Public Tax Free Operator.

By licensing our 100% mobile traveler solution, you can create your own public solution and stimulate operators to lower their commissions even further.

Additional digital services for governments.

Under a 100% mobile model, we can help governments develop proof-of export procedures that are much quicker and safer than electronic stamping kiosks. Ask us about our range of options.

Full VAT Refund control.

We can help you to start a new VAT process that give you the opportunity to have all the refund VAT control as well as to send the retailers the final VAT clearance or export VAT details.

Let us help you!

And take tax-free to the next level!

Write us to government@woonivers.com or call +34 910 502 751 and we will address all your
questions and concerns.

Tax Free 3.0 means radically safer, easier, and fairer Tax Free for all parties involved. Make the
difference now.

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