Foreign citizens, most of whom are neighbors from Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro, from January to June of this year in Bosnia and Herzegovina bought goods worth 40.5 million KM, and on that basis they requested a refund of VAT in the amount of 5.8 million KM.
This is shown by the data of the Administration for Indirect Taxation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and as they add from this institution, they most often bought consumer goods, i.e. basic foodstuffs, household items and textile products.
Comparing with the same period last year, it can be seen that the number of requests is significantly lower, as well as the value of the purchased goods, as well as VAT refunds.
Namely, in the first six months of this year, foreigners submitted 95,597 requests, while last year in the same period they submitted 150,647 requests.
At that time, the value of the purchased goods was 47.2 million marks, and the amount of the VAT refund was 6.8 million marks.
Why are there fewer VAT refund requests this year?
The Administration for Indirect Taxation of Bosnia and Herzegovina notes that the new Instruction on VAT refund came into force on August 4, 2025, which raised the amount of VAT refund on purchased goods with a minimum value of 200 KM, compared to before when it was 100 KM.
Which goods are exempt?
“It is important to note that the right to a VAT refund does not apply to exported mineral oils (kerosene, diesel fuel, heating oil, extra light and light special, unleaded motor gasoline, motor gasoline), alcohol and alcoholic beverages, and tobacco and tobacco products,” the ITA of BiH reported for “Nezavisne novine”.
Why are neighbors still happy to shop in Bosnia and Herzegovina?
Snežana Šešlija, president of the “ToPeeR” citizens’ association from Doboj, in an interview with “Nezavisne novine” adds that the neighbors are happy to shop with us.
“We are very interesting to the neighbors because we have relatively lower prices than they have, and especially when the VAT is returned to them, then it is about 10 percent cheaper than it is with them,” she states.
Commenting on the increase in the VAT refund limit, Šešlija says that it should continue to increase.
“I think it should be between 300 and 500 KM to increase the limit for purchases with us in order to get VAT back. I would agree with increasing the limit,” she points out for “Nezavisne novine”.
According to her, unlike their neighbors, BiH citizens rarely use this option when shopping in other countries.
“Our citizens do not use such benefits if they have them in any of the European countries. They think that it is difficult to achieve. There are very few people who do because we are, I must say, financially illiterate,” adds Šešlija.
What do the data from previous years show?
It is interesting that foreigners left the most money in BiH in 2019, 135,894,609 KM, and for that they received almost 20 million VAT refunds.
After the pandemic, that is, from 2020 until today, the value of purchased goods did not exceed 100 million marks, they write Independent newspaper.
