I once purchased a bicycle in Paris from some nice ladies who owned a shop on the Champs Elysees. Since I would be touring on that bike, they gave me a form to be signed when I crossed the border to Belgium. That form gave me the status of 'exporter' of the bike and entitled me to a refund of the VAT that was incorporated into the price I paid. Duly signed, that form had to be returned to the bicycle shop for a cash refund. It so happened that I knew someone going to Paris and I was ultimately able to collect 20% back on my bicycle money.

I have long thought that the VAT was a hideous imposition of an additional tax that made it awful hard for 'the people' to control such things, and allow entrenched bureaucracy to subsist off a pretty reliable HUGE income levied on the public. There's a "DEEP STATE" for you!