News

Wincor Nixdorf Kiosks providing tax refunds in Singapore

November 28, 2011

Wincor Nixdorf, a global provider of IT solutions and services to banks and retailers, is providing kiosk technology to support an instant tax-back service to tourists in Singapore in partnership with Global Blue, a tax refund servicer.

The deployment of the kiosks at Changi Airport in Singapore has reduced waiting time for tourists from as much as 20 minutes through the previous paper-based method to 5 minutes or significantly less by using the self-service technology, according to a company press release.

At the point-of-sale in retail outlets, consumers purchase details are captured in an electronic refund system and tagged to a token, such as a credit card, making manual form filling redundant.

The previous paper-based refund required tourists to fill in application forms, submit the forms to Singapore Customs, get them stamped and then queue at different counters in the airport to claim the manual cash refund.

Tourists then use a passport and the designated token to retrieve records of purchase details at any of the 51 Wincor Nixdorf Fusion kiosks located at the airport and can choose to receive the Goods and Services Tax (GST)—similar to Valued Added Tax (VAT) in other countries—refunded instantly to a credit card account or returned in cash. Cash refunds are dispensed at a separate counter manually but located next to the kiosks.

Singapore is the first government to implement the electronic Tourist Refund Scheme (eTRS), which can link multiple central refund agencies and independent retailers on a common platform to provide foreign travelers with a GST refund. More than 1,400 retailers are participating in Singapore in Southeast Asia.

Several kiosks were deployed in May 2011 as part of an initial pilot program.

Read more about kiosks and government.