CANBERRA: Australian Customs Department introduces advancement in its Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) and New Tourist Refund Scheme (TRS) mobile and web applications for travelers that will help facilitate faster refund claims for Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Wine Equalization Tax (WET)
The TRS application is the first mobile application to be released by the Service. Information entered via the application is stored in a QR code that passengers present to the TRS officer at the airport for processing on their departure from Australia. The new applications are aimed at supporting officers by reducing manual data entry and processing times.
Following trials of the web application at Sydney and Melbourne Airports, the time taken to process each claim was significantly reduced and feedback from passengers was positive.
Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Michaelia Cash said the applications benefited both passengers and ACBPS officers.
“Passengers can pre-enter their information through the applications prior to arriving at the airport and the QR code will upload their claim details at the TRS facility once it has been scanned. This allows officers more time to focus on the integrity of the TRS process and will help reduce queuing times for passengers.”
The mobile and web applications are open to all passengers, whether overseas visitors or Australian residents, and will support the rising numbers in TRS claims. The QR codes are currently being processed at the eight major international airports and a dedicated queue has been allocated for the mobile and web processing.
Passengers can access the mobile applications from Google Play, the Apple App Store and the Windows Phone Store. The web application can be accessed from the Customs and Border Protection website at this PS News link.
