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By car

Validation at one of the 8 road border crossing points:

  • 5 border crossing points equipped with PABLO kiosks:

    • Saint-Louis (west of Basel; motorway; almost permanent customs presence).

    • Saint-Julien-en-Genevois (south of Geneva; near Bardonnex; almost permanent customs presence).

    • Vallard-Thonex (east of Geneva; motorway; near Annemasse et Etrembières; customs presence 6am-8pm).

    • La Ferrière-sous-Jougne (south of Pontarlier ; north-west of Lausanne ; near Vallorbe ; customs presence 6am-8pm).

    • Ferney-Voltaire (near Geneva-Cointrin airport; west of Geneva; customs presence 6am-8pm).

  • 3 border crossing points without PABLO kiosks (validation by customs officer via electronic gun or manual entry of barcode digits):

    • Morteau / Col France / Col des Roches (Morteau sector; customs presence 6am-8pm).

    • Delle (east of Montbéliard; secteur of Territoire de Belfort; customs presence 6am-8pm).

    • La Cure (north of Geneva; sector of Jura / Les Rousses; customs presence 6am-8pm).


Note: at border crossing points equipped with PABLO terminals, some terminals may be deactivated or inaccessible outside operating hours.



By train (including TGV Lyria)

  • General rule: validation during customs control carried out by French customs officers in the train (however this control is not systematic, and customs officers are sometimes dressed in civilian clothes)

  • If arriving at Geneva-Cornavin station: validation at the French customs desk at the train station.

  • Absence of French customs officers: see paragraph below.


Absence of French customs officers at road border crossing or during train travel

  • Presence of Swiss border guards: they will stamp your tax-free forms and hand them over to French customs for final validation (be sure to take a photo of the stamped form before leaving it to the Swiss customs).

  • Absence of Swiss border guards:

    • Place your tax-free forms and your proof of purchase (i.e., the ZappTax resale invoice that accompanies the tax-free form) in one of the many “declaration boxes” (“boîtes à declaration”) spread throughout Switzerland (at border crossings, train stations, etc.).

    • Swiss customs will stamp your forms and forward them to French customs for final validation.

    • More info on declaration boxes:

      • Explanation and illustration here.

      • Locations of declaration boxes here (listed by “canton”).

    • In this case, you are supposed to attach to your form a "declaration of import into Switzerland" (form available in a small specific box attached to each declaration box -> see illustration above).

    • Specific situation of central train station of Berne ->there is no declaration box -> 3 solutions:

      1. Place the tax-free forms in a declaration box when stopping at Basel train station.

      2. Place the tax-free forms in a declaration box elsewhere in Switzerland (there is one at Bern-Belp airport).

      3. Use the "a posteriori" validation procedure (see question « I was unable to validate my tax-free forms when I left. What can I do? ».

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