VAT on TA's from Barcelona

I realize that this was a long thread a while back, but just wondering if there has been any further clarification on VAT. So we will pay VAT on everything purchased on board (including internet, corkage, etc.?) from the time we leave Barcelona. As it is a TA we will be visiting ports in Spain and Portugal before heading into international waters. So once we leave Portugal does the VAT still apply for the remainder of the cruise? This is not a deal breaker, but it does help one to make an informed decision as whether or not to purchase a beverage or a wine package (or just bring wine onboard and pay corkage). 28% on a bottle of wine every night for 14 nights can add up! Oceania doesn't seem to have a very good understanding of this and our agent can't get any more information from Oceania. O tells our agent that is "depends!" and that the passengers will be informed of any VAT once onboard!

Very interested in the answers on this as well....

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I am not sure about Spain, but in the other post someone mentioned the tax and added Brazil along with Spain and Itally. I do know about the Brazilian tax. Last April we were on Crystals WC and from the time we arrived in Rio until we left 12 days later when we departed from out last Brazilian port, there was an additional tax of 30% applied to anything one purchased. Since Crystal's all inclusive includes Alcohol, there was no issue with drinks, but if you purchased anything during that time in any of the shops you would be charged the extra tax. If you returned the item, the tax was non refundable.

The shops had to do complete inventories prior to our arrival in Rio. Customs checked everything. The shops had to report all sales and the Brazilian authorities could check remaining inventories. If things did not match up Brazil could impose confiscatory fines.

We had been to Brazil on a cruise two years before and there was no extra tax. Needless to say nothing was sold in the shops during theses 12 days. Maybe with a five percent extra tax people may have purchased something, but the 30% tax did not bring in much revenue for Brazil. This would obviously be different for a line that sold alcohol, there would be a significant revenue stream

My husband and I just booked a cruise in April on the Riveria and are forward to trying Oceania.

It's my understanding that the VAT is only collected while within 12 miles of the shore. Once outside that range, no additional amount is added. There are only certain countries where this occurs. Certainly Spain is one of them. It occurs within some areas of the US as well. It's not called VAT of course, but I don't know what they call it. I'm sure that there is somewhere on the internet where one can find out where the extra charges occur.

Hope that helps!