Tax Free

Metadata	Value
TAM Boundary	#6 of 12
Mission	Tax-free shopping experience
Key Capabilities	VAT refund processing, customs validation, voucher issuance, tourist refunds
Last Scanned	2026-01-09

Overview

Planet Tax Free (PTF) is Planet's VAT refund and duty-free shopping solution enabling tourists to claim VAT refunds on purchases. The domain manages the complete tax-free shopping lifecycle including voucher issuance, customs validation (DIVA, Otello, CIVA), stamping, and refund processing across multiple European countries.

Applications

PTF Customs Gateway - Integration with government customs authorities
Premier Refund Webapp - Legacy monolithic refund processing
PTF Enterprise API - Modern voucher and tourist APIs
Digital Concierge - Tourist-facing airport guidance app
TRS (Tax Refund System) - Core tax refund database

Repository Inventory

Repo	Language	Application	Description
digital-concierge	TypeScript	Digital Concierge	Airport tax refund guidance app (React PWA)
planet-taxfree-website	Twig	Website	Planet Tax-Free website
planet-taxfree-chatbot	JavaScript	Chatbot	MS Bot Services integration
tax-free-monitoring-api	C#	Monitoring	Tax free monitoring service
tax-user-management	C#	User Mgmt	Tax free user management
planet-common	C#	Common	Common packages for Tax Free APIs
vcr-taxfree-library	C#	Library	Tax free library
vcr-taxfree-tools	C#	Tools	Generic .NET tools and tests
te-taxfree-android-native	Java	Mobile	Native Android app
bi_taxfree	Python	BI	BI scripts for Tax Free team
TaxFreeQA-Playwright	TypeScript	QA	Playwright test automation
Playwright-Issuing	C#	QA	Issuing team Playwright tests
argocd-tax-free-monitoring-api	-	ArgoCD	Monitoring API deployment
argocd-tax-refund-systems	-	ArgoCD	TRS UI deployment
argocd-tax-refunds-team	-	ArgoCD	Tax Free Refunds team apps
chart-azure-deployments	Smarty	Helm	Helm charts for TaxFree deployments

Architecture Notes

Government Customs Integrations

Service	Country	Protocol
DIVA	France	SOAP/XML
Otello	Italy	SOAP/XML
CIVA	Spain	SOAP/XML
Russia Customs	Russia	SOAP/XML

Core Services

PTF Customs Gateway - Abstracts customs authority differences through unified service layer
Registration Service - Voucher registration with customs
Stamp Notification - Receives customs stamp confirmations
Payment Notification - Payment confirmation processing

Architecture Pattern

Legacy: premier-refund-webapp - Large .NET monolith with WCF services
Modern: Microservices (refunds-voucher-service, refunds-calculation-service)
Transition: RefundsModularMonolith indicates modernization in progress

Mobile Strategy

Native Android (te-taxfree-android-native) - Full POS/terminal integration
Progressive Web App (digital-concierge) - Tourist-facing airport guidance

Database

TRS (Tax Refund System) - SQL Server, authoritative voucher data source
Key Entities: VOUCHER, BRANCH, temp_Voucher_Staging, BoardingPass

Compliance

VAT refund processing requires strict compliance with EU regulations and country-specific customs requirements, driving the complexity of validation workflows.

Technology Stack

Component	Technology
Backend	C# (.NET Core)
Frontend	React (PWA), Blazor
Mobile	Native Android, Xamarin (deprecated)
Database	SQL Server
Integration	SOAP/XML (customs), REST (internal)