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TAXES

Reader question: Which items are exempt from duty for Britons moving belongings to Spain?

Brexit has ushered in a host of extra rules and restrictions on imports to Spain from the UK, but what is the rule for people bringing household items - either if you're moving to Spain or just want to bring a few belongings to your second home in Spain?

Published: 20 April 2021 13:33 CEST
Reader question: Which items are exempt from duty for Britons moving belongings to Spain?
Photo: Loic VENANCE/AFP

Moving house within the EU is pretty simple – load up a van with stuff and cross freely across borders until you reach your destination.

But since the UK left the EU, bringing any goods from the UK to Spain has become a lot more complicated.

So what’s the deal if you want to move and bring all your possessions over, or you just want to shift some furniture or household items to a second home in Spain?

Well, there are quite a few things to consider.

The following information is taken from Spain’s Agencia Tributaria tax agency, Spanish foreign ministry sources and European law portal EUR-lex. In some cases the information provided by them differs slightly so it may be useful to use a forwarding agent or customs clearance agent in Spain.

Remember as well that the Canary Islands have a different tax regime called IGIC. This article will focus on the duty tax applicable under the IGIC tax laws that apply to the rest of Spain.

Personal belongings

This includes all manner of personal property that people are transferring from their normal residence in a non-European country – in this case the UK – to a European country, Spain.

However, Britons are only exempt from these charges if they have been living legally as a resident in Spain for no more than 12 months. After that, Britons bringing in personal goods to their homes in Spain could well be taxed on them. 

New British residents in Spain will therefore have a year to bring over without paying duty their furniture, electronics, kitchen appliances and other personal goods, some of which fall under the categories listed below.

According to the latest information published by Spain’s tax agency in March 2021, these belongings should have been owned/used for at least six months before they can be taken to Spain duty-free.

The items can’t be rented, loaned or lent and certain personal belongings may still have to be accredited if Spanish customs requires it.

It is possible for Britons to move their belongings over to Spain before they’ve obtained residency, as long as they commit to staying in Spain for the following six months and that they show proof of the residency process or their registration at a town hall in Spain (padrón). 

It is also necessary for them to have lived consecutively for 12 months in a non-EU country for them to be exempt from duty when importing their belongings to Spain.

Photo: JOSEP LAGO/AFP

The following belongings fall under Spain’s 12-month VAT exemption rule:

*Pets: Find out more about the rules for travelling with pets between Spain and the UK here.

Imported goods after marriage: goods imported to Spain after a couple gets married, provided that the person concerned has resided outside the EU for at least 12 consecutive months and can prove that they have been married.

Inherited goods: Personal belongings inherited by people residing in Spain and the EU

Study or work goods: equipment needed to carry out a trade, study material and other furniture for students who come to study in the EU. 

Vehicles: bikes, motorcycles, cars and other vehicles such as boats and their add-ons that are meant for private use. “The time given for the exemption of VAT on vehicles is 12 months,” writes Spain’s tax agency, suggesting that even those who have been resident in Spain for more than a year may still import their vehicle duty free until the end of the 2021, marking 12 months since the UK left the EU. Find out more about importing a vehicle here. The key step-by-step guide for importing a car into Spain

When do Britons moving belongings to Spain need to pay duty?

As explained above, if the UK national has resided in Spain for over a year, they may have to pay duty on personal belongings such as furniture or appliances. 

In this case, the item’s value may be the determining factor and it cannot be of a commercial nature. 

Then there are the limits on consumables such as alcohol and tobacco Britons were no doubt familiar with already, but new rules apply to them as non-EU citizens.  

According to Spain’s leading airport operator AENA, “some goods and products are subject to specific regulations (total value, quantity, etc.) when entering or leaving Spain on flights with third countries, Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary Islands”.

Tobacco

In principle, there is no limit to the amount of tobacco that you can transport to Spain, as long as it is for personal use. However, if the tobacco exceeds the following amounts, you must declare it at customs upon arrival and pay import duties, VAT and excise duties, or the authorities may confiscate them:

Cigarettes: 200.

Cigarillos: 100 ( with a maximum weight of 3 g./unit).

Cigars: 50.

Rolling tobacco: 250 g.

Alcohol 

Similarly, if you transport alcoholic beverages from Spain to the UK above the following amounts, you will have to declare it at Spanish customs and pay import duties or the authorities may confiscate them.

Alcohol and alcoholic beverages higher than 22 percent vol: 1 litre limit

Alcohol and alcoholic beverages lower than 22 percent vol: 2 litres limit.

Wine: 4 litres.

Beer: 16 litres

Any combination of the above can be brought in by Britons arriving in Spain as long as their individual limits aren’t surpassed.

Banned items

Products such as meat and meat-based foods, dairy produce, vegetables, plants, seeds and certain medications may not be subject to duty but that’s because they are now banned for Britons entering Spain as non-EU citizens. Find out more here. 

You can find out more about the requirements and the paperwork here – How Britons can import belongings into Spain duty-free post-Brexit

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Member comments

  1. How about vice versa, what’s the situation with moving personal possessions back to the UK from Spain ?

  2. What about after 12 months? What are the tax costs? What if I have lived for more than 12 months and then inherit things?

  3. We have a holiday home in Spain. We’ve recently purchased a small chain saw in the uk to take over with us in the suitcase. We paid £150. Do we have to
    Declare the item? Do suitcases get checked for goods? How much duty would we have to pay?

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For members

GIBRALTAR

Why has Gibraltar still not reached a Brexit deal with Spain?

With yet another round of Spain-UK negotiations set to begin more than eight years since the Brexit referendum, Gibraltar is still without a deal and a November deadline looms over any treaty. Why has it proven so hard to break the deadlock?

Published: 17 September 2024 13:38 CEST
Why has Gibraltar still not reached a Brexit deal with Spain?

On Thursday September 19th, Spain and the UK resume talks on Gibraltar’s post-Brexit status, and has been the case since 2016, uncertainty is still the prevailing feeling.

The British Foreign Secretary David Lammy recently received his Spanish counterpart, José Manuel Albares in London. Both did their diplomatic duties and talked up the prospects of a deal, with Lammy stating he hoped for an agreement that would ensure greater “prosperity and security for the people of Gibraltar.”

Albares, for his part, understandably centred any hypothetical deal on a “shared prosperity between Gibraltar and the 300,000 Andalusians connected every day in their normal lives”.

READ ALSO: Gibraltar demands Spain return stolen concrete block in new diplomatic spat

Though Lammy and Albares discussed the Rock, no formal negotiations or deal can be struck without EU oversight, so the meeting also included discussion of bilateral issues and international concerns such as the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

The meeting between the two Ministers was therefore a preamble to yet more formal treaty negotiations in Brussels on Thursday. Since Brexit came into effect at the end of 2020, Gibraltar has essentially existed in legal limbo with no formal treaty.

Border controls have been fudged ever since, leaving locals and Spaniards across the border faced with inconsistent rules and forcing travellers to find creative ways to bypass rules and get over ‘La Línea’. 

Why hasn’t a deal been reached?

So why all the meetings and pre-meetings and endless rounds of negotiations? How is it possible that Gibraltar is still without a Brexit deal all these years later?

A recent piece in El País by Rafa de Miguel, the daily’s UK and Ireland correspondent, perhaps put it best: “The amount of warm words in any political statement is inversely proportional to the progress in the negotiations.”

The reality is that, however many handshakes and photo opportunities and positive attitudes expressed between Spain and the UK on a bilateral level, these are ultimately irrelevant as nothing can be signed without the EU’s approval. 

This is further complicated by the fact that this makes any deal dependent on four way negotiations between Spain, the UK, the EU, and Gibraltar.

Each of these parties has their own individual set of needs, preferences and motivations. The EU won’t want to be seen to give Gibraltar, and by extension the UK, any special treatment for fear of emboldening other member states who desire bespoke arrangements when it comes to border controls and customs checks.

In light of Germany recently reimplementing land border checks, something some say is a direct violation of Schengen rules, this will be especially sensitive in these latest rounds of negotiations. 

Spain has long made territorial claims on Gibraltar dating back to the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, when the overseas territory was first ceded to the UK, and will want to come out of negotiations with something that can be perceived as a political victory, likely an increased Spanish role in border patrols.

Fabian Picardo, Gibraltar’s Chief Minister, has ruled this out definitively over the last few years, citing concerns about British sovereignty.

The UK government in London will also have worries about British sovereignty, but will balance this with the knowledge that Gibraltar negotiations are also an opportunity to reset relations with Europe more widely, something the new Starmer government has repeatedly stated since coming into power.

READ ALSO: ‘It’s time to reset Britain’s relations with Europe’, says UK foreign secretary

Some reports, however, suggest that despite the positive musings coming from London, negotiations have stalled and that Lammy has no intention of signing anything that would deviate from Gibraltar’s needs and concerns.

Political tensions were increased recently when Gibraltar demanded Spanish far-right party Vox return a concrete block stolen from British waters, and the Euro 2024 winning Spanish football team made international headlines when it celebrating by singing ‘Gibraltar es Español’ (Gibraltar is Spanish).

READ ALSO: ‘Gibraltar is Spanish!’: How Spain celebrated Euro 2024 heroes

Despite wanting to improve relations with the EU, Lammy is expected to reiterate the Labour government’s unwavering commitment to the “double lock” on sovereignty, sources told El País.

Perhaps most pressingly, however, is the fact that these new negotiations now have a deadline: the enforcement of new Schengen Area border rules come into force on November 10th and a treaty must be finalised before then. 

READ MORE: Hard border? What we know so far about new Gibraltar-Spain checks

Schengen Zone rules mean that there are two major outstanding points in treaty negotiations: firstly, the sore point of Spanish border guards on British soil, something Gibraltar rejects outright, and also the question of who would run Gibraltar’s airport, which is located on the isthmus between Spain and the British territory, an area Madrid claims was never included in Treaty of Utrecht.

The most contested aspect of negotiations is Madrid’s demand that Spanish agents should be allowed to carry out checks on passengers arriving at Gibraltar airport and that they should be armed and in uniform.

For many Llanitos (Gibraltar locals) this is an intolerable idea and one Picardo rejects outright: “There will be no Spanish boots on the ground,” he has said repeatedly.

On the other hand, Spain argues that no specific protocol can be designed for Gibraltar and that if it wants to join the border-free European area, it must accept Schengen rules.

Spanish boots on British soil is a particularly visceral point for many Gibraltarians of a certain age. In June 1969, Spanish dictator Francisco Franco closed the border gate between Gibraltar and La Línea de la Concepción, cutting the tiny overseas territory off from the world, separating Spanish-British families and forcing Gibraltar to source food from elsewhere on the planet. 

It was eventually reopened in December in 1982 but those 13 years have taken deep root in Gibraltar’s historical memory and is now embedded into the Llanito collective imagination and identity.

For many on ‘The Rock’, the idea of Spanish border guards on British soil, whether it be in the airport or elsewhere, is simply unacceptable under any circumstances. 

Tax could also prove to be a sticking point. Gibraltar has no VAT, but Madrid has argued that if it wants to benefit from fluid border movement, its tax rules must be brought into line with EU rules.

Of course, there’s also both the domestic and international geopolitical contexts to consider here too. All parties – Spain, the UK, Gibraltar and the EU – have been distracted by other events in recent years.

Spain has been preoccupied by political tension, snap elections and the Catalan amnesty, while Britain suffered the almost cartoonish political instability of the outgoing Conservative government and treaty talks were postponed after the general election in July.

Added to this is the fact that the mediating party, the EU, has had its hands full with the war in Ukraine and surging far-right parties across member states, a trend that interestingly both the UK and Spain buck as the only major European states with centre-left governments.

Talks resume on Thursday September 19th, over 8 years since the Brexit referendum.

In British politics, the UK’s exit from the EU now seems strangely absent from debate, as though the issue is over and the country has finally begun to move on — but for Gibraltarians and the thousands of Spaniards who cross the border and work there everyday, Brexit is still an open-ended question.

READ ALSO: ‘Starting now’: New UK govt wastes no time in Gibraltar post-Brexit talks with Spain

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