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Tax on personal effects. UK to France move.


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Hello.

We're hopefully moving from the UK to Normandy soon, (house sale ongoing) and we're a bit confused about the tax implications of moving our belongings.

From the French Customs website:  

If you come from a country that is not a member of the European Union

You may be exempt from paying duties and taxes when you import your

personal belongings if you stayed in a non-EU country for at least one

year and you wish to transfer your primary residence to France.

Your personal belongings are exempt if you have used them privately

for at least six months prior to the transfer of residence, regardless

of how you acquired them: inclusive of tax or tax-free.

However, a removal company I have spoken to said there is a limit of £7000, and we'll have to pay VAT on anything over this amount, is this correct?

As I understand it, I will need to fill in a Transfer of Residence form with values of items, but again am unsure of just how...surely not individual items?   Also what is the value of anything? Second hand clothes aren't valuable in my wardrobe in any case!

We're told that we should compare values based on eBay prices etc, but even then it's quite easy for the total value to rise quite quickly when counting everything.

For the record, everything we want to take is ours, and has been for more than 6 months, and we have no intention of offloading any of it in France.

Any useful info will be greatly appreciated, we have not been able to find anything online that answers our questions regarding this, and are worried we could get stung with a bit of a tax bill.

Many thanks, Tony.

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When we moved  in 1981, we had to list every last thing we owned, the value and have it all translated and stamped and signed by the french consulate.

We had so little of value that we would not have crossed any threshold anyway, but it still had to be done.

What does it say on the AmbaFrance web site, surely there is information on there? I certainly would not just take what a removal company states as the truth, and for all I realise that they will want your removal  to be as smooth as possible, I think you should contact the french authorities and check up.

I may be wrong, but I doubt anyone on here has made such a move this year, when all changed.

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This page https://www.french-property.com/news/french_property/brexit_moving_visa is very comprehensive on all you might need to know about moving in 2021 onwards.

The section on Customs (Douane) towards the bottom includes a clear explanation and a link to declaring your personal property.

If you are relocating to France customs duties are not payable on personal belongings, provided you have owned them for at least 6 months and taxes have been paid in the country of origin. You will need to provide proof of change of residence, eg visa.

You will also need to provide official proof of living outside of the EU for at least a year.
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We moved to France in 2000. With regards everything that came with us; no paperwork , no customs, no nothing.

Now, no doubt there is paperwork because of Brexit but personal belongings have no limit, being sensible of course!! The ton of gold in the boot might attract attention!!!
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Thanks for your replies.

Not sure about being outside the EU for a year though, it's only been since January.

Fairly certain it'll be woth all the grief and hassle in the long run though.....(resumes nibbling fingernails.....)  

Thanks again all for your advice and experiences.  Certainly wishing we'd "jumped" much earlier, even 2020 would have been a

heck of a lot easier, but hey ho, we're going now and that's that.  :-)

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