Importing a high value car from the UK in Spain post Brexit, now comes with added costs. As the UK is no longer in the EU and the standard process to import and register a UK car in Spain now involves customs.
This means on top of the registration tax which in most cases will be 17% of the vehicle value, 10% customs duty and 21% VAT will apply, unless you can find away around it.
Paying nearly £50k to register a £100k motor is simply not a consideration. There are however various ways these huge costs can be avoided, bringing the cost of importing and registering high value cars in Spain down to a few thousand Euros, rather than tens of thousands.
Avoiding Tax Costs When Importing a High Value Car from the UK to Spain Post Brexit
Change of Residence
Rules for transfer of residence to countries in the EU, allow your to bring your possessions without them being taxed when you move to Spain. Therefore if you are taking up residence in Spain and bringing high value cars, you can take advantage of these rules to avoid paying customs duty, VAT and registration tax. There’s a fair amount of paperwork that needs to be done, but the cost of paying a specialist to handle the process for you, will be a small fraction of the amount you can potentially avoid paying in tax.
Customs Exemption Certificate
If you brought your high value car to Spain before the 1st January 2021, you may be able to get an EU statutory certificate, exempting the vehicle from customs. To obtain this you need to provide customs with proof that the vehicle was brought to Spain before Brexit. Proofs could be for example transporter invoices showing an address in Spain as the delivery destination, or ferry ticket if the car was driven over.
Registering First in Another EU Country
EU Rules and directives are open to interpretation, and it is down to the individual member state to implement their own processes and regulate. This includes deciding how rules apply and requirements. In the first few months after Brexit, the requirements in Spain changed several times before an official standardised process was eventually set in place and published.
This means that what might not be accepted to exempt a high value UK car from custom duty and VAT in Spain, may be accepted in another EU country.
If you have a high value car from the UK and would like to find out if you can avoid customs VAT or registration tax, our vehicle import and registration specialists can access your case a provide you with a proposal.