jjones68

Hello, Can anyone share recent experiences crossing border controls from the UK into the EU at Spain or France by road in camper vans / motorhomes . We are EU residents returning to Portugal soon and wondering what sort of checks are being made on personal goods and belongings. Looking forward to hearing your experiences!

Mitzi2012

I drove last week through Spain, France and Italy to Switzerland.
No controls at Spanish border.
Negative test required to enter France but no controls at the border.
it as allowed to transit Italy by car with no test as long as you don’t stay longer than 36 hours.
Switzerland has no restrictions or test requirements for arrivals by car.
France has announced new rules from August 1st of which strengthening the borders is one of them.

santaanita

friends arrived thurs at santander in english plated luton top van `get 4 hours in customs with many other vans and motoerhomes,where asked what they had onboard ,and where told they should have made a list,were told to make a list and value it,told to make it around a 1000 euro but not exactly so they put 1050euro and then was charged 400 euro customs tax, back doors never opened,they said it was their worldly goods as its a permant move to portugal as they are residents and then were told claim it back in portugal.they had cash but decided to pay by card because it all seemed a bit adhock,no one stopped them at the vila formoa border.

bons

Did they arrive by the ferry or by land?

Midgo

Do you think there was a language problem and 'not exactly' was actually 'just less than' and so if they had put down €975 that they wouldnt have paid so much tax?

bons

It doesn't seem legal to me that Spain is charging VAT. You may also get charged VAT in Portugal. They're just being mean, I wish it could be challenged.

santaanita

ferry

santaanita

just asked them and their was no problem with language,concidering the value they had on board was well over 1000 they did as advised,he also said the long wait was because while they were writing out their list the customs guys buggered off for a very long coffee break.

toots sweet

I have asked this elsewhere but can't seem to get an definitive answer, so hoping someone here might know.
If you arrive in Spain via ferry why should we have to pay Spain custom duties,if you are a PT resident able to show proof of residence and address in PT etc. I really don't want to give them a penny of my money when the goods will not be kept or used there. If I have to pay at all I will pay the Portuguese the duties(relatively)willingly. Is this in fact legal. I can understand if you are staying in Spain but not if you are going to PT.

bons

That's the point I was making a couple of posts above. How can they even do that if you have a residnecia certificate and are just passing through?

Pilotabroad

I could well be wrong but hasn't it always been that way, the only difference being that UK is now not Europe so comes under the rules of non eu state.

i.e
When a product above a certain set value is first brought into the EU an import or vat tax has to be paid at the port/country of entry not the final destination country.

When there was the big trade in importing right hand drive cars from Japan 20 yrs ago to the UK, 95% of UK importers did so via Holland first not direct to UK due to how much lower the import/vat was there.

santaanita

i would think the money goes to brussels not the country that collects it

Red Eric

From the sounds of it, they're not "being mean", just applying the rules as to what paperwork is required for shifting personal belongings from outside to inside the EU.

If they were told the money can be claimed back in Portugal, then presumably it can. I can't see how the PT authorities could demand it be paid again under these circumstances. The external EU border is the one where the customs checks are applied. If they just waved everybody through, they'd have vanloads of contraband goods coming in.

santaanita

exatamente .
also didnt seem to be stopping many cars

Dafty

I understand that if you have all the relevant paperwork for the goods exported uk - imported eu, vat receipts etc, there is a system in place where you can reclaim the original VAT paid in UK.
Worth a call to HMRC perhaps ?