Hi, I am about to use an "extra baggage" courier to send a whole bunch of my personal motorcycle gear to France. I have $10,000 AUD worth of motorcycle gear I am sending, from Pants, Jacket, Helmet through to my disc locks, auxiliary lights, all my winter riding gear etc. How do I avoid paying the 20% VAT and duty on arrival in France, all my gear is over 2 years old, I have receipts for everything but it seems these places are hellbent on f*%#ing you with VAT. It would cost me $2000 if they decide to charge me. Anyone have experience in shipping personal goods?

Thanks

I'd say you could take one of two approaches. If you send it listed as a gift they probably won't pay it any attention, I get plenty of stuff from overseas and if the gift box is ticked I've never had to pay VAT either in the UK or Germany, I guess France is similar. Even obviously commercial products from China...

The powers that be seem to be more concerned with getting companies to do the paperwork properly than inspecting packets.

Or you could declare everything on the packet, just put on a note in French explaining that you are shipping your used moto gear for a tour and will ship it back when done. Include copies of the receipts inside.

Or go for a mix of the two, say nothing on the package, mark it as a gift and hope it all goes through uninspected, but include a polite note inside with copies of receipts.

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[ Tim | History - NW Italy/French Rivera, Swiss Alps, Morocco | 2016 - Greece > Albania > Macedonia > Kosovo > Montenegro > Bosnia > Slovenia > Austria ]

Why are you sending all your stuff?

Are you settling in France? If so there is usually some exemption for 'personal effects'. Contact the embassy.

It's all very confusing - I am heading on a RTW trip, my motorcycle is already in France waiting for me. I am in New Zealand visiting family now. I have to ship all my motorcycle gear to France, which is currently in Australia. I am getting my brother to ship my motorcycle gear from Australia to France, to meet me in 1 week when I fly from NZ to France.

I have currently packed everything in 2 boxes, and provided receipts showing the purchase date is 2-3 years old on all products. Some things like Auxiliary spot lights I bought in Australia a year ago but never took out of the original packaging as I went to backpack around Europe, so these are being sent in their packaging, however are still older than the 6 month requirement for used goods.

I have written a cover letter in both French and English explaining I am on a motorcycle expedition and all my items are over the minimum 6 months old, are all personal goods, and none of it will remain in France as I will be leaving for Africa shortly after.

If they hit me with 20% VAT, I'll be up for $2000 AUD in tax alone. I'm nervous as f%#$, but I am at a loss as to what to do. It says gifts are limited to a value of like 45 euro, my gear comes close to 6000 euro..... fml

Me;

I would leave out any non standard lights. The advice is not to ride at night. Any if your thinking of daytime visibility .. if they cannot see a big red fire truck with lights and siren they are not going to see you no matter what you do.

The shipper will charge you by weight and volume.
I would buy a new helmet there - less chance of damage and you get a new hat - more choice than you can buy here. Disk locks are heavy .. new one there? How much are they charging.. and how much can you 'save' by not shipping it? Think about it. Shipping is not cheap. And I have waited on stuff that did not arrive when expected... in one case I purchased another one to do my journey as it did not arrive in time!


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Message for next time (or others reading this).
Put the stuff on the motorcycle. Disk locks, lights etc etc. Those are 'part of the bike'. Less clear on motorcycle clothing -they can be tricky on this.

I have $10k worth of motorcycle gear, I'm not going to just sell it second hand and buy it all again, I'd much rather spend $1500 flying back to Australia and taking it all as hand luggage. But either way, I would prefer to know outright that France won't charge me VAT, that is all I want to know. Does France charge VAT on personal effects older than 6 months, if the owner is not relocating

When I rebuild my bike for the next couple of continents, extra lighting is the one thing I avoided for the reason you gave, but will be changing. The times you are stuck on the road at night are the very nights you really bloody need it, the road has turned to a muddy track or dusty desert, you are tired, and the stock standard light is as much use as a chocolate fireguard.



Also you can take your helmet as handluggage on most airlines.

Ask at a French embasy?

From
Import duty & taxes calculation result

Looks like you could not only be up for VAT but Duty too... even on second hand goods.

For $2,000AUD - shipping cost $200USD and $20USD insurance

total is 507.33 EUR ... that was evaluated as clothing... ~$794AUD...

Do your purchase documents show you paid VAT (or GST)? That may help get you out of paying their VAT+ Duty? The best thing to do would be to WRITE to the local French Embassy .. and then get a WRITTEN response that you can take with you. Good Luck.

Time to pull out the tent and camp?

Hi Wanted:

I think that the best approach to take is to be extremely honest and straightforward on your customs declaration.

State that the goods are personal effects intended for temporary importation only, that you plan to make a long motorcycle tour, and will be exporting all of the goods out of France (either at the conclusion of your tour, or when you ride out of the EC).

Attach a manifest listing what the items are to your customs declaration. This way, if the French customs people wish, they can attach the manifest to a temporary import document that you can then have stamped out when leave the EC. You may also want to attach a copy of your passport data page and local driver licence to the shipping documents, this supports your claim that you are a tourist who will only be in the EC for a limited time.

I suggest you speak to a customs broker in the country you live in to get some advise about how to properly document your shipment. If it is properly documented, and the contents are in fact 'used personal effects for temporary importation only', then I doubt that you will have any difficulty with French customs.

I don't recommend that you try to 'fake it' by labelling the stuff as a gift or anything like that... I think that would only lead to raised eyebrows followed by imposition of duty and taxes. Just be 100% honest, because what you are intending to do (temporary import of personal effects of a tourist) is something that is not normally taxed or dutied in any way.

Michael

I'm with Michael here.

Being honest, and taking a service from your local customs/shipping broker to make the detailed documents is the way to go.

Almost every time I have tried to go the other way it didn't ended positive at all

Cheers
Dooby

Hey guys, Just an update and for those in the future who wind up in my situation. After calling French customs and having a nightmare trying to get some real information, it turns out my worst fears were confirmed and the French charge 20% VAT and duty on any goods entering the country, used, old, new, whatever, they'll charge you.

After contacting British customs, they advised me to fill out a British customs C21 form quoting customs procedure code 00040, however this form was practically alien and I had no idea how to fill that out. I contacted the shipping agency who said most people use a C3 form. In the C3 form there is a section for importing if you're a visitor to the UK whose normal home is outside of the EC, and who will not be leaving the personal effects in the UK any longer than 6 months. I also left a cover letter explaining that I had absolutely no idea how to fill out a C21 form, and if they need me to do that, then I will fill it out at the customs office in the UK.

I will be sure to update this in approximately 2 weeks with how things went, and whether I got through okay.


As a side note, for the lights I feel the same way - when you absolutely need them, it's where you'll be glad you had them. I went overboard having 18,000 lumens + up front now, the 1190 looks like a spaceship

Thanks guys!

Wanted:

Have you spoken to a customs broker in the city/country that you live in?

I have yet to find a single country in the world that does not make some provision for "temporary import" of goods, and I've had a heck of a lot of experience with this... not with motorcycles, but with all the equipment needed to support large passenger aircraft at airshows, on sales tours, stuff like that. Typically this is hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment, not to mention the aircraft itself, which has an 8 figure value.

Worst case, you will be asked to post a bond (or cash) equivalent to what the duty and tax would be if the goods were to remain in the country, and the bond is released (or the cash refunded) at the time you prove you have exported the goods (typically when the goods leave the country).

More common case, you fill in a customs entry document that states that the goods will only be temporarily imported, and if the customs officer that processes the import believes that the declaration is credible, the goods are allowed in without a bond or payment being needed. Sometimes, a note is made in your passport to the effect that you have goods to accompany you when you leave the country, but this protocol is only followed in countries that have exit controls (something that France and the EC don't have).

There comes a time when "do it yourself" for complex legal things like your temporary import efforts is no longer appropriate, and it is time to engage the services of an expert - in this case, a customs broker.

Michael

Interesting thread and questions I'll need to answer as well. It seems odd that VAT or import taxes would be charged for personal items like this given the intent. I've never traveled to the EU by motorcycle (yet..) - but I have traveled there for vacation - mainly skiing - and I always brought my own personal gear. Not 10K worth - but certainly 2-3K when you add it all up. Maybe I just blew through the customs forms - and maybe ski gear is more "mainstream"/ Don't know.

My first pass at planning had me shipping bike to London - then hopping on a plane with all my personal riding gear along to support my ride. Maybe I need to re-think this.

Wanted: thanks for posting up on the topic.

No need to re-think it at all, I've done exactly that several times. The customs people look at you, your passport, your residency (and obvious ineligibility to live in the EC), and they wave you through without any difficulty or questions at all.

If all else fails, you could show them a copy of the shipping documents for your motorcycle, thus establishing beyond a shadow of a doubt that the gear you are carrying is intended to support your tour with the motorcycle that you are shipping over at the same time.

Don't be the least bit concerned.

Wanted's concern arises, I suspect, because he will not be accompanying (in person) the gear he is shipping, and perhaps also because he is shipping a significant dollar value of new equipment, which is not as obviously considered 'personal effects' as used equipment is.

The "bottom line" on all of this - in other words, the root concept that customs officials work upon - is the question "Is this stuff personal effects to support the traveller on their vacation, or is this stuff something that the shipper (or passenger) intends to leave behind in Europe, in effect importing permanently without paying the usual duty and tax that is imposed on permanent importations?"

Customs people are well aware of the importance of tourism. They also see enough people come through in the course of their career that they can pretty quickly figure out who is legit and who is trying to game the system.

Michael