bringing house contents from Ireland to England

I am just starting to sell a family holiday home in Ireland (ROI) and wish to bring back a number of items to my home in England. Mainly items of furniture all bought in England about 20 years ago. What exactly are the rules for bringing back used household items to be used and retained in England. I have had very conflicting advice from removal companies. Is VAT payable on used items that were all purchased, VAT paid, in the UK, some say yes, others say no!

Hello George There is no relief for goods imported from secondary and holiday homes in the EU. More information can be found in HMRC guidance: Transfer of residence to Great Britain. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/transfer-of-residence-to-great-britain An Import Declaration will need to be made and dependent on item details such as the commodity code and country of origin will incur taxes . Sunil Makim Linked In

Hi.
Please speak to our International Trade Team as below:
Imports and exports: general enquiries
Thank you.

Thank you but not quite clear how relevant the information is. I am not transferring residence, I am permanently resident in the UK. All the items were purchased in England, and VAT, taxes etc paid. I am simply bringing them back to my permanent UK residence . I understood that used personal items could be freely transported e.g. in one's car. Is that not the case?

family holiday homes , do not qualify for relief of any import taxes payable. Unfortunately even though the goods were bought in the UK (VAT PAYED ) and transferred during the single market / open borders with EU . These are now considered imports and Taxes are liable as their is no relief for holiday homes furniture etc.. being transferred back. You can value the goods reasonably as if you were buying them second hand. Further unfortunately Duties may be liable if the Items are deemed to be made in Countries outside the EU. So the Commodity code and the country of origin for each item is also required. Hope this clarifies a little more .

Thanks Admin 8. I looked up importing personal effects and it seems as though many of the items could be brought back to my home in my own car using the " declaration by conduct" procedure. I also see that there is a mechanism for re-importing goods to the uk from EU. It also seems that the time restriction can be waived if the personal property of a uk resident is being returned for personal use and/ or meeting household needs of the resident. All of this seems to apply to me. Comments would be very much welcomed!

Thanks Sunil that certainly makes things clearer. My big problem now is how I verify the country of origin , I know that they were all bought in UK but 10 - 20 years ago! How do I go about assuring HMRC that I have definitive proof of the origins of all these items?

Goods can be returned duty and tax free from the EU under a scheme called returned goods but normally goods need to returned within 3 years but this can be extended. You do need to provide evidence of previous export which isn’t possible for anything being moved to Ireland pre Brexit. Alternatively it may be sufficient if you have any purchase invoices that may support any claim the goods were purchased in the UK. If you don’t know where goods are made then the all country duty rates apply. Personal goods such as your baggage when you go on holiday are also treated as returned goods when coming back from your trip. When you go through the red or green channel this is declaration by conduct. Personal allowances apply not only to alcohol and tobacco but to any other goods up to £390 . Anything over that you should go through the red channel any pay taxes due.

Hi George Lunt,

If someone is bringing personal belongings back to UK and not moving permanent resident and these items were purchased in UK and taxes were paid then they can look inito returned goods relief. Please refer to below link for more guidance.
If a person bringing these items in personal car, please refer to Goods imported in baggage section.
Pay less import duty and VAT when re-importing goods to the UK

Thank you.

Thanks everyone. Very helpful and constructive advice. I think I see a way forward now. One of the downsides of Brexit it seems!