Help needed from a Brit who has imported a car into NZ

[2ba 355]

Hi All,
I need some help from someone please. I posted before about bringing a Noble into NZ. One thing I need clarification is what paperwork do you need to prove (apart from the Reg Doc )that you have owned the car in the UK for a year ? Do they want to see a bill of sale aswell , or is the reg doc the only thing they require ??

Thanks
James

[zaphod]

Hi James - glad to hear everyhings coming together now.

From my experience, you do need both as you also need to establish the value of the vehicle as that gets entered onto the customs contract that you sign to say you will be liable for duty and GST if you sell the vehicle within two years.

Remember there are two organisations who you need to gather the data for, LTSA and Customs - here are the links to the relevent documents on their websites:

www.customs.govt.nz/travellers/Motor+Vehicles/Clearance+Procedures.htm
www.ltsa.govt.nz/publications/infosheets/infosheet-2-09.html#1


Cheers
Richard

[Kiwi XTR2]

2ba 355 said:

. . . One thing I need clarification is what paperwork do you need to prove (apart from the Reg Doc) that you have owned the car in the UK for a year ? Do they want to see a bill of sale as well ? . . .

If you are struggling with a Bill of Sale document you could try getting a copy of the appropriate bank statement and/or cancelled cheque stamped & witnessed by your bank manager.

Hopefully that would be considered sufficient 'evidence' ? ? ?

[2ba 355]

Thanks for the useful links Richard. I wondered if it may be the case , otherwise one can always alter the date of transfer of ownership if a dealer has had it in stock for a while !!??

[zaphod]

I can't remember if the UK ownership doc (V5?) has a transfer date on from the last owner- I recall it just having the owner name but no date?

I bought my Jeep off a friend's company and he just knocked up an invoice on letter headed paper when I needed some evidence for export - he could have just made it all up and put a lower value on for all they would know. As long as everything looks in order, I think they are too busy to poke too closely.

[2ba 355]

Hi Richard,
Well I am viewing the car on Weds that I want to bring over, so I will look at the V5 then. It would help if the dealership could at a later date give me another invoice for the car as well as cahnging the date of ownership ??

[zaphod]

If it's a "preowned" car then the dealer will normally not have registered it themselves, so the V5 will have the previous owners details on, not the garage.

However, I've just dug out my import file and I noticed that the "UK Certificate of Perminant Export" that you have to get from the DVLA has the "Date of aquisition by registered keeper" - you - so that may scupper you.

However, if you cannot prove you have owned the car for long enough to be totally exempt, there is no import duty on private motor cars - only GST at 12.5% on the sum of the depreciated value, shipping and insurance. See here:

www.customs.govt.nz/travellers/Motor+Vehicles/When+Customs+Charges+are+Payable.htm

Cheers
Richard

[2ba 355]

Thanks for the link Richard.

[chevtrev]

I heard something a while back if you bought a used car for export from a dealer you may get some of the vat back adjusted from when it was new.
Could be complete tosh,but it may be worth investigating.

[Ffirg 005]

No that's true - you get the VAT back on the difference between what they paid for it and what they sell it to you for. There's a particular form for it from DVLA.

[2ba 355]

That's very interesting. I will look into this further. Thanks chaps !

[Ffirg 005]

Just thinking further on the VAT refund bit... it was a while ago that I looked into it so can't recall exactly but I suspect that it only works for visitors to the UK, not emigrating citizens . Still worth having a 'modest' purchase value documented though to minimise the GST at this end.