Used household furniture

Used household furniture

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WyrleyD

Original Poster:

2,051 posts

155 months

Tuesday 27th April 2021
quotequote all
Any one know what the formalities are for taking a single armchair to France now?

When we moved from France back to the UK in 2019 we stored some of the furniture from our house in France and shipped some back to the UK. Now that the French house is going to be vacant after the renters have left we want to move the stored furniture back into the house but we have a single armchair (part of a suite that is in France) that we need to move back over there. I've read that if the item is below €400 there is no duty to pay, the suite is something like 20 years old and have no documentation from the original purchase now. I can't find out what customs documents will be needed or where to get them but have been told that documentation will be needed at French customs so that they can assess whether duty is payable or not.

Any advice appreciated.

Also, I need to do the reverse as I have some expensive hi-fi currently being looked after by a friend over there and that will need to come back to the UK hopefully at the end of summer.

rdjohn

6,369 posts

202 months

Tuesday 27th April 2021
quotequote all
Funnily enough i was looking this up only the other day. My mate has bought an apartment in Spain, and bought some quite expensive furniture in the UK. Covid and Brexit got in the way of the building being completed on time, so now he is loaded with a lot of VAT to pay, again.

https://www.douane.gouv.fr/fiche/volume-and-value-...

The odd ball is €430 if you arrive by sea, or air and only €300 if you arrive by other means which presumably means Eurotunnel.

Estimating the value of a single 20-year old chair for 20% TVA is unlikely to amount to much and i guess well within even the €300 limit. Original purchase documents would obviously be good, but a written estimate of value from a friendly local shop should be good for purpose.

HMG will have a similar set of rules if you google them

WyrleyD

Original Poster:

2,051 posts

155 months

Tuesday 27th April 2021
quotequote all
Thanks for that.

I guess I'll have to complete the CERFA form that you linked to although the residence doesn't conform to those stated and it's no longer a permanent residence.

I know what you mean about things getting in the way. We had planned on fetching the more expensive Hi-Fi stuff last year then COVID happened and it became impossible and still is at the present time. Looks like I'll have the same problem getting it back to the UK now, I've done search of my records and all that's left after 14 years is a series of emails from the hi-fi suppliers when I ordered the stuff and had it shipped but unfortunately no invoices as they were with the goods and have long since gone.