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Bringing your belongings into the Czech Republic from Britain is usually free of import duty, under Council Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009. The relief is not automatic. It depends on three conditions about where you have lived, how long you have owned your things, and when they arrive, and getting any of the three wrong is expensive.
Moving companies lodge the entry and normally arrange the EORI number, and removal companies quoting this journey should say plainly which of them does it. What it cannot do is meet the conditions on your behalf, or notice that your dates put you outside them unless you have shown it your dates.
This page sets out the conditions in full, the two timing traps that catch people, and what customs will actually ask for. It is the page every other Czech page on this site links to, which is why it goes into more detail than they do.
Council Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009, Articles 3 to 11
Customs Administration of the Czech Republic
GOV.UK for the British export side
Your normal place of residence must have been outside the EU for at least 12 continuous months before the transfer. The word that does the work is normal. It is about where you actually lived, not where you are a citizen.
You must have owned the goods, and in the case of non consumable items used them, for at least six months before you stopped living in the country you are leaving. Buying furniture just before the move does not qualify it.
The goods must be entered for free circulation within 12 months of you establishing your normal home in the EU. They may arrive in several separate consignments inside that window, so shipping in stages is allowed.
Alcohol and tobacco are excluded from the relief whatever else qualifies. They can travel, but duty is payable on them regardless of how long you have owned them.
People try to save storage money by sending their belongings ahead of the move. It sounds sensible and it is the most common way to fall foul of Article 7.
The 12 month clock runs from the date you establish your normal home in the EU, not from the date you pack or the date the vehicle leaves. Send your things before you have established residence and the arithmetic can put the entry outside the window rather than inside it.
The fix costs nothing: give your international moving company your real dates, in order, and ask it to check the sequence before anything is loaded.
Someone leaves Britain, puts a household into storage, spends two years abroad, and then moves to the Czech Republic. Do the stored items meet the six month ownership and use test?
They were owned, certainly. Whether they were used in the six months before residence ceased is the question, and it is arguable in both directions. This is not a reason to panic. It is a reason to raise it with the mover and, if the value is significant, with a customs agent, before the load is booked.
Returning residents are the group most likely to be short of this when it matters. If you have been in Britain on and off, keep British tenancy agreements or mortgage statements, council tax records in your name, payslips or an employment letter, and utility bills at the British address.
Carry that folder with you. Not in a box on the lorry. The one document customs asks for is always the one in the box.
Your goods need an export declaration before they leave. Your removal company normally lodges it. Coming the other way, into Britain, is a different scheme entirely: apply to HMRC for Transfer of Residence relief before your goods arrive. See Czech Republic to UK removals.
The whole scheme rests on transferring your normal place of residence. Buy a Czech property while your main home stays in Britain and you are not transferring anything. The furniture is identical. Your position is not.
Claiming relief you are not entitled to makes duty and import VAT payable, potentially with a penalty, and the goods can be held while it is resolved. Get the answer in writing from the Customs Administration or a customs agent before you ship.
This affects Karlovy Vary buyers more than anywhere else in the country. See Karlovy Vary removals.
If you are moving to the Czech Republic from Spain, Germany or anywhere else in the Union, none of this page applies to you. Personal goods move in free circulation with no customs entry, no relief claim and no EORI requirement.
There is one wrinkle worth knowing: a British passport holder living in Spain is intra-EU for goods purposes and still a third country national for residence purposes. Those two facts pull in opposite directions and people conflate them constantly.
See removals to the Czech Republic from Europe. Switzerland is not in the EU, so a Swiss move is closer to a British one than to a Spanish one.
We are an enquiry service, not customs agents, and nothing on this page is advice. Rules change. Read the Customs Administration of the Czech Republic and GOV.UK guidance close to your move date, and take professional advice where the value is significant.
Council Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009. Article 3 relieves personal property from import duty when it is imported by a person transferring their normal place of residence from outside the EU into it. The Customs Administration of the Czech Republic publishes its own guidance on how it applies the regulation.
Your normal home must have been outside the EU for at least 12 continuous months. You must have owned the goods, and used the non consumable items, for at least six months before you stopped living in the country you are leaving. The goods must enter free circulation within 12 months of you establishing your normal home in the EU.
This is the trap. The 12 month window in Article 7 runs from the date you establish your normal home in the EU, not from the date you pack. Shipping well ahead of the move to save storage can put you the wrong side of it. Talk it through against your real dates before anything is loaded.
No. Alcohol and tobacco get no relief whatever else qualifies. Commercial goods, items intended for sale and anything used in a trade or profession sit outside the scheme. If your load mixes personal effects with business equipment, declare that rather than letting customs discover it.
It sits awkwardly against the rule, which asks that you owned and used the goods for at least six months before you stopped living in the country you are leaving. Long term stored items can be argued either way. Raise it with your mover before the load is booked rather than at the border.
Private individuals not established in the EU generally do. It is used in electronic communication with customs offices and it is valid across all member states. Your international moving company normally arranges it as part of the clearance work, but confirm that it is included rather than assuming.
A detailed inventory of the load, proof of your identity, evidence that you are genuinely moving your home to the Czech Republic, and proof of the address you are moving into. Clearance is difficult without an address. Confirm the current list with the Customs Administration before you pack.
Very possibly not. The scheme is built on transferring your normal place of residence. If your main home stays in Britain, you are not transferring it. Take advice from the Customs Administration of the Czech Republic or a customs agent in writing before you ship anything.
No, because there is nothing to relieve. Movement of personal goods between EU member states is free circulation with no customs entry. Council Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009 does not apply. See our page on removals to the Czech Republic from Europe.
Send your dates, your collection postcode and your Czech address. One vetted mover will walk the sequence through with you before anything is loaded.
Get your free quoteSee UK to Czech Republic removals, Czech Republic to UK removals and the cost of moving. For destination detail start at our Czech Republic removals page.
| Where you lived | Outside the EU 12 continuous months |
|---|---|
| What you own | Owned and used at least 6 months |
| When it arrives | Within 12 months of establishing residence |
| Excluded | Alcohol and tobacco, always |
| Also needed | EORI number and proof of address |
A trading name of DATACONTEXT (UK) LTD. Registered in England and Wales, company number 07425576, data protection registration ZB022743. Trading since 1 November 2010.
We are a free enquiry service, not a removal company. Your details go to one vetted mover from the AGM Group network. Accreditations held across the network include FIDI FAIM Certified, BAR Overseas, IAM, EUROMOVERS and FEDEMAC. Not every firm holds all five.
Country covered on this page: Czech Republic (CZ).