Someone furnishes a rented flat, gets the visa, and ships the lot. It is the most reasonable thing in the world to do and it is the most common way people end up with a duty bill on a US move.
We connect your enquiry with a vetted international moving company from our network. This page exists so the conversation about newer items happens before the inventory is finalised rather than after the container has sailed.
The relief for household effects rests on use. Goods that were for your personal use, or used in a household where you were a resident, for one year enter free of duty. Newer items do not meet that test and go on a separate declaration.
anything you have owned for less than twelve months is declared separately from the rest of your shipment and is usually subject to duty, however ordinary and however used it looks.
It is about use and residence, not the date on a receipt. A sofa bought two years ago and kept in storage has not been used in a household where you lived, and the same question arises.
The relief is for personal effects, not for goods being imported. The one year use requirement is how the line is drawn between someone moving their home and someone bringing in merchandise.
That is why the test asks about use and residence rather than ownership. Goods bought and stored, or bought specifically for the move, sit on the wrong side of it however personal they are.
The practical consequence is a separate declaration alongside the main one, listing the newer items with their values, so duty can be assessed on those rather than on the whole shipment.
| ❗ | Furniture bought to furnish a rental in the months before leaving. |
| ❗ | Appliances replaced shortly before the move rather than shipped and re-bought. |
| ❗ | Wedding gifts, which are often both new and not yet used in a household. |
| ❗ | Electronics bought in a sale specifically because the move was coming. |
| ❗ | Items bought long ago but kept in storage rather than used in a home you lived in. |
| ❗ | Anything travelling for someone else, which fails a different part of the same test. |
| What to do | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Go through the inventory by age | Room by room, mark anything bought in the last year. It takes an hour and it is the whole of this problem solved. |
| Keep receipts for those items | Value has to be declared, and a receipt is better evidence than an estimate written months later. |
| Decide what is worth shipping at all | Where duty plus freight approaches replacement cost in the United States, buying at the far end is the cheaper answer. |
The relief covers effects used by you, or in a household where you were a resident, for one year. Items newer than that do not meet the test and are declared separately.
Not on its own. The test is about use and residence, so goods bought earlier but kept in storage can raise the same question.
On a separate list submitted with the CBP Form 3299 declaration, showing the items and their values so duty can be assessed on them.
It depends on the goods and their declared value. Your moving company's customs broker can give you an indication once the list exists.
Often yes. Where duty plus freight approaches what replacement costs in the United States, shipping them is money spent to arrive at the same place.
They are frequently caught, being both new and not yet used in a household. List them rather than hoping they pass unnoticed.
The shipment is more likely to be examined, and an inaccurate declaration is a worse problem than duty. Declaring is always the cheaper route.
Yes. The rules follow the goods, not the shipping method, so a shared container is treated exactly the same way.
A receipt is best. Where you have none, a considered estimate is better than a guess, and far better than leaving the item off the list.
Send your collection address, your US destination, the move date and a note of anything bought in the last year. A moving company from our network takes it from there.
A Working Member of AGM Group. Enquiries are connected with vetted FIDI FAIM certified and BAR Overseas accredited international moving companies from the network.
We are an enquiry service and not a customs agent. Duty assessments are made by US Customs and Border Protection, and your own position should be confirmed with them.
Written by Darren Benjamin, Founder.