{"id":2111281,"date":"2026-08-28T05:07:50","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T03:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/2026\/08\/28\/moving-household-goods-uk-france-after-brexit-customs-relief-import-vat-stopped-removal\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T05:07:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T03:07:50","slug":"moving-household-goods-uk-france-after-brexit-customs-relief-import-vat-stopped-removal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/08\/28\/moving-household-goods-uk-france-after-brexit-customs-relief-import-vat-stopped-removal\/","title":{"rendered":"Moving Household Goods from the UK to France After Brexit: Customs Relief, Import VAT and Stopped Removals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moving your home from Britain to France is not the same legal operation as bringing a suitcase across the Channel or buying furniture for a French second home. Since Brexit, the United Kingdom is a country outside the European Union for French customs purposes. A British family can nevertheless obtain a franchise<\/em>, meaning relief from import duty and import tax, when its household goods genuinely accompany a transfer of its normal residence and the evidence is complete. The exemption is not a reward for nationality and it is not applied simply because a removal company describes the load as \u201cpersonal effects\u201d.<\/p>\n

The critical questions are practical: where was your normal residence, how long had you lived there, how long had you owned and used each item, when will the goods enter France, and what did you declare? French customs may also separate qualifying furniture from a vehicle, alcohol, tobacco, professional equipment, stock or a restricted item. A container can therefore contain both exempt and taxable goods.<\/p>\n

This guide focuses on the person moving to France after Brexit, not on buying a property or creating a company. It sets out the conditions, the inventory and the d\u00e9claration<\/em> (customs declaration) to prepare, then explains what to do if the removal is stopped or an assessment is issued. The legal position is checked as at 28 August 2026; transitional dates matter because French VAT legislation is being recodified.<\/p>\n

I. Can I move my household goods from the UK to France without paying import VAT?<\/h2>\n

A. Which goods and residence conditions qualify after Brexit?<\/h3>\n

The starting point is the border between personal property and an import for ordinary taxation. Article 291 of the French General Tax Code<\/a> states: \u201cLes importations de biens sont soumises \u00e0 la taxe sur la valeur ajout\u00e9e.\u201d The taxe sur la valeur ajout\u00e9e<\/em>, or TVA, is French value added tax. The same article creates an exception for goods definitively imported under the fiscal franchises designated by the implementing rules. In other words, import VAT is the rule; the household-move relief is an exception that has to be claimed and proved.<\/p>\n

For an import made before 1 January 2027, the main French text to read with Article 291 is Article 50 septies of Annex IV to the General Tax Code<\/a>. It defines personal goods by reference to \u201cLes biens affect\u00e9s \u00e0 l’usage personnel des int\u00e9ress\u00e9s\u201d. The rest of the definition excludes goods whose nature or quantity suggests a commercial purpose or use in an economic activity. That distinction catches more than obvious stock. Ten identical new appliances, unopened retail packaging, trade samples, tools belonging to an active business or a quantity of goods inconsistent with a family home can prompt questions even if the owner says that everything is personally owned.<\/p>\n

The same provision defines r\u00e9sidence normale<\/em>, the French expression for normal residence, as \u201cLe lieu o\u00f9 une personne demeure habituellement\u201d. It uses a 185-day reference and also considers personal and professional ties. A British citizen who has kept a UK home, worked in the UK and spent holidays in France cannot automatically treat a French holiday property as the transferred normal residence. Customs will look at the actual move and the supporting documents, not just the address printed on a removal quotation.<\/p>\n

The current French customs guidance applies a clear third-country test. A person coming from a country outside the European Union may obtain relief when they have stayed in that country for at least 12 months and transfer their principal residence to France. The goods must have been used privately for at least six months before the residence transfer. The guidance also says that the goods must have borne the applicable customs and fiscal charges in the country of origin or provenance. This last point matters for goods bought duty-free, goods acquired under a special export arrangement and goods recently received as gifts.<\/p>\n

The official French customs page on relief for transferring a principal residence<\/a> is the operational reference. It distinguishes a move from an EU Member State, where there is no equivalent import customs formality, from a move from a non-EU country. A removal from England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland into France must be treated as the latter unless a different legal fact applies. A British passport alone does not answer the customs question; the relevant facts are residence, use, ownership and the destination of the goods.<\/p>\n

A qualifying move normally includes used household furniture, clothing, books, kitchen equipment, ordinary personal effects and other items serving the household. The goods can have been bought with tax included or outside the tax system, but you still need a coherent explanation of their acquisition and use. \u201cUsed\u201d is not a synonym for \u201cold\u201d: a recently bought sofa may be taxable if the six-month use condition is not met, while an older item may qualify if it has genuinely formed part of the household.<\/p>\n

The exemption is not a blanket approval for every object loaded into the lorry. The customs guidance excludes alcoholic products and tobacco, means of transport for utility use, mixed-use vehicles, transportable homes, most professional equipment, and stocks of raw, finished or semi-finished products. A portable professional instrument can be treated differently from a commercial stock of equipment, but a self-employed person should not decide the classification alone. Keep business assets on a separate list and ask the customs representative how they will be declared.<\/p>\n

Cars, motorcycles, trailers, caravans, boats and aircraft deserve a separate file. French diplomatic guidance states that vehicles and several other means of transport must have been acquired with tax included in the country of origin or provenance to benefit from the relief. Registration, proof of ownership and conformity requirements are separate from the household-goods exemption. Do not hide a vehicle inside a general furniture inventory. A vehicle can also trigger a registration process, environmental charge or technical requirement even when a customs exemption is available.<\/p>\n

Restricted goods are another boundary. Animals, firearms and ammunition, cultural goods, endangered species, medicines and plants can require specific documents or declarations. The French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs lists these categories in its updated guidance on moving to France<\/a>. An antique desk can be a household item for the relief calculation and still require a cultural-property or export document. A pet can travel with the family and still require animal-health paperwork. Relief from import VAT does not remove public-health, cultural-property or safety controls.<\/p>\n

A French second home produces a particularly common mistake. Goods sent to furnish a house that is not the person\u2019s transferred principal residence are not treated as a qualifying transfer of normal residence. The customs guidance says that goods for a secondary residence are no longer admitted duty- and VAT-free, and that the total declared value can form the basis of taxation. A British owner who remains resident in the UK but sends furniture to a holiday house in Brittany, Normandy or the Dordogne should not present that shipment as a permanent move merely because the property is available for occasional stays.<\/p>\n

Nor is the relief designed for a house-flipping project, an online shop or an interior-design business. If the goods are intended for resale, short-term rental activity or a professional operation, the personal-move route may fail. A furnished letting can raise a particularly difficult mixed-use issue: a bed, table or sofa may be a personal possession in one file and business equipment in another. Separate personal goods from business goods, identify the intended use in the inventory and obtain a written customs position where the distinction is material.<\/p>\n

The date of the residence transfer also needs care. \u201cI signed a lease\u201d may be a useful document, but it does not necessarily establish the date on which normal residence moved. Consider the departure from the UK, the occupation of the French home, the end of the UK household, employment or retirement evidence and the date shown on any residence document. The move of the goods can happen later, but the 12-month post-transfer window must be calculated from the legally relevant transfer date, not from the day the removal company has an available vehicle.<\/p>\n

The French VAT provisions are changing in form. Future Article L213-10 of the Code of Impositions on Goods and Services<\/a> describes a personal good as a good reserved for personal or family use, transported occasionally and not suggesting resale or economic use. Its wording begins: \u201cLe bien personnel transport\u00e9 \u00e0 destination ou en provenance du territoire de taxation\u201d. The future section containing Article L213-35<\/a> begins the residence-transfer exemption with: \u201cEst exon\u00e9r\u00e9e l’importation de biens personnels d’un particulier\u201d. These future pages must be read with the transition rules, not copied as if they were the law applicable on every date.<\/p>\n

In particular, Article 17 of the 27 July 2026 ordinance adjusting the Code of Impositions on Goods and Services<\/a> amended the earlier transition provision so that the relevant recodification date is 1 January 2027 rather than 1 September 2026. The safe approach for a shipment near the changeover is to record the date of import, preserve the version of the official guidance used, and ask the declarant to identify the legal version in the customs entry. Do not rely on a blog post that gives one permanent date.<\/p>\n

B. Which documents, inventory and timing prove the exemption?<\/h3>\n

Proof is not an administrative afterthought. Article 50 octies B of Annex IV to the General Tax Code<\/a> provides: \u201cla preuve que ces limites ou conditions ont \u00e9t\u00e9 respect\u00e9es doit \u00eatre apport\u00e9e par l’int\u00e9ress\u00e9\u201d. The person claiming relief therefore needs a file that permits the customs officer to connect three things: a genuine transfer of normal residence, goods that are personal and sufficiently used, and an entry into France within the relevant period.<\/p>\n

Start with the inventory. French customs asks for a detailed, estimated, dated and signed inventory, generally in two copies. \u201cFurniture\u201d or \u201cpersonal effects\u201d is too vague for a valuable container. A usable line identifies the item, quantity, approximate age, condition and realistic second-hand value. For example: \u201coak dining table, one, purchased 2018, used in UK family home, fair condition, estimated value \u00a3450\u201d; \u201cbooks, 12 cartons, mixed personal library, used, estimated total value \u00a3300\u201d. Add serial numbers to electronics and photographs to valuable or unusual items.<\/p>\n

Use one currency consistently in the inventory and state the exchange-rate method if values are converted into euros. The valeur en douane<\/em>, or customs value, is not necessarily the price paid years ago. It is a customs valuation used to calculate any charge where relief is refused. A reasonable second-hand estimate is preferable to a symbolic value that cannot be defended. Keep purchase invoices where available, but do not invent invoices for inherited, gifted or long-owned items. A short signed explanation and photographs may be more credible than a false precision.<\/p>\n

Separate lines or annexes should identify:<\/p>\n