Transfer of Residence to the UK - Shipping alcohol under CTA

WreckingRalph

We are planning on moving to the UK from Ireland soon, and is preparing to ship household contents across.

My question is that I have a fairly large whiskey collection (approx 30 bottles) and I am unsure if I can ship this as part of my household contents (Transfer of Residence). Most of the bottles are unopened and is of course for my personal consumption, but I am trying to get an idea wether I would be liable for import duty on it.

I am an Irish national, and was wondering how this is affected by the Common Travel Agreement, if at all.

Any opinions welcomed.

Fysh

That's a useful link - it mentions the ToR1 form (Transfer of Residence) which can be used when shipping your goods as part of a transfer of residence. To me it reads as though the safer approach is to submit that form regardless and reference it in your paperwork, then request a refund of any import duty you are charged by submitting a copy of form C285.

gucci

Are you using a moving company or moving it over yourself in a van with the rest of your contents?

I have recently relocated from UK to Ireland, and our moving company explicitly told us that alcohol and plants were not allowed to be included in the shipping "for customs and brexit". When I pressed them on it, it seemed they were largely clueless on the exact rules but advised that it would be potentially delaying and costly to everyone if we had issues.

From my understanding of reading into it, I dont think you can move that sort of volume, especially if you are not with the items.

For me it wasn't a big deal as we hadn't much, so I chucked it in my car. You are allowed 4 litres of spirits, or 16 litres of lower volume stuff like beer or wine.

Peregrinus

You're importing alcohol into the EU. You have your usual personal duty-free allowance if you bring it in with you (but not if you ship it separately) but for spirits this is just 1 litre. Each adult in your household can claim the allowance and, if people are travelling back and forth, it can be claimed separately for each journey. So possibly over time you, your family and trusted friends who may be visiting you could bring in your collection 1 bottle at a time.

If you're not carrying the whiskey in yourself but are sending them with your furniture and household goods, etc, then I'm afraid you're cactus. Because you're moving house into the EU you have an exemption for the usual customs and excise on the import of your furniture, household effects, etc, and no doubt your removal company will have advised you on the conditions for that (e.g. you have to have been owning and using the goods for at least six months before you move). But some goods do not qualify for the exemption, and these include alcohol and tobacco products.

Fysh

For clarity, the OP is moving from EU to the UK, so it would be UK restrictions that are relevant as the destination.

UK gov guidance on duty allowances on entry from the EU is here. No mention of CTA there, and explicit statement that personal allowances only apply when you transport the goods yourself.

Under the CTA you should not be subject to immigration control on entry to the UK. For an ironclad understanding of how this applies to your circumstances you'd likely be best off getting professional advice.

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118046821#Comment_118046821

D'Oh! I misread the OP. My bad.

But, I agree. Regardless of which direction the move is in, the CTA is irrelevant here. It has nothing to do with taxes.

The page to which Fysh links sets out the standard rules for "ordinary" travellers. There's a separate page discussing the special rules that apply to peopl moving to the UK to take up residence there: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/transfer-of-residence-to-great-britain

These are, unsurprisingly, the same as the EU rules because EU rules were of course in force until the end of the transition period, and they are among the very large body of EU law which the UK has not got around to changing yet.

Fysh

I would still say the best piece of advice on that page is this, though:

"Most people employ a shipping agent to look after their import declarations if they cannot deal with us directly."

WreckingRalph

Thanks for your responses. Went over with a truck, and put the alcohol in the back. I was not stopped nor searched when I arrived in Holyhead. Go figure!

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118048512#Comment_118048512

Well, yes, a relevant consideration here is that, right now, although the UK has laws for controlling, taxing, etc imports from the EU, those laws are not being applied because, five years after the Brexit referendum, the British government still has not made the practical arrangements necessary for acting like a country that's not a member of the European Union any more.