Shipping Belongings to Spain: Customs Relief Rules 2026

If you move your normal residence to Spain from outside the EU, your personal belongings can come in free of customs duty, and Spain’s Tax Agency also grants an exemption from VAT, under Council Regulation (EC) 1186/2009. You need to have lived outside the EU customs territory for at least 12 consecutive months, to have owned and used the goods for at least six months, and to bring them in within 12 months of establishing residence in Spain. You claim the relief in the import declaration itself.

The conditions

The relief comes from Title I of the regulation (arts. 3 to 11), and the Agencia Tributaria applies it together with the VAT exemption (arts. 28 and 29 of Ley 37/1992). The main conditions are:

Condition	Rule	Source
Residence abroad	At least 12 consecutive months outside the EU customs territory. The authorities can allow exceptions if you clearly intended to stay abroad at least 12 months	Reg. art. 5
Ownership and use	Goods you had in your possession, and for non-consumables used, at your old home for at least six months before you stopped living there. Special justified cases are excepted	Reg. art. 4(a)
Same use	The goods are meant for the same uses at your new home	Reg. art. 4(b)
Timing	Declared for free circulation within 12 months of the date you establish residence in the EU	Reg. art. 7.1
Several shipments	Clearance can be done in more than one batch inside that window	Reg. art. 7
No commercial intent	The nature and quantity of the goods must not suggest commercial use	Reg. art. 4

For the VAT exemption the Agencia Tributaria adds that the goods must have been acquired or imported under normal taxation in the country you come from and must not have benefited from any exemption or refund when they left it.

Moving before you have residence

The regulation also allows goods to be cleared before you have established residence, if you commit to settling in the EU within six months. The customs authorities can require a guarantee, whose form and amount they decide (art. 9). The Agencia Tributaria describes the same mechanism and says the goods must leave the customs area, though they can go to private storage premises.

What counts as personal property

The regulation lists furniture, household linen and effects for personal use or the needs of the home. It also names bicycles and motorcycles, private cars and their trailers, camper caravans, pleasure boats and private aircraft, plus a normal household stock of provisions, pets, and portable tools of a trade needed for your profession (art. 4 and the definitions in art. 2).

What is not covered

Excluded	Source
Alcoholic products	Reg. art. 6(a)
Tobacco and tobacco products	Reg. art. 6(b)
Commercial means of transport	Reg. art. 6(c)
Professional equipment other than portable tools of a trade	Reg. art. 6(d)
Goods that show a commercial intent by nature or quantity	Reg. art. 4

For alcohol and tobacco, the Agencia Tributaria adds that the VAT exemption excludes quantities above those set in the VAT rules. In an example about a sculptor, the Agencia Tributaria says finished works intended for sale do not qualify, though pieces used as home decor can.

After import: the 12-month rule

For 12 months from the date the declaration is accepted, you cannot lend, pledge, rent or hand over the duty-free goods, for payment or free, without first telling customs (art. 8.1). If you do, duty becomes payable at the rate in force on that date (art. 8.2). So do not plan to sell the car or the furniture in your first year without checking.

How to claim the relief with the Agencia Tributaria

There is no prior application. You ask for the customs relief and the VAT exemption in the import declaration (DUA). In box 37.2 you enter code C01 for the customs relief and 101 for the VAT exemption (the Canary Islands use 303 for IGIC). The Agencia Tributaria asks for these proofs:

1. Residence abroad for 12 months, by any means of proof. Examples it lists: a tax domicile certificate, the address on your ID, home insurance, utility bills, a work contract or school enrollment for your children.
2. That you have left or will leave your old residence: a document showing you deregistered, or, if your country issues none, any document where you notified a tax, health or pensions authority of the change.
3. That you are moving to Spain: for non-EU nationals, your application for or your TIE (the foreigner ID card).
4. Six months of prior use: a detailed list of the goods with an estimated value and an approximate purchase date.

The TIE requirement is why the sequence matters. If you want to ship after your arrival, you will have the card; if you ship earlier, use the six-month commitment route above. See the moving checklist for how this lines up with the visa timeline. The TIE is issued after you apply within one month of arrival, and your NIE comes with it.

We do not quote mover prices. They vary with volume, route and season, and the Agencia Tributaria does not set them.

Pets

Dogs, cats and ferrets arriving from outside the EU must come in through an authorized traveler entry point, and you declare the animal to the Guardia Civil Resguardo Fiscal or customs staff, who check the documents and read the microchip (MAPA). The rules the ministry sets out:

• Identification: a microchip (or a legible tattoo applied before 3 July 2011).
• Rabies vaccine: valid at the time of travel.
• Health certificate: if the animal has no valid EU pet passport, it needs a veterinary health certificate signed by an official vet of the country of origin, in Spanish at least, plus a declaration, both on the EU models, and a certified copy of its ID and vaccination data.
• Rabies antibody test: if you come from a country not listed in Annexes I and II of Regulation (EU) 2026/636, the animal needs a blood test at an authorized laboratory with a result of at least 0.5 IU/ml.

For an animal that needs that test, the blood sample is taken at least 30 days after a first rabies vaccination, and entry is allowed only 90 days after the sample date. MAPA says this makes the minimum age seven months. Whether the United States or the United Kingdom is in those annexes can change, so check the current annex before you book the vet. Great Britain is not among the countries MAPA lists as equivalent to the EU.

A trip counts as a pet movement only for five animals or fewer, with no commercial purpose, traveling with the owner or within five days of the owner’s own journey.