Importing car from outside Europe

I wonder if anyone can tell me what the import tax implications are when bringing in a car from outside europe?  If we were interested in bringing a car from Dubai to Spain (four years old), would we be stuck with a hefty duty bill?  Or would it be better to ship to the UK, then on to Spain?  (As I don't think we would have to pay duty in the UK).

Any help?

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Jan...I don't know the answer but Mark recently bought a car in London and has taken it over to Duquesa. He might have some info.

 

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Thanks, John.  I think it's different importing a vehicle from outside europe, though.

I recall a friend of a friend moving to Spain, from Dubai, some years ago and they took a car with them and were whacked with a hefty bill for tax - I think they found out after that had they imported it into the UK and then took it to Spain it would have saved them bundles of money!!  Something like that!  I just wondered if there was anyone who had imported a car to Spain from outside europe or knew about it.

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Drawn a blank with this one, Jan?

May be best getting professional advice (i.e. a Gestor), but for what it's worth, here's my thoughts.

Has VAT been paid on the car? Don't know about Dubai, but if no VAT has been paid, could be that Spain will want 16% IVA.

Registration tax: not an import tax, and charged on all imports, whether from within EU or not presumably.  12%, or 7% if petrol and less than 1600cc or diesel less than 2000cc.

Import duty of 10% for cars imported from outside the EU - although I cannot guarantee the validity of this info.

All these "taxes" will be calculated based on the new value of the car. Check your rmake/model here:

 http://www.aeat.es/wps/portal/DetalleTributo?channel=76c1fc3d77ab8010VgnVCM10000050f01e0a____&ver=L&site=56d8237c0bc1ff00VgnVCM100000d7005a80____&idioma=es_ES&menu=0&img=0

by clicking on "vehiculos de turismo", then apply a depreciation factor of 47% if your car is between 4 and 5 years old.

Hope that makes sense!

Oh yes, forgot to mention - I've read somewhere that if you re-register your car within a couple of weeks of becoming resident, you are exempt from all these taxes! Don't know whether that only applies if you're importing from within the EU though, and don't know whether it's true or not - and don't know where I read it...............not much help, am I?

This message was last edited by Roberto on 10/8/2007.

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Thanks for that, Roberto!

So going by those figures and taking into account the 47pc depreciation, it still works out to be nearly 6,000 euros just on the import duty, IVA and registration fee!  Then we'd have the expense of actually shipping it out and all the rest of the local fees payable (which I'm sure there are!).

We don't have VAT here in the UAE (at the moment!).  Don't know whether I've got it right or not, but I was under the impression that, if the car is more than six months old (could be longer, maybe) then if importing into the UK you didn't have to pay VAT on it.  So obviously it's not the same for Spain?  Maybe that's why I recall it being a better idea to take it to the UK and then ship it from there.

Don't think it's really realistic!!  Especially the amount of time that, at the moment, we spend there.  If we spent more time in Spain, then it might work out to be a saving over a couple of years, if we're having to rent a car every time we're there.

Oh well, worth a thought!

Thanks again!

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Like I said, I'm not certain of any of that info. If you are importing a car from the UK on which no VAT has been paid, I think you would still have to pay IVA on it here. For example, if you buy a new car in UK without paying the VAT, on the basis that you are exporting it, as soon as you register it in Spain, you will be liable for IVA. But really not sure. Sorry.

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