How to avoid custom when moving household

[Kobuhr 0]

Hello,

my wife (US citizen) and me (German) live in Germany, already for 10 years now. Before we had been living in the US.

When we moved, we brought our household with us, at least a good amount of it, and were able to ship it without paying any custom taxes.

However, some nice furniture has been sitting in the attic of my wife's parents ever since.

Now we would like to ship it to Germany.

Is there a way to avoid having to pay custom taxes in Germany for importing those pieces of furniture? We know there is a 12 month limit for shipping household items as part of a move...

Thanks in advance for any help.

Beste Konstantin

[Letspaintcookies 2,310]

3 hours ago, Kobuhr said:

Hello,

my wife (US citizen) and me (German) live in Germany, already for 10 years now. Before we had been living in the US.

When we moved, we brought our household with us, at least a good amount of it, and were able to ship it without paying any custom taxes.

However, some nice furniture has been sitting in the attic of my wife's parents ever since.

Now we would like to ship it to Germany.

Is there a way to avoid having to pay custom taxes in Germany for importing those pieces of furniture? We know there is a 12 month limit for shipping household items as part of a move...

Thanks in advance for any help.

Beste Konstantin

The exempt only goes one way. You can't claim it as part of a move when your things go in the other direction. 

Contact German customs and ask. That would be your most accurate source of information.