Moving second hand furniture & household goods from EU to UK

Siobhan286

My parents are retired and living in Portugal. They are about to downsize from their house to an apartment and so not all their furniture will fit. I'm keen to bring some furniture back to UK for use in my own house. It is second hand furniture and has been in the family for many years. However, it clearly has value or I wouldn't want to transport it - items such as Kuwaiti chest, Korean blanket chest, Armchair, and some boxes of household goods, etc. I'm aware that moving goods to UK from EU now incurs taxes. I don't plan to transport the goods myself, but would use a removal company based in the Algarve.

How do I find out how much tax would be applicable and if there is any tax relief since I don't plan to sell the goods? I've looked on the Government website and it talks about having receipts for furniture coming from EU. But since the goods are all second hand and many years old, I don't have any receipts. 

If anyone has experience of this, I'd be grateful for their insight.
Many thanks

outtatune

Any removal company that does international to the UK will be able to tell you. If they can't, that suggests you need to find another company.

DullGreyGuy

What you intend to do with them is irrelevant (unless its to re-export them). There can be tax relief if you were moving from Portugal to the UK under the Transfer of Residency but that isnt the case here.

You will have to declare the value for the items, this will match the value you are insuring them for with the couriers, and then pay VAT and duty on the total of items value and courier costs. 

macman

Unless the items have sentimental value, then it's really not worth it.