Taxes charged on personal effects from relocation

[Berlinaut 1]

I wonder if anyone here could could help me find out any information.

 

I had crap left over in Australia that I could not put in the shipment and also would not fit in my suitcase. It ended up being a couple of old, second hand fur coats, some paperwork, coffee pot, other bits of crap like that. On the way to the airport I gave it to the post office. Under 'value' I put 200 dollars. It was just personal effects mainly. The lovely Australia post bastards charged me 360 to send, that hurt, but i thought ok then, I just have to pay.

 

Now, I came to Germany and had to collect the box from the Zollamt, around 2 weeks ago. They made me open the box to look inside, were satisfied, but took the two fur coats inside to send to a place where they check if the fur was from an endangered animal. Then they gave me the rest of the stuff, and said if I produce my Anmeldung I don't have to pay tax. I didn't have one yet and didn't know if I would get it before they returned the stuff to Australia, so I agreed to just pay some tax on the box, which was taxed at 19%, based on the value I wrote on the box.

 

Today, I went back to collect the coats. The man (a different one this time) looked at the coats and said I would have to pay a tax on import. I said I had already. One of the coats I had just bought it at a second hand store before coming, so it still had a price tag on it of $129. The other coat is old, it was my Godmother's coat she got from her Italian husband, who's mother it originally belonged to; it is a personal item i have had more than twelve months and use frequently, in other words, it is used. He then said that he based the value of this second coat based on the first one, so both worth around 260. I assumed because an item is used and is a personal item, it is not subject to duty. He THEN demanded that I pay tax on the cost of the postage I already paid from Australia, bringing the tax bill up to 100 Euros, on personal Items I had paid nothing near that for, and had owned for years and were of no value to anybody. I asked him why they are suddenly charging me tax for postage costs, when they didn't the first time around, and what about the tax I already paid on the value of the goods the first time I was there? He, er, sniffed at me. I said I would come back Monday. (I'm hoping to get a different, less angry person, and plus I am bringing back the receipt for the tax I paid the first time).

 

Now, I wonder if you could help me? I was under the impression from information on the internet that one must not pay tax on personal items brought into Germany if one is relocating to Germany, and these goods are imported within one year of relocation. I see people talking about this on forums, but no concrete information (or that I can understand, my german being so poor) from any official German import tax website. The cost of sending these is now going to more than 4 times what I ever paid in the first place, if I paid anything at all. Yes I appreciate this post is whingy ;-). Maybe my stupidity may help others avoid the same problems...

 

Any Ideas? Any help GREATLY appreciated, cheers

[YorkshireLad6 7,152]

Did you show him your Anmeldung?

[Berlinaut 1]

No, I kind of got a bit muddled and forgot, plus he kind of led me to believe these findings were intractable, I will on Monday though that for sure, plus a copy of my airline ticket and everything else. I guess I was wondering if asnyone knew FOR SURE that as a result of relocation, I do not have to pay tax on this, and could point me in the direction of something that officially states this

[El Jeffo 42,135]

Yes, you are allowed to import "personal property" duty-free up to 12 months after your move. the relevant paragraph to quote is "Art. 3 ff Zollbefreiungsverordnung" (in English: article 3 and following articles of regulation (EC) no. 1186/2009).

 

Here is the relevant page at zoll.de

[Berlinaut 1]

Wonderful, That's it, Thanks El Jeffo