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marjit2205

Hi we live in Sitges and have been here permanantley for 3 happy years.
This year We bought goods from an English company which  were held in customs, but finally they are being released and we have to pay ?400 on delivery.
Is there any way we can claim this back.
My husband still works and pays taxes in the UK.
We have both got ourTIE, we own our house outright here.
I have retired and do not work

See also

Getting married in SpainTraveling to SpainCustoms in SpainNIE on a green sheet of paper. Is it possible to get a green card?I lost my NIE
gwynj

Well @MARJIT2205, I can surely understand your frustration about this extra expense.

Unfortunately, I think it's a side effect of Brexit.

While you did not say what the 400 is for, exactly, I am guessing that customs decided that your "goods" came from outside the EU ("from an English company"), and that therefore they had to levy a combination of import duties and Spanish VAT.

You might be able to decline the goods (and not pay the duty/VAT)... Or immediately re-export them (and then ask for a refund), but otherwise I don't think you can get this money back.

I used to order a lot of stuff from the UK (including eBay and Amazon), but I now (since the end of the transition period 31/12/2020) avoid doing this for exactly this reason. Easier and quicker to find what you need in Spain itself or another EU country.

Unless, perhaps, you found something on AliBaba / AliExpress (usually from China), and it's so dirt cheap that it's still worth the delay and extra cost of the customs process.

PS Sitges is lovely, so it's a small price to pay really. :-)

marjit2205

Thanks, this is what we may have thought would be the answer.!

marjit2205

Thanks for your reply!

SimCityAT

This is one of the joys of Brexit and has caused a lot of trouble. I can only recommend that you buy goods from the EU in the future.

marjit2205

Lesson learned! We are now buying from EU countries only!

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