You are a Swiss resident in need of a temporary storage for your furniture and belongings and thought about renting a unit in France, just on the other side of the borders.
The attractive prices can be really tempting but you should be aware that the custom procedures might be significant in terms of time and price.
Flexbox will guide you through the custom procedures:
Firstly, you should know that you should declare ALL your belongings you want to store in France to both the French and Swiss custom. It is a mandatory procedure if you want to transfer back your furniture in time.
1. What should you do at the Swiss Custom?
You should call the relevant authority to be aware of the potential restrictions.
Then, you will need to stamp a detailed list of your belongings and to keep your custom receipt « Vu à la sortie ». It is necessary in order to come back later to pick up your furniture.
2. What should you do at the French custom?
It gets tricky when you arrive at the French border: if the value of an object is higher than 300€ than you have to declare it. How ?
First, you need to give a detailed list of all the belongings you need to store. You need to write an estimate of the value of each of them and they can even ask you for the initial receipt.
Secondly, you will have to do your custom clearance. The custom officer will have a look through every object you want to store. You will need to complete a Cerfa form with them.
Finally, you will need to pay the VAT on each objects and the custom right the day of the transfer either in cash or in cheque.
Be careful, some objects such as jewelry, watches have particular taxes, and custom right so you will need to get informed upfront.
3. Who may help you for the procedures?
Moving, between stress and lack of time.
You need to know that the custom officers can only advise you but they can not do the custom clearance form for you. You need to have the form already completed and printed with you at the border.
4. What are the risks if I don’t declare my belongings?
Every faulty or non-existence custom declaration will cause:
– The payment of custom rights and eligible taxes
-A fine in certain case
-A sanction
-The seizure of your belongings
Therefore, now that you know all the procedures and custom formalities, you just need to ask yourself if some euros saved on the unit rental is worth it.
If yes, then Flexbox can recommend you forwarder agents to help you with your declarations.
Otherwise, for a stress find risk free move, we wait for you at Flexbox to find the ideal unit adapted to your budget.
