Clearing your belongings through customs in Hungary

EU citizens can just put all their personal stuff in a van and drive it to Hungary.  No paperwork is needed so long as you don't have large quantities of cigarettes, alcohol or illegal goods or goods for resale.  With Schengen you can drive straight through but although I've done it several times, the last time I brought a van load in was about 10 years ago so YMMV.

Generally the tariff free rule is that the goods are in free circulation in the EU.

Apart from that, non-EU citizens (and the British post-Brexit) best to use a professional removal company to fight their way past the border controls and justifications for moving into the country.  For individuals, it's not worth the fight, get  someone else to queue up. Usual rule for any goods is that it's second hand (over 6 months) and personal, then no duties or taxes are due. 

Note: for cars, it's a bit more complicated - distance driven, age of car, vehicle standards, time of ownership.  I brought in a classic car (well almost) last year and it cost me quite a lot even though it was already registered in the EU.  That's because registration fees of vehicles is national competence and not EU type "tax" as such.  We used an agent for the paperwork because it was just too complicated and too much time for our ludicrously complex life.  But I did the physical modifications to the vehicle myself to ensure it was locally compliant.

BTW, at the airport, personal imports are limited to goods less than EUR 430 over 18 years old and 150 below 15 years old.   Details here for the airport or in fact any port of entry: Hungary Customs Duties (at the Airport)

Anecdote: I brought in a large 1.2m satellite dish of heavy duty quality once before EU times and it was on a roof rack attached to the roof of my car.  The border guards/customs pulled us over and they were baffled as to what it was and what I was going to do with it.  They were satisfied it was for TV but there was a discussion of how big it was.  Satellite dishes are always measured on their diameter but they were saying things about it's circumference - probably floundering for a rule to push it over a limit for a tariff.  In the end, Mrs Fluffy managed to persuade them to take the diameter as the measurement which meant it was under the tariff level.  Careful wording and phrasing can make all the difference.

With large amounts of alcohol, [Wine] you can have a limit of 110 bottles of wine without having to pay any import taxes from one EU country to another one as its deemed as personal consumption.

SimCityAT wrote:

With large amounts of alcohol, [Wine] you can have a limit of 110 bottles of wine without having to pay any import taxes from one EU country to another one as its deemed as personal consumption.

Says at IATA it's beer not wine:

2. alcoholic beverages:
- 10 liters of spirits over 22% and ethyl alcohol;
- 20 liters of alcoholic beverages less than 22%;
- 90 liters of wine (though no more than 60 liters of sparkling wine);
- 110 liters of beer.

Quite enough for a few drinks at the weekend.

Well, my dad, that had a wine timeshare in France, he was allowed to ship the maximum amount of wine back to the UK.  He could have had it delivered by a carrier but then he would have had to pay import tax with that amount of wine. But as he did himself it was personal.

But for the forum purpose, I will go with the official amount you have given.

fluffy2560 wrote:

SimCityAT wrote:

With large amounts of alcohol, [Wine] you can have a limit of 110 bottles of wine without having to pay any import taxes from one EU country to another one as its deemed as personal consumption.

Says at IATA it's beer not wine:

2. alcoholic beverages:
- 10 liters of spirits over 22% and ethyl alcohol;
- 20 liters of alcoholic beverages less than 22%;
- 90 liters of wine (though no more than 60 liters of sparkling wine);
- 110 liters of beer.

One bottle of wine is 750 ml. 90 liters of wine are 120 bottles. So SimCityAT is not incorrect.

SimCityAT wrote:

Well, my dad, that had a wine timeshare in France, he was allowed to ship the maximum amount of wine back to the UK.  He could have had it delivered by a carrier but then he would have had to pay import tax with that amount of wine. But as he did himself it was personal.

But for the forum purpose, I will go with the official amount you have given.

Yes, that'd be right, it's personal use meaning in your own vehicle and therefore a personal import.

I use that IATA web site reasonably regularly and they keep it quite up to date.  When you are at the airport, they look at it during check in to see if you need a visa.

klsallee wrote:

.....
One bottle of wine is 750 ml. 90 liters of wine are 120 bottles. So SimCityAT is not incorrect.

I think he meant 110 litres not bottles so a typo or recall issue methinks.  And yes, 90 litres of wine.

Could make it interesting by saying 55 Magnums or 7.33 Nebuchadnezzars or other sizes depending on how much of a kick you get from odd wine bottle names .

You can't really get a general answer because it all depends on where you are importing your items from and who you are.
Hungarian citizens can bring in a one time duty/customs free household of goods, including cars.
This is to incourage Hungarians to return home.
This doesn't mean that it is easy to deal with customs agents or get your goods out of customs fast.
Customs is hard to deal with, they kept our items for days, released them to us but then told us not to open our boxes and break the customs seal until they decided to come physically to our flat and open them themselves.
They just told us that anytime within 2 weeks an agent would show up at our door.
About 12 days after that we got a phone call saying we were good to open them without an agent watching us.
Just messing about with us for a laugh it seemed.
I would defo hire someone who knows about customs and speaks Hungarian because those agents do not go out of their way at all to help you and it's pretty clear that speaking English is out of their ball park.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

.....
Just messing about with us for a laugh it seemed.
I would defo hire someone who knows about customs and speaks Hungarian because those agents do not go out of their way at all to help you and it's pretty clear that speaking English is out of their ball park.

Haha, yes, same thing but Customs did come.  Our own customs clearance agent came and after a bit of a discussion in side room with the Customs guy, they all left and we were lighter one litre of Absoluut vodka which had be acquired specifically for the purpose.  That was in 1995.

My son just moved last Friday to Japan!
Let me wipe away my non-stop tears...
They packed up just 4 boxes of items and used a Japanese shipper to save the hassle of paperwork etc.
Cost for 30 kilos a box was $160. a box.
They did the customs clearing at the shipping agent and their boxes will be delivered right to the house.
They went through currency declaration at the airport before flying out to make sure there would be no issue with bringing cash with them.
We opened up yet another storage unit in Vegas for our boy just in case he comes back to the US.
We will give it a couple of years before letting his last things go to the trash.
So hard to move so far away, all his little toys we collected over his lifetime he was ready to toss out, being mom, of course I can't let them go...Not just yet.
It's much better to have a clear head and just get rid of anything that is no longer useful, I don't have a clear head though. If you get too emotional about things then it is going to cost, let everything go, 2 suitcases is enough in reality.

I had a devil of a time getting everything through customs, with payments and paperwork galore.
One of the things they asked was proof of employment from the past year. Literally had to call the company I previously worked for and ask for proof of employment.  After haggling for a month, providing money in taxes and customs fees, and more and more paperwork, I told them that if they wanted my bed linens and underwear so much, they could keep them.
They seemed to be more amenable after that and my things arrived 2 days later.
To the credit of the moving company (from the US) to the Hungarians at the final end, nothing was broken. But the admin was really too much.

Vicces1 wrote:

I had a devil of a time getting everything through customs, with payments and paperwork galore.
One of the things they asked was proof of employment from the past year. Literally had to call the company I previously worked for and ask for proof of employment..... But the admin was really too much.

Employment: There's a system in some European countries of "employment books" which some bureaucrats want to see to show your employment history - why? who knows?.  In my own country, the UK, we don't have and never had  such a system. Sometimes for European jobs, people have  to get  "employment certificates" which basically say, person XYZ was working at ABC between these dates.  It's not a reference but a confirmation.  Nonsense really.

Customs: We've been waiting for some zero value documents from very far away to be delivered by a well known but poorly organised (here anyway) courier.  From the tracking, the documents were cleared by Customs in Paris, then they arrived in Hungary and were literally on the van being brought to us when HU Customs ordered the van back so they can inspect the documents.  This morning, the documents are still at the courier office and not released but no-one  knows why.   They are a bunch of idiots.  If they really wanted to check, they should have done it in Paris or when it first arrived in HU.  And they could have used an X-ray machine on it.

But the real problem is that the HU budget is under pressure.  Mrs Fluffy says the latest OV trick is rumoured to be anyone without kids is liable to have 40% of their pension seized by the state.  That is a horrifying abuse if true.

fluffy2560 wrote:

to be delivered by a well known but poorly organised (here anyway) courier..

DHL? I ask, as I have had a lot of problems with them in Hungary. Now avoid them if possible because of that. And so not afraid to say so, and name them.

UPS always seems to work well for me. But that may be just me..... 

Vicces1 wrote:

After haggling for a month, providing money in taxes and customs fees, and more and more paperwork, I told them that if they wanted my bed linens and underwear so much, they could keep them.
They seemed to be more amenable after that and my things arrived 2 days later.

I learned long ago, that is how one must deal with most everything in Hungary.

It is a pee in your corner, dominance, "the bully gets results" weird sort of thing. Tell them off sooner, and you get your underwear sooner..... 

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

to be delivered by a well known but poorly organised (here anyway) courier..

DHL? I ask, as I have had a lot of problems with them in Hungary. Now avoid them if possible because of that. And so not afraid to say so, and name them.

UPS always seems to work well for me. But that may be just me..... 

DHL is a waste of space.  I was actually referring to Fedex.  I don't actually think they have offices in HU. I think it's like a franchise. Unfortunately they are relatively ubiquitous in North America where my package came from.   I agree though, outbound UPS seems to work better.

klsallee wrote:

Vicces1 wrote:

After haggling for a month, providing money in taxes and customs fees, and more and more paperwork, I told them that if they wanted my bed linens and underwear so much, they could keep them.
They seemed to be more amenable after that and my things arrived 2 days later.

.....

It is a pee in your corner, dominance, "the bully gets results" weird sort of thing. Tell them off sooner, and you get your underwear sooner..... 

I believe  it's quite fashionable to "go commando" these days.   

The bed linens I would be complaining about more. 

But I shall be looking at the Customs guards in a different light if they are really trying on people's underwear.  I always thought they were annoying people but now they seem to be privacy "perverts" as well. They should  buy their own rubber/leather/lacey/rough wool/edible* pants for the weekend.

*insert your preferred underwear choices for government workers.

It is handled different for non HU citizens.
They made a big deal a few years back by letting it be known that any HU citizen who decided to return to HU to live even after decades of being out of the country, could bring  an entire household of goods into HU without paying any customs.
We only brought in 12 boxes of household goods, no car or machinery.
Seems we still were put to the fire because the customs agents were most likely upset that there would be nothing in it for them.
What else can one think but that?
Our son just packed up 4 boxes and 4 suitcases and moved to Japan a couple weeks ago.
No customs on the boxes or anything, his wife is a Japanese national, not sure if that mattered or not.
In Japan they don't try to pull any scams on people.
At least so far that's what I've been told.
Petrol prices are the same throughout the country, auto mechanics are hold your breath, honest and have price lisitings for services and are reasonable.
My son used a direct Japanese shipper to send over his boxes, all the paperwork was done in Las Vegas with an agent and they didn't charge more in person then they quoted over the phone.
Would be nice if more people acted this way over here in Hungary.
Used to be that way but I digress...
My son is storing 11 "priceless "boxes for shipment at a later time.
All just rare video games, he was selling them before hand on E Bay but his price was firm and a bit too high for your average collector.
It's best to not bring too much with you when you move overseas, at least give it some time before shipping your life over.
If you decide later to not stay then you will either have to get rid of your things or haul them back again.
We brought over once just before our real move over, a few items through a HU shipper. Dumb stuff my husband thought he would be using, 2 pairs of ski's roller blades, ice skates and beach equipment,  the only thing he didn't bring was the one thing I would love to have here, a Kayak.
He only used the snow ski's once in 14 years.
Would of been easier to have rented then to have shipped them over.
What a waste of time and money to haul them over here, now they sit and collect dust, old style ski's that no one really even wants to buy.
Have to think practical when shipping things over, you can replace almost everything without dealing with customs.
I'm considering moving back to the US at some point in time and dang will have to have one heck of a yard sale before then.
When we used the HU direct shipper from S. Ca. to Budapest we paid no customs but the business was run by the 3 Stooges.
We had odd shaped items like the ski's and also several normal mid sized boxes.
Went to their office to pick up our things when they arrived in HU.
We and everyone on the plant could just go back and "collect" your things from their crowded warehouse in the back of the office.
One of my boxes had been picked up by accident by someone who got confused and took it by mistake.
Thankfully the
person was honest and it was a real mistake and they brought the box back to the shipping co.
I do not think I'd ship anything here ever again, too many hassles and too expensive for the lousy service we got.

Wish we could be free like our son in attitude towards materail objects.
Perhaps he is spoiled and was given too much and doesn't understand how hard it is to work and pay your own way all the time.
When he left for Japan all he wanted stored away were his 11 boxes of games, worth a min. of $15,000 to $22,00 for a serious collector.
He just left everything behind, even one of his cars and new flat screen tv set.
Was driving us out of our minds, we scrambled and sold the one car at 3:30 in the afternoon, we had to be at the airport by 6 pm the same night.I sold my beach bike at 5 pm the same day!
Spent 3 days loading a storage unit with his things just in case he ever should return to the states.
Still had to leave most all of his furniture behind, sad.
Put his memory foam mattress into storage with his Ninja food processor and other small but pricey items.
He was willing to walk away from everything even was throwing out his old Abba collection from his teen years, just like they were nothing to him.
Perhaps though he had the right attitude, freedom is worth more then things but still....
Guess he figures everything in life can be replaced, except of course for classic video games.
In our case it would be the suitcase full of old family photos and my dogs dried up remains, everything else can be replaced.

fluffy2560 wrote:

I believe  it's quite fashionable to "go commando" these days.

Yeah. Sure. Well. Whatever.

Maybe too much information.

I was never much into fashion.

And, besides, I personally like the family jewels well secured. 

Oh, yeah.... we are way