Moving, customs and vehicles
Customs relief for household goods, re-registering the car, exchanging the driving licence — the logistics of the move itself, condition by condition.
In short
- Moving from another EU country: no customs duty and no import VAT on your belongings.
- Moving from outside the EU: complete relief from duty and import VAT, provided four conditions are met — 12 months abroad, 6 months of ownership and use, import within 12 months, no disposal for 12 months.
- Alcohol and tobacco are never covered by the relief.
- Cars trigger NoVA registration tax on first registration in Austria — fully electric cars are exempt (2026).
- Driving licences from outside the EU/EEA must generally be exchanged within six months.
An EU move and a non-EU move are different events
Within the EU, goods move freely: a family relocating from Germany, Italy or France simply drives its belongings across the border, with no declaration, no duty and no import VAT. The only items that attract attention are the car — which must be re-registered and triggers NoVA — and anything subject to special regimes, such as firearms or protected species.
A move from outside the EU — London, Zurich, New York, Dubai — is an importation, and the default position is that customs duty and import VAT fall due on the contents of the container — 20% on most household goods, and a reduced 13% on works of art, collectors' items and antiques. What rescues the family silver is the EU's personal-property relief for people transferring their normal residence: applied properly, it reduces the bill on household effects to zero. The conditions are applied strictly and are worth reading twice. The Regulation does allow customs to make allowances in special cases — on the six-month ownership rule, on the twelve months abroad where the intention to stay that long was clear, and on the twelve-month import window — and goods may travel ahead of the move against an undertaking to establish residence within six months, backed by a security; but none of that is something to plan around. They belong on the pre-move checklist alongside the bigger-ticket items on the relocation timeline.
The personal-property relief, condition by condition
The relief covers household effects in the widest sense — furniture, art hanging in the home, electronics, private cars and their trailers, household pets, and the portable instruments the owner needs for a trade or profession. Commercial vehicles and other business equipment are expressly outside it and are taxed on import like any other goods. Four conditions must all be satisfied:
| Condition | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| 12 months outside the EU | Your normal place of residence was outside the EU for a continuous period of at least twelve months before the move. |
| 6 months of ownership and use | Each item was owned and actually used by you at the former residence for at least six months before you left. Newly bought goods do not qualify — keep receipts for anything recent. |
| Import within 12 months | The goods enter the EU within twelve months of the date you establish residence here. Several shipments within the window are fine. |
| No disposal for 12 months | For twelve months after import, the goods may not be sold, lent, pledged or hired out — otherwise the relieved duty and VAT fall due after all. |
Procedure is undramatic when prepared: the removal company lodges a customs declaration supported by a detailed inventory, and you evidence the transfer of residence — a deregistration certificate from the former country, the Austrian lease or purchase agreement, the Meldezettel. The mover's packing list usually doubles as the customs inventory, which is one reason to use an experienced international firm.
Alcohol and tobacco never qualify for the relief, no matter how long they have been owned. A serious wine cellar is imported as a separate, taxed consignment — plan for duty, import VAT and the paperwork, or consider whether the cellar should travel at all.
Bringing a car
Cars are the one item where an EU and a non-EU move converge, because the expensive event is not the border but the registration desk. First registration of a vehicle in Austria triggers NoVA, the standard-consumption registration tax, calculated from the car's value and CO2 emissions — negligible for efficient cars, substantial for large-engined ones, and zero for fully electric vehicles, which are exempt (2026). NoVA applies even where the car arrived duty-free as removal goods. Its place among Austria's smaller levies is described on the page about wealth tax and other taxes.
From another EU country there is no customs event, and bringing across a car you already own is not a taxable acquisition either, however new it looks. Austrian acquisition VAT of 20% arises only where you buy the car from a seller in another member state and it still counts as new at the moment of purchase — first put into service no more than six months earlier, or with no more than 6,000 kilometres on the clock. From outside the EU, the car can travel inside the personal-property relief subject to the same four conditions, including the twelve-month ban on selling it after arrival.
The mechanics of registration: Austrian third-party liability insurance first, since the insurer's registration office (Zulassungsstelle) issues the plates; proof of type approval — the EU certificate of conformity, or an individual approval for cars from elsewhere; and the periodic roadworthiness test where due. A resident may drive on foreign plates for only about one month, so this belongs in the first weeks, not the first quarter — it sits in the sequence table on the living in Austria overview.
Licences, movers and mail
Driving licences follow citizenship of the document, not the driver: an EU or EEA licence simply remains valid, while a licence from any other country may be used for roughly six months from taking up residence and must be exchanged within that window. The exchange requires a medical certificate and, for most issuing countries, a practical driving test — though licences from Japan, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and several other states are converted without one. Book early; test appointments can run to months in the cities.
On the movers themselves: obtain door-to-door quotes from at least two international firms, insure at replacement value, and expect typical transit of days to two weeks within Europe and six to ten weeks for sea freight from further afield (typical values, not promises). Finally, the unglamorous item that prevents the most annoyance — mail. Set up a redirection order with the postal service of the departure country, and once the Austrian address exists, Austrian Post's forwarding services cover any later moves within the country. Banks, insurers and tax authorities in the old country should be given the new address directly; a redirect is a safety net, not a notification.
What the physical move does not settle is everything upstream of it — the tax, corporate and succession questions that should be resolved before residence begins, summarised on the page about pre-immigration tax planning.
Questions on this page
Can I import my wine collection duty-free when moving to Austria?
No. Alcohol and tobacco are always excluded from the personal-property relief, however long you have owned them. A wine cellar is imported as a normal, taxed consignment.
How long do I have to ship my belongings after moving?
The relief covers goods entering the EU within twelve months of the date you transfer your normal residence. Several separate shipments within that window are possible.
Can I sell imported household goods after arrival?
Not immediately. Goods imported under the relief may not be sold, lent, pledged or hired out for twelve months after import; doing so triggers the duty and VAT that were relieved.
Is NoVA due on a car I bring as part of my removal goods?
Customs duty and import VAT can be relieved for the car, but NoVA registration tax is still triggered by its first registration in Austria. Fully electric vehicles are exempt from NoVA.
How long may I drive on my foreign number plates?
Once your main residence is in Austria, only about one month as a rule. Re-register the car promptly — driving on foreign plates beyond the window risks fines and insurance issues.
Considering a move to Austria?
Tell us where you stand — the country you are leaving, the shape of your family and your assets, and when you plan to move. We advise on the legal and tax consequences of relocating to Austria and coordinate with advisers in the country of departure.
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