Lanzarote -Sending myself a Parcel Tax/Duty implications?

[Dave100456]

As these items are too heavy to take on the flight with me....

Anyone know if import duty and/or local taxes are due if I send a parcel to myself in Lanzarote that contains personal used boaty possessions?

Thanks

 

[nortada]

Normally, as point of posting and destination are within the EU (until 29th Mar 19), there will be no VAT/EVA liability so it should all be OK but depends what is in the parcel - laundered money might prove a bit dodgy!

 

[capnsensible]

As these items are too heavy to take on the flight with me....

Anyone know if import duty and/or local taxes are due if I send a parcel to myself in Lanzarote that contains personal used boaty possessions?

Thanks

Can't give a definitive answer but I know someone who did exactly that and got charged a Canarian tax. The package will go to Las Palmas first to clear customs where they will declare the fee if applicable. Then it will get shipped to Lanza. This is not the swiftest of processes. I once waited 11 days for an overnight delivery needed to repair a boat I was taking to Gib.....

 

[Yngmar]

Normally, as point of posting and destination are within the EU (until 29th Mar 19), there will be no VAT/EVA liability so it should all be OK but depends what is in the parcel - laundered money might prove a bit dodgy!

The Canaries are in the EU and Schengen area, but unlike mainland Spain they are outside the customs union and VAT is also treated special, thus OP is rightly concerned.

 

[Dave100456]

Thanks for the replies which confirm my worries. The trouble with customs decisions is that they have your goods and the onus is on you to prove they are not right to levy an incorrect charge.

 

[Graham376]

How heavy? We sometimes book an extra bag of "sports equipment" and put some pool fins at the top.

 

[Dave100456]

How heavy? We sometimes book an extra bag of "sports equipment" and put some pool fins at the top.

23kg item so sports equipment option not economic.

Probably going to decide to book two bags and pool the 2x 20kg up to the max 30 kg limit.

 

[nortada]

23kg item so sports equipment option not economic.

Probably going to decide to book two bags and pool the 2x 20kg up to the max 30 kg limit.

easyJet hold baggage allowance is 23kg but you can increase this by 3kg increments up to 32kg.

 

[AndrewB]

As Yngmar says, the Canaries are in the EU but outside the EU VAT area. Duty is payable on imported goods from the UK. I've been asked to pay it in the past.

 

[capnsensible]

If you reeeealy want to know about Canarian IGIC tax, see here:

http://www.canarianweekly.com/igic-increases/

Night, night, sleep tight........

 

[Dave100456]

If you reeeealy want to know about Canarian IGIC tax, see here:

http://www.canarianweekly.com/igic-increases/

Night, night, sleep tight........

Thanks

 

[AndrewB]

A little anecdote about having stuff delivered to the Canaries.

On the way out, we totalled our old spinnaker, so a new one had been ordered from our sailmaker in England, to be delivered to the Canaries, our final European destination. By the time we arrived in Tenerife the new sail was ready. We paid extra for it to be delivered by TNT’s express five day service.

After a week we called TNT with the tracking number. “Sorry, it will be arriving tomorrow”. Two days later, “It’s on the lorry and will be with you this afternoon”. Over the next week it was “It is still in England”. “It has been held up in customs”. “It came, but had to be sent back”. Then, at long last, the courier showed up with a package. It was hoary with age and plainly not a spinnaker. The cover sheet had our names and tracking number scribbled on, but stuck on underneath was a proper label with a different name and tracking number. If TNT couldn’t find our parcel, then perhaps we would stop bothering them if they gave us one that they did have?

Of course we wouldn’t accept it. This time when we rang we were told that as we had refused the parcel it was being sent back to England. Matter closed. Furious, we demanded to know the address of their depot in Tenerife. “Zgrzbl” muttered the voice, reluctant to give anything away. SWMBO's limited Spanish didn’t help, and the Canaries dialect made it worse. “Do you mean San Cristóbal?” she asked. “Si, Zgrzbl” came the irate reply. That made sense because the town is right by the airport. She tried him for the street name, but it was quite impossible to understand.

Armed with this much, we hired a car and drove to San Cristóbal. Here we asked 'Tourist Information' where we might find TNT. Maybe near the Guardia Civil barracks? Off we went again and found the barracks. Outside was helmeted paramilitary, with black eyeshades and a large sub-machine gun.

“Where is TNT?” we plucked up the courage to ask. Not the slightest flicker of acknowledgement, but when we asked again he summoned a bystander with a brook-no-argument gesture of his gun. Words were exchanged, and to our surprise the bystander pointed it out. Really, we shouldn’t have missed it. It was a building the size of an aircraft hangar in an alleyway opposite.

Inside, TNT’s enormous warehouse was all but empty. There, lying in solitary splendour right in the very middle of the floor, was our spinnaker. It would be there to this day if we hadn't hunted it down.

 

[balder]

Drive gently to Cadix or take the ferry from Portsmouth and, when in Santander, drive again to Cadix; And take the ferry to Arrecife. I do not see another choice. I have a lot of stuff and gadgets to bring aboard next january and I do not want ANYMORE to be obliged to argue with spanish customs, bloody Correos bureaucracy etc..I have had american spares for my hydraulic stabs and special anodes stucked in Madrid for many weeks and sent back to US by the spaniards. Fortunately, as americans, the dealer was fair and ask me I if I would like to ship one more time these spares. I paid twice the shipping costs plus customs fees......
The question now is: do the spanish authorities are controlling EU cars going on the islands? Because I will come back with some nice bottles of Bordeaux and french champagne!