Import tax and VAT to an EU country from Norway

Oreo · Dec 23, 2014

HI,
I'm trying to find out the excat laws and regulations for importing a vehicle (Tesla of course) to a EU state from Norway.
As Norway is not part of the EU, but still part of the EFTA (European Free Trade Ascosiation), I'm to say the mildest a bit confused.
The general rule I've found is that a vehicle manufactured outside of the EU has to pay 10% import tax into the EU. But if this is still valid for EFTA countries, I'm not entirly sure of???

Has anyone experience of this (until now rare) export/import?
Normally it has been the other way around.

If there are laws/regulations that favour used cars as opposed to brand new ones, I would think it would be of interest EU citizens as well.
The reason for this is:
1) low prizes in Norway d/t no VAT on new EV (so far, maybe not for too long)
2) because of #1), the market for used Tesla's are bigger in Norway (?)
3) marked for used Tesla's in the EU may be limited (so far).

I've tried to Google a bit, but have reached no firm conclusion. A quick google search gave me these links:

https://english.bmf.gv.at/customs/importing-vehicle-personal-use.html

http://www.tulli.fi/en/releases/asiakastiedotteet_en/yhteiset_en/as_tiedote_20130515/index.html

http://www.slovak-republic.org/car/import/

I'd appreciate if anyone can show to some links of official documentation regarding the matter, or if there are certain rules to certain countries withing the EU?

Capacek · Feb 11, 2015

Oreo said:
HI,
I'm trying to find out the excat laws and regulations for importing a vehicle (Tesla of course) to a EU state from Norway.
As Norway is not part of the EU, but still part of the EFTA (European Free Trade Ascosiation), I'm to say the mildest a bit confused.
The general rule I've found is that a vehicle manufactured outside of the EU has to pay 10% import tax into the EU. But if this is still valid for EFTA countries, I'm not entirly sure of???

Has anyone experience of this (until now rare) export/import?
Normally it has been the other way around.

If there are laws/regulations that favour used cars as opposed to brand new ones, I would think it would be of interest EU citizens as well.
The reason for this is:
1) low prizes in Norway d/t no VAT on new EV (so far, maybe not for too long)
2) because of #1), the market for used Tesla's are bigger in Norway (?)
3) marked for used Tesla's in the EU may be limited (so far).

I've tried to Google a bit, but have reached no firm conclusion. A quick google search gave me these links:

https://english.bmf.gv.at/customs/importing-vehicle-personal-use.html

http://www.tulli.fi/en/releases/asiakastiedotteet_en/yhteiset_en/as_tiedote_20130515/index.html

http://www.slovak-republic.org/car/import/

I'd appreciate if anyone can show to some links of official documentation regarding the matter, or if there are certain rules to certain countries withing the EU?

Sorry that i cant show you any link to the law, but we have a car from Norway here in CZ and you must pay 10% import tax + VAT (if you are private person).

Bj0rn · Mar 30, 2015

I've imported a car from Norway into the EU myself. For the 10% import tax, it doesn't really matter if Norway is part of the EFTA or not. You will have to pay it. Period.
Why? Cars delivered in Norway "originate" from the US (according to protocol 7 of the European Economic Area Agreement): http://www.efta.int/legal-texts/eea.

VAT depends on the VAT legislation in your country. I can show you a link to the VAT law in Belgium, but I don't think that will be interesting for you. It's very likely that you will have to pay VAT on top of the purchase price and the import tax.
For example: in Belgium VAT is 21%. So if the vehicle costs €100, you will pay €10 import duties. As far as VAT goes, the car is worth €110 at this point. So you will pay an additional €23,1 (=21% on 110). So, you end up paying 33,1% of the original sales price in taxes.

Do let this page mislead you http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/vehicles/cars/vat-on-cars-bought-abroad/index_en.htm. The car I bought in Norway had more than 6000km and was older than 6 months. So, it was a "used car". Still, I had to pay VAT in Belgium because the car originates from the US!

PS: if you decide to go for it, apart from the taxes, be warned that you need a lot of documents. Some from Norway, some from Tesla, and off course the documents specific for your country.

Keezje · Mar 30, 2015

Bj0rn said:
It's very likely that you will have to pay VAT on top of the purchase price and the import tax.

and on top of shipping and on top of Insurance and any other ancillary costs

drinkerofkoolaid · Mar 31, 2015

Didn't someone post credible links yesterday that said Norway approved an extension the incentives for Electric Vehicles through 2018?

GamezGuru · May 9, 2020

Dear OP,
Did you go for it in the end? I am looking into doing the exact same thing (purchasing used Tesla from the Norway website and importing to Italy), so very interested what you learnt from your research/experience!

spicywith · Sep 17, 2020

@GamezGuru @Oreo did you do it? Any updates?

@Bj0rn what types of documents do you need?

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Import tax and VAT to an EU country from Norway

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