Moving Goods from the USA to Croatia
Foreigners will find Croatia a great place to bring in their personal and household properties. This is because for these particular items, Croatian customs charges no import taxes. In other words, they are technically duty-free, although this comes on the condition that the items in question are already being used for more than six months. Additionally, the consignee should be able to provide proof that he/she has resided outside of Croatia for a period of 12 months.
The privilege applies to all household objects, including motor vehicles of various types, which under Croatian customs laws, are considered to be part of the home property. As such, they will not be charged any customs tax when brought in to Croatia and declared as household items.
Of course, this does not actually mean that Croatia does not impose any kind of tax to the many different products that come in through its port. To clarify, while the importation of automobiles, motorcycles and even marine vessels is exempt from VAT and customs duties, this is still levied an excise tax as provided in the Excise tax guidelines for motor vehicles in Croatia. As such, there is still some form of payment that needs to be made in order to keep the imported vehicle.
Additionally, for all household items to be duty-free and enjoy VAT exemption, the owner needs to give a written assurance that the said items will not be rented, pawned or used for a purpose other than what it was originally intended. Otherwise, the appropriate import duties will have to be paid.
On the other hand, all brand-new items being taken into Croatia will incur the appropriate taxes. In this regard, the submission of the corresponding purchase invoice to the designated customs authorities is a basic requirement.
In any case, the present set of Croatian customs regulations can be considered quite liberal, especially when compared to those currently being imposed in other countries. This can be seen as part of the strategy of Croatian authorities to attract more foreign visitors, consequently generating additional revenue for this East European nation.
Actually, the strategy may have started in 1991 when Croatia, emerging from the ruins of the former Yugoslav Republic, drafted its own constitution, adopting as its own all known international tariffs, including the Customs Law, the Law on Customs Services and the Law on Customs Tariffs. Five years later, Croatia made several changes in its customs system in order to conform with that established by the European Union.
In 2000, Croatia made another major revamp in its customs laws to enable the government to change its tariff rates on an annual basis. This gave the government to either raise or lower the rates as it pleases. The result is the present custom tariff that ranges from a low of 0% to a high of 18%.
The strategy has apparently worked, resulting in the influx of foreign tourists to Croatia. This has also allowed former Croatian refugees to return to their homeland as the government has given them the privilege of bringing in their household possessions without the traditional customs duties. Instead, they were only charged an administrative fee of only 1%.