Removals to Hungary from the UK

Do you pay import duty moving to Hungary after Brexit?

Not on qualifying personal property. Hungary’s National Tax and Customs Administration — NAV — grants relief when you move your permanent home from outside the EU. You need a continuous 12 months living outside the EU, and anything that isn’t used up must have been in use at your old home for at least six months.

The goods can come at any point in the 12 months after you move. A private car, motorbike, caravan or boat counts; alcohol, tobacco and commercial vehicles don’t. Once cleared, the goods can’t be lent, pledged, hired out or sold for a year unless you tell customs first — otherwise the duty becomes payable.

Source: NAV — Reliefs for the transfer of permanent residence to the EU

How does Hungarian customs decide where you live?

By looking at your life, not your paperwork alone. NAV says plainly that a registered Hungarian address — the address card, lakcímkártya — does not by itself make Hungary the centre of your vital interests. It weighs where you physically spend your time, where your children go to school, where you work and where you own property.

Build the file on both sides before the lorry leaves:

• UK home: lease or sale contract, a certificate of address, a utility bill.
• Hungarian home: an official certificate of residence, an employment contract or a lease.
• The goods: an itemised inventory — your remover’s packing list is a good start.

Splitting time between two countries? Expect closer questions, and keep the evidence of the six months’ use — receipts and dated photos help.

Who handles residence for Britons moving to Hungary?

The National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing, OIF. Since Brexit, UK citizens are third-country nationals, so a longer stay needs a residence permit and your address is reported to OIF rather than simply to the local council.

Deadlines and documents depend on the permit you hold. We cover the move itself; for the rest, oif.gov.hu is the place to start.

How do removals to Hungary travel?

Over land the whole way. After the Channel, the lorry crosses Belgium or the Netherlands and the width of Germany, then runs through Austria past Vienna to the Hungarian border. It is one of the longer drives in the EU from Britain, which is why most smaller moves travel as a part load, sharing the lorry and the cost, with a delivery window instead of a fixed day.

Budapest’s inner districts are big apartment blocks around courtyards, often with old, small lifts or none at all. Give the surveyor the floor and the lift size; it decides how many crew come and how long unloading takes.

Clear the fridge first — meat and dairy from Great Britain are barred from EU personal belongings. We don’t publish a price for Hungary, as no source we could verify gives one. Our European removals guide compares the wider continent.

Moving from Hungary to the UK

Heading back, the relief is HMRC’s Transfer of Residence. Apply on form ToR01 before the goods travel; it is not granted after they arrive. The tests: 12 consecutive months living outside the UK, goods owned for at least six months, imported within 12 months of your return.

Alcohol, tobacco and commercial vehicles are excluded here too. If there is a gap between leaving Budapest and getting the keys in the UK, storage fills it.

Source: GOV.UK — Transfer of residence to Great Britain

Removals to Hungary: FAQs