If you’re moving back to the UK (or moving here for the first time) and bringing your furniture, appliances, and personal belongings with you, you probably don’t need to pay customs duty or import VAT on them. That’s what Transfer of Residence relief is for.
HMRC calls it “ToR” or “ToR1” relief, and it lets you bring your household goods into the country without the 2.5–25% duty and 20% VAT that would normally apply to imports. The catch: you need to apply before your goods arrive, and you need to meet a few conditions.
Who qualifies for Transfer of Residence relief
You qualify if you’re transferring your normal place of residence to the UK. That includes British citizens returning after living abroad, foreign nationals relocating to the UK for work or family reasons, and people with settled status or a valid visa.
You do not need to be a UK passport holder. What matters is that you can show you’ve been living outside the UK and are now genuinely moving here.
HMRC will want to see evidence of your overseas residence. The full eligibility rules are on the GOV.UK Transfer of Residence guidance page. They will ask for things like — things like tenancy agreements, utility bills, employment contracts, or tax returns from the country you’re leaving.
The 12-month rule
You must have lived outside the UK for at least 12 consecutive months before your move. Short holidays back to the UK during that period are usually fine, but if you’ve been splitting time between countries or still have a UK address, HMRC may question whether you were truly resident abroad.
The 12-month clock runs backwards from your date of arrival in the UK. If you arrived on 1 March 2026, HMRC will check that you were resident outside the UK from at least 1 March 2025.
The 6-month ownership rule
Every item you bring in under ToR relief must have been owned and used by you for at least 6 months before your move. This is to prevent people buying new goods abroad to avoid UK VAT.
In practice, this means you can’t buy a brand-new TV in Dubai the week before you ship and claim relief on it. Your everyday furniture, kitchen equipment, bedding, books, clothing — all fine, because you’ve been using them. Electronics you bought within the last 6 months may be flagged.
HMRC can ask for receipts or proof of purchase. Keep these handy, especially for higher-value items.
What goods are and aren’t covered
ToR relief covers your personal and household effects. That’s a broad category:
Furniture, beds, kitchen equipment, crockery, clothing, linen, books, personal electronics, bicycles, garden tools — basically anything you’d find in a normal home. You can also bring one car or motorcycle per adult household member, though vehicle relief has its own rules. Check with HMRC on that separately.
The goods must be for your personal use at your new home. You cannot sell them in the UK within 12 months of import without repaying the duty and VAT.
Some items are excluded from ToR relief regardless of how long you’ve owned them. These include alcohol, tobacco products, and commercial goods or stock for a business. If you’re bringing professional equipment (tools of trade), that falls under a different relief category.
New or unused items that you bought specifically for the move are also excluded. HMRC interprets “used” quite literally — if something is still in its original packaging, they’ll treat it as a new purchase.
How the C&E1246 form works
The application form is called C&E1246 (sometimes referred to as ToR1). You fill it in, attach your supporting documents, and send it to HMRC’s National Clearance Hub before your goods arrive.
The form asks for your personal details, your overseas address, your new UK address, your date of arrival, and a detailed inventory of every item you’re bringing in. Be thorough with the inventory. HMRC doesn’t need serial numbers for every book, but they want enough detail to identify the goods — “3 x brown leather sofas” is better than “furniture.”
You can download C&E1246 from GOV.UK. Send the completed form to:
National Clearance Hub
Ralli Quays
3 Stanley Street
Salford
M60 9LA
Or email it to: nch.tor@hmrc.gov.uk
Along with the C&E1246, you’ll need a copy of your passport photo page, evidence of overseas residence for the last 12+ months (utility bills, tenancy agreements, employment contracts, or bank statements work), a packing list that matches the C&E1246 declaration, the shipping documents from your removal company (bill of lading or airway bill), and your new UK address.
For people moving from the UAE to the UK, common evidence includes Emirates ID copies, DEWA bills, ejari tenancy contracts, and UAE employer letters.
When to apply
Apply as early as possible. HMRC recommends submitting the C&E1246 at least 3 weeks before your goods arrive at a UK port. In practice, you should aim for longer — 4 to 6 weeks gives you a buffer if HMRC comes back with questions.
If your goods arrive before HMRC has processed your application, they’ll be held in the port warehouse. You’ll be charged storage fees for every day they sit there, which can add up fast. Starting the paperwork early avoids this.
For more on what happens at the port, see our guide to the UK customs clearance process for international moves.
What happens if your goods arrive before approval
If HMRC hasn’t issued your ToR relief letter by the time your container reaches port, the goods cannot clear customs. They’ll stay in the port’s container freight station or bonded warehouse.
You have two options: wait for the approval (and pay storage charges), or pay full duty and VAT upfront and then apply for a refund once your ToR is approved. Neither is ideal. The refund route can take months.
The timeline for HMRC processing varies, but 2 to 4 weeks is typical. During busy periods or if your application has gaps, it can stretch longer. Our page on how long UK customs clearance takes covers the usual waiting times and what causes delays.
Common mistakes that delay clearance
The three things that cause the most delays are incomplete inventories, missing evidence of overseas residence, and applying too late.
An incomplete inventory is the most fixable. HMRC will come back and ask for more detail, but every question-and-answer cycle adds a week or more. List everything properly the first time.
Missing residence evidence is harder to fix after the fact. If you’ve already left Dubai or Abu Dhabi and cancelled your tenancy, it may be difficult to get a fresh copy of your ejari contract. Sort this out before you leave.
Applying late — or worse, not applying until the goods are already at port — is the most expensive mistake. You’ll pay storage charges at Felixstowe, Southampton, or London Gateway while you wait for HMRC to process everything.
How ToR relief fits UAE and Middle East to UK moves
Transfer of Residence relief is particularly relevant for people moving from Dubai to the UK or moving from Abu Dhabi to the UK, because most expats in the Gulf have been resident for well over 12 months and have accumulated full households of furniture and appliances.
Since there’s no income tax in the UAE, people sometimes assume there’s also no UK duty on their belongings. That’s not how it works. Without ToR relief, UK customs will charge standard rates on everything in your container. For a full 20ft container of household goods, that could mean thousands of pounds in unexpected costs.
Most Gulf residents meet the 12-month and 6-month rules without difficulty. If you’ve lived in Dubai for 2 years and are shipping furniture you’ve owned throughout, you tick every box. The paperwork is the only hurdle.
What happens after HMRC approves your application
HMRC will send you a ToR relief letter. This letter needs to be given to your customs broker (or your removal company, if they handle customs clearance on your behalf) before the goods arrive at port.
When the container is unloaded, the broker presents the ToR letter along with the shipping documents, packing list, and customs entry. If everything matches, the goods clear without any duty or VAT charges.
After clearance, you have one obligation: you must not sell, lend, or otherwise dispose of the relieved goods for 12 months. If you do, you become liable for the duty and VAT that was waived. HMRC rarely checks this in practice, but the rule exists and they can enforce it.
If you need somewhere to keep your goods while you find permanent accommodation, our storage services in Watford include 8 weeks of free storage with any international move.
When a removal company helps
You can handle the entire ToR process yourself. The form is straightforward, the requirements are clear, and HMRC’s National Clearance Hub is reasonably responsive by email.
Where a removal company adds value is on the customs clearance side. Once HMRC approves your ToR, someone still needs to submit the customs entry at the port, coordinate with the shipping line for container release, arrange haulage from port to your UK address, and handle any issues if goods are selected for inspection.
London Moving Services handles UK customs clearance as part of every international move, including ToR paperwork support. We don’t charge separately for helping with the C&E1246.
For the full picture of how customs clearance works when your container arrives, see our UK customs clearance process guide.
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