Customs clearance in Alicante and Costa Blanca

The exemption for residence transfer, explained without the fine print

If you move to the Canary Islands and take your personal effects, you don't pay duties: they go under the residence transfer regime, duty-free. But the exemption has to be proven, and that's where half of the cases in this area break down.

You need proof of your new address on the islands —municipal registration, rental contract or employment contract—, signed affidavit and itemised inventory. If you're a foreign resident and your residency is still being processed, or your tax address is still in another country, the exemption doesn't automatically apply: IGIC is levied on your own used furniture. We review it before shipping, because often it's better to close the procedure first and ship the cargo the following week.

Why the Canary Islands requires DUA even though it's part of Spain

Because the islands are within the Union's customs territory but outside the common VAT territory. A shipment from Alicante to the Canary Islands doesn't pay tariffs, but crosses a fiscal border: export DUA at the port of loading and import DUA upon arrival, with levying of IGIC and, if the tariff line is subject, AIEM.

In return, the operation is exempt from VAT at origin, with the DUA issued as proof to AEAT. Without DUA there's no shipping and without the second DUA there's no delivery: two gates, two storage periods. The details of regimes and documents are in our guide to customs between the Canary Islands and the Mainland.

The declared value: the most expensive mistake in this area

On the Costa Blanca, it's common for the customer to have a valued inventory for insurance based on replacement value, with high figures, and to hand it over thinking it will work for customs. It doesn't: they are two different documents with two different purposes.

• The valued inventory declares the insured value: what it would cost to replace the items if they were lost. It's a high number and it's for insurance.
• The inventory for the DUA declares the customs value: the defensible minimum, around one euro per kilo in used personal effects.

Presenting the first as if it were the second means paying excess IGIC on used furniture that is already yours. And the two numbers must be consistent with each other: you can't declare one thing to insurance and an incompatible amount to the tax authorities.

What we cover from here

We collect from Alicante city and throughout the Costa Blanca —Benidorm, Altea, Calpe, Jávea, Dénia, Torrevieja, Orihuela Costa, Guardamar, Santa Pola— as well as Elche, Alcoy, Villena and, by road, Murcia and Albacete. It's an area of residential developments with complicated access, narrow streets and communities with loading schedules, so the collection is planned with the appropriate truck and, if necessary, with furniture lifters.

From here the cargo goes to our cross-dock, is consolidated and shipped from Valencia, with 6 days transit to Tenerife and Gran Canaria. For an apartment or medium volume, consolidated groupage is what makes the shipment economically viable.

Transit times from Alicante (shipping via Valencia) to each island

Port-to-port transit times, to which must be added the collection in the Costa Blanca, the leg to Valencia, customs clearance and delivery at destination:

The smaller islands are transshipped at Santa Cruz de Tenerife and there the actual transit time is determined by the inter-island connection, which may depart the following day or four days later. We confirm this before setting the date.