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Why post to and from the UK from Spain is more expensive after Brexit

As of December 31st, when the Brexit transition period officially ended, the cost of sending packages to and from UK has gone up. Here's what you need to know.

Published: 31 January 2021 13:19 CET
Updated: 10 March 2021 15:49 CET
Why post to and from the UK from Spain is more expensive after Brexit
Image: Claudio Schwarz | @purzlbaum / Unsplash

Most of us were aware that Brexit was going to affect importation and exportation businesses, but what about the consequences for individual people?

One of the main issues that many UK residents in Spain have already noticed are the high taxes, which must be paid on sending and receiving packages to and from the UK and Spain.

The taxes imposed occur whether you are ordering goods from the UK, if you send a package to the UK, or if friends and family in the UK send you a package in Spain. Typically, you have to pay the fees before you’re allowed to pick the item up at the post, delivery office or online.  

Graham Hunt, an estate agent in Valencia tweeted “Daughter’s friend just received a package from the UK. Not allowed to pick it up without paying customs and taxes, in this case €79. That’s a price increase of 20% in effect. Watch UK exports dry up over next 6 months as EU buyers realise”.

While Juan Pablo Venditti tweeted: “We had problems with a package coming from UK last week, it arrived on January 6th and customs stopped it here in Spain. We had to pay €160 extra in taxes and management fees. We won’t be ordering anything from UK in the near future, it’s a shame”.

Another disgruntled Spanish resident, journalist Eugene Costello experienced similar issues when sending an item to his daughter back in the UK. He tweeted: “I live in Valencia and recently sent an old laptop to my daughter. ParcelForce are withholding it until the bill of £146 is paid. Can this be right? An old laptop sent by a Dad to his daughter, so she can work online since her school is shut?”

According to the UK government website “Most goods arriving in the UK are liable to any or all of the following taxes: Customs Duty, Excise Duty and Import VAT”.

The website also states that these taxes must still be paid whether the person in the UK has:

  • Paid for the goods or is receiving them as a gift
  • If the goods are new or used (including antiques)
  • If the goods are for your private use or for re-sale.

If you are sending a gift from Spain to the UK, import VAT typically only applies to goods whose value is over £39, or the equivalent in Euros. Customs Duty is due only if the value of the goods cost over £135.

The UK government website states that in order to qualify as a gift, a customs declaration must be completed correctly and the gift must be sent from a private person outside the UK to a private person(s) in the UK. This also applies to items where there is no commercial or trade element and the gift has not been paid for either directly or indirectly by anyone in the UK.

It also states that a gift is of an occasional nature only, for example, for a birthday or anniversary.

The customs declaration form includes sections which state what is inside the package, what material the item is made from, the size of the item and the monetary value of the item.

Similarly, when receiving items sent from the UK to Spain, senders will need to complete and attach a customs declaration form (CN22 or CN23), Letters, postcards and documents are usually exempt.

Residents in Spain will need to pay customs or VAT charges and a handling fee before they can claim the parcel. These charges will depend on the value of the item and whether it is a gift or not.

READ ALSO: Life in Spain: What’s cheaper and more expensive in 2021?

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SPAIN AND THE UK

‘Starting now’: New UK govt wastes no time in Gibraltar post-Brexit talks with Spain

The UK's new Foreign Secretary David Lammy has already spoken to his Spanish counterpart, raising hopes that Gibraltar's post-Brexit uncertainty could finally come to an end.

Published: 8 July 2024 10:43 CEST
'Starting now': New UK govt wastes no time in Gibraltar post-Brexit talks with Spain

There are early signs that the recent change of government in the UK could inject some momentum into treaty negotiations to finally settle Gibraltar’s post-Brexit status, some eight years after the referendum vote and four after the UK officially left the EU.

Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares has already spoken to his newly appointed British counterpart, David Lammy, and the pair have agreed to “work from now on” on issues including “reaching an agreement in relation to Gibraltar.”

READ ALSO: What Labour’s UK election win means for Brits in Spain

Albares reported the conversation on social media over the weekend.

The Minister said in his post on X that they not only spoke about Gibraltar but a range of issues including “the welfare of our citizens living in the other country” as well as reaching consensus on “mobility, trade, investment” and “support for Ukraine and the crisis in Gaza”.

Around 400,000 UK nationals live in Spain, the largest British migrant community in Europe. The latest data from Spain’s national statistics body INE show that there were around 180,000 Spaniards living in the UK at the beginning of 2023.

But many in Gibraltar, Britain’s tiny overseas territory at the southernmost tip of Spain, will hope that Lammy’s appointment can bring a new approach and some impetus to treaty negotiations, of which there have been seemingly endless rounds over several years.

Lammy wrote in The Local over the weekend that the new Labour government “will reset relations with Europe as a reliable partner, a dependable ally and a good neighbour.”

“But if we are to fulfil our ambitions for a reset,” Lammy added, “we must also improve Britain’s relationship with the European Union.”

READ ALSO: ‘It’s time to reset Britain’s relations with Europe’

The new Minister previously said during the election campaign that he would tackle negotiations on Gibraltar’s post-Brexit status from where his predecessor, David Cameron, left off.

Spanish media reports during recent months suggested that progress had been made after Cameron’s surprise return to frontline politics, but they were suspended for the UK election campaign.

“It’s a file that clearly I will pick up from David Cameron, and I look forward to doing that,” Lammy stated. “I recognise it’s an outstanding issue that comes out of the Brexit arrangements, and I will pick that up.”

Last May, the UK, Spain and the European Commission made progress in Brussels during negotiations on the economic, trade, mobility, environmental and social welfare aspects of an agreement, but did not provide details on the issues yet to be resolved.

However, throughout treaty negotiations sovereignty and the use of Gibraltar’s airport, as well as the possibility of Spanish border guards on British soil, have been sticking points.

Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo stated on social media that he too had spoken with Lammy. “The re-stated commitment, this morning, by David Lammy to the “Double Lock” on British Sovereignty of Gibraltar is very welcome,” Picardo said.

Despite the referendum vote being eight years ago, and the UK officially leaving the EU four years ago, there is still no official Brexit deal for Gibraltar. Since then locals have lived in uncertainty and border arrangements have essentially been fudged by Spanish authorities and proven unpredictable.

Following the election of Labour in last week’s general election, Spain and the UK are arguably Europe’s two most high profile left-leaning governments amid a broader rightward swing across the rest of the continent.

Picardo noted this potential political alignment in his post on X: “For the first time in history, we have socialist parties in government in London, Madrid and Gibraltar… that ideological solidarity will no doubt help us in our work.”

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