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BREXIT

What you need to know when sending a gift between Spain and the UK post-Brexit

Sending and receiving gifts between the UK and Spain has become a bit more difficult – and expensive – since Brexit. Here's what you need to know to avoid any nasty surprises.

Published: 8 October 2021 09:15 CEST
What you need to know when sending a gift between Spain and the UK post-Brexit
Many people have noticed that gifts travelling between the UK and EU sometimes with arrive with an unpleasant surprise: a hefty fee. Photo: Jorge Guerrero / AFP.

One of the first things that people have noticed since the UK left the EU is that to send and receive parcels between the UK and Spain you now need to fill out a customs form.

New rules that came into force on January 1st mean that new taxes and charges now apply to almost everything that goes back and forth between the two, including gifts.

Many people have noticed that gifts travelling between the UK and EU sometimes will arrive with an unpleasant surprise. In order to collect their parcel, many have been asked to pay exorbitant fees.

Twitter user William Kemble-Díaz said Correos asked his sister in Madrid to pay to receive her 60th birthday present that he sent her from London: “They won’t listen that it’s not a commercial transaction”.

Graham Hunt, an estate agent in Valencia that contributes to The Local, tweeted earlier this year that his “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”.

So is there any way to avoid paying customs charges and extra tax?

Gifts valued up to a certain amount do not attract charges

If people in the UK are sending you a parcel with a gift worth under €45 or £39, they should say “No commercial value” or “Birthday gift” or “For private use only”, on the customs form and state the value is below the threshold. 

But gifts worth more than this amount are eligible for VAT and, if valued at over £135 (€156) customs duties, with the recipient receiving the bill.

Sending parcels as gifts to the UK

When sending parcels to the UK from Spain, the sender should fill in a customs form (CN22 or CN23), which are available at the post office. 

These custom documents have information about the goods you want to  ship including their cost, the sender and receiver’s details and which parties are involved in the shipping.

Packages which weigh up to 2kg valued up to €425 require a CN22 customs declaration while the CN23 is used for packages which weigh between 2 and 20 kg with a value of €425 or more.

You should have two copies of the completed form, and hand it in when sending the package. 

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For members

BRITONS IN SPAIN

FACT CHECK: Spain’s ‘£97 daily rule’ isn’t new nor a worry for British tourists

The British tabloids are at it again causing alarm over the so-called '£97 daily rule’ which Spain is apparently imposing on UK tourists, who in turn are threatening to ‘boycott’ the country. 

Published: 15 April 2024 14:28 CEST
Updated: 20 April 2024 07:22 CEST
FACT CHECK: Spain's '£97 daily rule' isn't new nor a worry for British tourists

American playwright Eugene O’Neill once said: “There is no present or future – only the past, happening over and over again – now”.

In 2022, The Local Spain wrote a fact-checking article titled ‘Are UK tourists in Spain really being asked to prove €100 a day?‘, in which we dispelled the claims made in the British press about Spain’s alleged new rules for UK holidaymakers.

Two years on in 2024, the same eye-catching headlines are resurfacing in Blighty: “’Anti-British? Holiday elsewhere!’ Britons fume as tourists in Spain warned they may be subject to additional rules” in GB News, or “’They would be begging us to come back’: Brits vow to ‘boycott Spain’ over new £97 daily rule” in LBC.

The return of this rabble-rousing ‘news’ in the UK has coincided with calls within Spain to change the existing mass tourism model that’s now more than ever having an impact on the country’s housing crisis.

Even though Spaniards behind the protests have not singled out any foreign nationals as potential culprits, the UK tabloids have unsurprisingly capitalised on this and run headlines such as “Costa del Sol turns on British tourists”.

READ MORE: Why does hatred of tourists in Spain appear to be on the rise?

What is the so-called ‘£97 daily rule’?

Yes, there is theoretically a ‘£97 a day rule’, but it is not a new rule, nor one that applies only to UK nationals specifically, and not even one that Spain alone has imposed (all Schengen countries set their financial means threshold).

As non-EU nationals who are not from a Schengen Area country either (the United Kingdom never was in Schengen), British tourists entering Spain could have certain requirements with which to comply if asked by Spanish border officials.

Such requirements include a valid passport, proof of a return ticket, documents proving their purpose of entry into Spain, limits on the amount of time they can spend in Spain (the 90 out of 180 days Schengen rule), proof of accommodation, a letter of invitation if staying with friends or family (another controversial subject in the British press when it emerged) and yes, proof of sufficient financial means for the trip.

Third-country nationals who want to enter Spain in 2024 may need to prove they have at least €113,40 per day (around £97), with a minimum of €972 (around £830) per person regardless of the intended duration of the stay. It is unclear whether this could also possibly apply to minors.

The amount of financial means to prove has increased slightly in 2024 as it is linked to Spain’s minimum wage, which has also risen. 

Financial means can be accredited by presenting cash, traveller’s checks, credit cards accompanied by a bank account statement, an up-to-date bank book or any other means that proves the amount available as credit on a card or bank account.

Have Britons been prevented from entering Spain for not having enough money?

There is no evidence that UK holidaymakers have been prevented from entering Spain after not being able to show they have £97 a day to cover their stay, nor any reports that they have been asked to show the financial means to cover their stay either. 

17.3 million UK tourists visited Spain in 2023; equal to roughly 47,400 a day. 

Even though British tourists have to stand in the non-EU queue at Spanish passport control, they do not require a visa to enter Spain and the sheer number of UK holidaymakers means that they’re usually streamlined through the process, having to only quickly show their passports.

The only occasional hiccups that have arisen post-Brexit have been at the land border between Gibraltar and Spain (issued that are likely to be resolved soon), and these weren’t related to demonstrating financial means. 

Therefore, the British press are regurgitating alarmist headlines that don’t reflect any truth, but rather pander to the ‘they need us more than we need them’ mantra that gets readers clicking. 

To sum up, there is a £97 a day rule, but it is not new, it has not affected any British tourists to date, and it is not specific to Spain alone to potentially require proof of economic means. 

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