Move from Spain to Brazil return home with peace of mind

If you stayed abroad for more than 1 year and are effectively transferring residence to Brazil, the used goods that make up your unaccompanied baggage are treated as baggage, exempt from taxes, under the terms of Instrução Normativa RFB nº 1.059/2010. The condition is that the cargo arrives within the legal window and that the documentation proves the transfer of residence. New goods and vehicles are excluded from this exemption.

Yes, and this is not our preference: it is not possible to complete customs clearance before your arrival in Brazil. Receita Federal do Brasil (Brazilian Federal Revenue Service) requires, among the dispatch documents, proof of the traveler's arrival in the country, and the right to exemption is linked to your definitive disembarkation. The cargo may leave Spain and arrive before you — the legal window allows up to 3 months in advance — but it will remain waiting at the port or airport until you arrive, with storage and demurrage accruing during that interval. That is why we schedule from your disembarkation date, not from the date the home is ready to be packed.

Unaccompanied baggage must arrive between 3 months before and 6 months after the date of your disembarkation in Brazil. This window is the most sensitive point of the route. Because maritime transit takes 45 to 60 days, we plan the cargo shipment date based on your flight date, not the other way around. Outside the window, Receita Federal treats the shipment as a regular import and levies duties.

You can bring it, but the tax treatment is different. The baggage regime for transfer of residence presumes a stay abroad of more than 1 year. With a shorter period, the operation needs to be structured differently and taxes may be due. We evaluate your specific case before issuing a quote, because the relocation strategy changes considerably in that scenario.

There is, and it must be resolved before shipment. Goods that entered Spain with customs duty relief under a transfer of residence remain bound for 12 months, during which they cannot be loaned, pledged, rented or transferred without prior notification to customs. If your departure occurs within that period, the situation must be resolved with Agencia Tributaria before shipment, under penalty of collection of the duties that were waived on entry. We verify this in the initial analysis.

Motor vehicles are not included in the unaccompanied baggage treatment for Brazilian import. It is precisely the reverse of the Spanish rule, which includes the private-use motor vehicle among personal goods on entry. Those who took the car from Brazil to Spain with customs duty relief are often surprised on return. Vehicle import is a separate operation, with its own taxation and requirements, and our team advises on feasibility on a case-by-case basis.

It depends on the device and the region. Spain operates at 230 V with a type F plug. In Brazil, much of the country uses 127 V, with the national plug standard. Electronic devices with dual-voltage power supplies generally work with a plug adapter. Motor equipment, such as washing machines, dryers and dishwashers, do not operate adequately with simple adapters and require a properly sized transformer when feasible. We evaluate item by item in the inventory, because often it is not worth paying freight for equipment that will not power on.

Yes. The return of animals to Brazil requires an international veterinary certificate issued by an official veterinarian, valid rabies vaccination and compliance with the requirements of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock. Animal transport is a process separate from the move of goods and runs in parallel, handled by our pet department. We have already transported more than 1,000 animals.

Proof is provided by a set of documents, and the hierarchy among them matters. The two pieces of evidence that actually support the dispatch are the Declaration of Residence issued by the Brazilian Consulate of the city where you live and utility bills in your name, such as water, electricity, gas and internet: these demonstrate effective residence at the address. Documents such as the TIE, the empadronamiento certificate, the employment contract and the rental contract or the property deed enter the dossier as supporting documents, together with the passport stamps of entries and exits, but they do not prove residence on their own, because they attest to the authorization to reside and not the fact of having lived there. The document proving the termination of residence in Spain is also required. We assemble this dossier with you before shipment, because gathering documents abroad after you are already in Brazil is much more difficult.

In Spain, collection, packing and exit documentation are conducted by accredited agents of our international network, under supervision from our team. In Brazil, customs clearance, final delivery and assembly are performed by One Moving's own team, without intermediaries. As Brazilian customs clearance is the critical point of this route, it is entirely under our direct management.