Importing a car into Greece: Part 4

Hey – don’t lose heart - you are almost there! If you are thinking of importing your indispensable car into Greece I have been discussing with you over the last few weeks exactly how this should be done. Here is the last piece of the puzzle: the documents you will need to have to hand for the custom’s clearance:

Documents Required For Customs Clearing

• Original invoice or other proof of ownership
• Original registration certificate
• Certificate of conformity and type approval
• DVA

Additional documents may be requested by the Customs Authority - depending on the type of vehicle - to calculate the vehicle's registration tax. Find out about this in advance, as mentioned in my first article about this on Monday 4th October.

Vehicles imported into Greece must go through a test at a Vehicle Technical Control Centre (KTEO).

Technical Control Test

• To make an appointment for a technical control in Attica Tel: 1525
• For contact information of KTEOs outside Attica and Thessaloniki regions: Click here
  

The documents required by the KTEO for the technical control test are:

• Proof of identity
• Customs Registration Certificate

Cars must meet the last effective Community Directive regarding exhaust emissions. For older cars a higher registration tax must be paid regarding exhaust emissions. You will have to get the following inspections completed.

• Emissions Inspection. Performed by KTEO (Vehicle technical Control Centre), by appointment
• General inspection. Performed by KTEO of your choice by appointment.
• Noise inspection. Performed by the Dept. of Transportation
  

Once the relevant taxes and duties have been paid, a registration certificate is issued. This must be taken to the local Ministry of Communication and Transportation authorities, where the vehicle may be registered and Greek plates issued. Normally the charge for such plates is equivalent to 20% of the Registration tax – this was discussed earlier.

Bear in mind that diesel engine vehicles are not permitted to circulate in Athens,Piraeus or Salonika. Note here too that electric motor vehicles and cars with hybrid technology are not subject to registration tax.

Another very important point to remember is that a vehicle imported under the above regulation may not be transferred, leased, pawned or lent, nor its use assigned in any other manner without prior approval by the customs authorities. In the event of transfer, lease, pawning, lending or assignment of the use of such a vehicle before the lapse of one year, the total amount of tax due shall be collected.

A full list of requirements and more detailed information is available through the Greek Ministry of Economy and Finance: Director of Customs, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Amalias 40, Athens 105 62, Tel 210 324 5552 / 210 324 5587, www.gsis.gr.

I hope this has been helpful. If you have any other information or your findings were different when you did this I would really be interested to hear from you. I will share any info that you send me – helping one another is the name of the game!

Happy motoring – next week I will share with you some of my experiences of driving in Greece!!

Take care and wrap up warmly won’t you? Brrrr…

Best wishes,

Carol.
http://www.GreeceBuyingGuide.com

Importing a car into Greece: Part 3

Still on that contentious subject of importing your car into Greece, here is the next and hopefully the last step:

Permanent import

Vehicles brought from abroad must be registered in Greece if the owner is a Greek resident, i.e. someone living in Greece for over 183 days per year.

For a start, all residents and non-resident foreigners with financial affairs in Greece must have a Tax File Number (Arithmo Forologiko Mitro/AFM – known as the ‘A-Fi-Mi’).

An AFM is unique for each person and works as a form of identification for the Greek authorities. Without an AFM you won’t be able to purchase property, buy a car or boat, import a foreign-registered car or obtain any kind of tax certificate from the authorities. You can get this at your local Greek tax office or the expatriates’ tax office in Athens at 18 Lykourgou St. tel 210 523 7456. You will be asked to file an M1 form. It’s a standard form: name, address, telephone number etc.

EU citizens will need to show their passport or ID card. Non-EU foreigners need to present their passport or another valid travel document. They must also show their residence permit. Certified photocopies of both documents must be submitted.

Applicants must also obtain a translation of their passport or other travel document if the information is not in Latin characters. The document can be translated by the foreign ministry or a certified lawyer. A birth certificate may also be required if an applicant’s passport does not indicate mother’s full name.

The tax office employee will then process the information - this should only take a few minutes and a printout with the AFM number will be issued.

European Union nationals, resident in another European Union state for at least two years, who decide to transfer their place of residence to Greece, are exempt from VAT and Special Consumption Tax (SCT) currently levied in Greece on:

• Cars (owned and used privately)
• Pleasure craft
• Motorcycles
• Mobile caravans
  

provided that:

• At the time of application the applicant has not been resident in Greece for more than two years
• The applicant has/had been domiciled in another member state for at least 185 days in each year of the three years prior to their initial arrival in Greece
• The applicant holds a change of residence certificate issued by the Greek Consular Authorities in the EU State of previous residence. This certificate is valid for use within 12 months
• The applicant owned and used the vehicle in the prior EU member state of residence for at least 6 months and that appropriate tax and VAT has been paid in the country of origin
• The applicant is in possession of a 5-year residence permit. Applicants who are not in possession of a 5-year residence permit should be aware that, usually, the relevant taxes and dues are required to be paid or a bank guarantee deposited for a sum equal to those taxes and dues, until they produce a 5-year residence permit to the appropriate customs authorities
• VAT must be paid for new vehicles (vehicles that are less than six months old or with less than 6,000 Km)
  

Within one month from the date of importation, owners of such vehicles must appear in person at the nearest Customs Authority to request exemption from payment of Registration and VAT.

Finally, next week I will list for you all the documents that you will need for Customs clearance - that way you will know that you have everything you will need to hand.

Bye for now and we’ll chat next week.

Carol
http://www.GreeceBuyingGuide.com

Importing a car into Greece: Part 2

Hello again.

Last week I mentioned that I would be going into some detail as to how you import your beloved car into Greece. Here goes: you first need to start with

Temporary Importation:

EU citizens are free to keep their EU state registered car for six months without customs control. After six months the car must be re-exported or cleared through customs.The vehicle registration document and proof of ownership is required at all times and you should be able to prove to the authorities when the vehicle was brought into Greece.

Only the owner, their spouse and children may use the car.

There are some exceptions where individuals may import a vehicle for private use for longer than six months without paying import duties and taxes. These include:

• Students in further education
• Individuals on a fixed term contract with the Greek state
• Teaching staff on a fixed term contract with higher education institutes
• Diplomatic and Consular staff and their employees

To qualify for a second period of tax free circulation either both the vehicle and the owner should be out of Greece for at least 185 days or, while the owner is away for the given period, the vehicle can remain at a sealed area designated by the Customs authority.

After the expiry of the period granted by the customs authorities, the vehicle should either be:

• Imported into Greece and may not be used until it is on Greek plates
• Sealed with the customs for a period of at least 6 months (but no more than 24 months)after which time, provided the owner can show that they have been out of Greece for at least 6 months during this time, another 6 month circulation period may be granted
  

Failure to conform to the above may result in the Greek Customs imposing steep fines for each extra day after the expired period and there is always the possibility that vehicle may be confiscated. Under such circumstances, the vehicle will not be released to the owner unless they agree to clear it through customs or export it from Greece.

Next week I’ll be moving on to the all-important permanent importation step. I would love to hear from you if you have done this: do contact me and let me know how it went won’t you?

Tonight I am off to a talk by the author James Ellroy – from everything I have read about him it should prove interesting…to say the very least!

This comes with my best wishes – summer is almost over here…Let me take that back – it’s gone for good this year I reckon! I must say however that I love the chilly days and the excuse to stay lazily inside and read a good book, watch a DVD or the telly or write…

See you next week!

Carol
http://www.GreeceBuyingGuide.com

Importing a car into Greece

So…you are mad enough or brave enough to want to drive in Greece? I’m joking…many people do and love it. However, there seems to be no other subject in terms of moving to Greece that receives so many contradictory reports and arouses so much irritation than that of importing your own car into Greece on a permanent basis.

Stories seem to veer from the utterly problem free to those where owners have had to pay excessive sums of money to buy that beloved car its permanent residence status alongside them!

There have been a number changes in the regulations in Greece over the past few years, mainly to conform with EU rulings, so it is strongly recommended that you consult the nearest Greek Consulate for full information prior to your departure for Greece.

From what I have been told by numerous people who have moved to Greece, it can be both an expensive and a complicated process and you really do need to have all the facts at your fingertips before rather than after the event. What I have also been told is that it can be something of a ‘moveable feast’, with local authorities making up the rules as they go along – having the facts at your fingertips will mean that you know your rights and thus help you to take control of the situation.

One of the irritants is that Greece evidently charges a ‘registration tax’ on vehicles imported for longer than six months although officially there is no import tax within the EU. This can be high, even on older second hand models. It is calculated on a percentage of the value of a new car, based on its make, model, age and mileage and it appears to be open to interpretation by the customs officer in charge.

There have been many complaints about this charge; ‘a rose by any other name’ as the saying goes - there are those that claim that this is in effect nothing less than an import tax.

I have to tell you a funny story here. On a website that I looked at (that shall remain nameless), while discussing this very subject of registration tax, they – in what I must assume to be a genuine spelling error – refer to this as a ‘Greed’ registration tax as opposed to a Greek one! Say no more…

What does become evident is that a great amount of patience may be needed, that the process can be very time consuming and that different interpretations of the law seem to apply depending on where you have this done. Frankly, this may just be one of those times that seeking local help with all the paperwork and the bureaucracy may be a good way to go – I believe the forms to be filled in, all in Greek of course, are enough to make your hair curl.

What many people seem to do is to keep their UK car for the first 6 months and, once they are completely sure they are going to make the move to Greece permanent, they buy a car there. Remember that in Greece the driver sits on the left hand side of the car …’when in Rome’ and all that…it may be easier for you to have a car designed for the Greek roads. Of course it may be that you have a precious old vintage car that you would rather die than sell…

So next week I am going to discuss the process…

Until then, best wishes, take care and have fun!

Carol
http://www.GreeceBuyingGuide.com