Nightmare.

Importing a motor vehicle is extremely difficult; a tax-free one even more so. If you do bring a car, help may be obtainable from the motor vehicle documentation service on the forecourt of Cascais station, next to the newsagent, or from the Portuguese Automobile Association. However, if anything difficult is involved (e.g it was originally purcahsed tax free, or you don’t speak Portuguese, or ), they won’t be able to assist. You are unlikely to find anyone in either organisation with much English.

In theory, if you move to Portugal, you are allowed to bring in one car (per family) without paying import duty; but this is not to “import” a car - it is a “transfer of residence”. To do this you must complete the bureaucratic trail within 6 months of your arrival date - and it’s not quick, so start early.

To Import a Vehicle from Another EU Country without paying IVA (VAT) or Import Duty

If, in Portugal, you have no tax-free status, it is best not to try to bring in a vehicle which you bought tax free. As stated above, get your tax free car properly registered as tax paid in the UK, or in the country in which you were resident, before coming here. Otherwise, on import, Portugal will try to make you pay the full (as new) VAT in addition to import taxes. Either way, to register without paying taxes (import and/or VAT):

1. Start at Customs and Excise (Alfándega) on Rua Jardím do Tabaco, Lisbon. Open 0900-1200 and 1400-1600. Staff speak little or no English. Take a ticket for private persons / change of residence (Transferencia de Residencia) - it should be a D-series number - and wait your turn (not import of motor vehicle). Explain what you wish to do, and they will give you a list of the required documentation.

2. The first two forms required are standard customs forms - one for registering a vehicle for the first time, the other a request to be exempt from paying the import tax and/or VAT. These are obtained in the same office from an adjacent desk, for a small fee (under 2). There are no translations available for the forms, and even many Portuguese do not understand the technicalities of some of the boxes.

3. As well as these forms and your registration document, you will in due course need your passport, resident’s registration document, No de Contribuinte (tax number), driving licence, DGV registration form (downloadable from Internet) completed (so far as you can) and (if you have it) the vehicle’s EU Certificate of Conformity. If you do not have an EU CoC, you will need to get the Portugal head office of your car manufacturer to provide a legal certificate that the car is of a type which may be imported into Portugal. You will probably have to pay for this.

4. You will need to have your car tested at an approved test centre. I used Inspeauto at Carnaxide (behind the big Jumbo supermarket). A very helpful assistant, who spoke quite good English, helped me complete the DGV form and she even helped me with one of the customs forms. The EU CoC is required here. You will need to pay - probably 66.97 (Jan 08 rate) - for a new registration. The car is then given its technical inspection including a check of the vehicle and engine numbers; steering; brakes; all lights (inc dip beam test); washers/wipers; emissions; etc. They will check you have emergency vests, and a warning triangle. Once all is done they will issue you with a “Certificado de Aprovaçao em Inspecçao Técnica para Matrícula”.

5. For tax exemption, you will need a formal letter from your previous employer in your last country of residence, stating your full name, date of birth, place of birth and nationality; the dates you worked for them; and (for a tax-free car) a statement that at that time your were entitled to tax free privileges. Additionally you need a similar one from your Embassy or consulate (must be a civilian office, not military) in the country you’ve come from, saying the same thing. Both need to have a formal red-ink stamp or seal. You will also have to provide proof of address in that country eg rental or utility bills (they accepted a bank statement with our address on it). Finally, officially they will want a declaration from the Portuguese Tax Office, to state you owe no taxes for 2006 (or the latest year for which all tax documentation is closed), and a similar one from the Seguridad Social. (I tried to get but could not. In my case they eventually accepted that I couldn’t get them as I wasn’t here for those years, so wasn’t in either system.)

6. Once you have all the above - passport, car registration docs, driving licence, car test documents, EU CoC, letters (and take at least one photocopy of every document) - go back to the Alfándega. Queue as before. They will register everything and take the originals of documents you don’t need to keep (like the letters), and a copy of each of the others. They will (if all is well) give you an embossed document which will serve as the temporary but official vehicle registration doc, and shows that you have started the official import process. They will then begin the registration/ administrative process, which will take a few weeks. Meanwhile you need to get a DGV approval of type.

7. The vehicle test documents will need to be taken to the DGV main office, Rua Domingos Monteiro, (DGV is now a branch of the IMTT - but if customs tell you to go to IMTT, they really mean DGV!) for formal allocation of a No de Homologaçao. This is painful! Open 0900-1600 (the queue starts to form around 0800). On entry, take a ticket for “veículo-geral” which will be a V-series number, and await your turn. (I joined the queue at 0840. With ticket No 054, I waited 2 ½ hours; as I was called through at 1140, a new arrival was pulling out Ser No 219.) Go to the desk and provide: completed DGV form; EU CoC (or manufacturer’s certificate); and the 2 forms from the vehicle inspection (80 and 112). Have a photocopy of each available in case they want them. You have to hand the papers (not passport) in, and they’ll tell you when to return - a day or two later - to collect. Go to balcao (desk) 1 - don’t bother to take a ticket (but be warned - my documents were filed under my 1st name, rather than my surname, and the clerk couldn’t find them for quite a while).

8. Having collected the completed forms, take them back to the Alfándega. When they have processed & stamped everything (you may have to return next day!) they will give you 2 embossed copies of a form with your registration number. The one marked “original” is yours as the temporary registration for the car, and must always remain in the car. You then need to go back to DGV with the other, plus all the usual car documents. Take a ticket (V-series again). When seen, hand over the papers and they will tell you what the bill is (33). Pay it. They will then say they will send your car documents through the post, within 3-4 weeks. But

9. Having got fed up with the wait after 8 weeks or so, you get a Portuguese speaking friend to telephone the DGV, whereupon they will tell you that your documents will not be sent. You have to go somewhere else to register yourself as the owner of the vehicle! Go to the Conservatoria do Registo Automovel, Rua Mouzinho da Silveira 34-34A. Local street parking - if you are lucky! It’s quite a modern, pleasant office with enough space and staff. Open 0900-1600 Mon-Fri. (You can, by the way, do this at a Loje do Cidadao, if you wish to fight the crowds, take a ticket and be told to come back in two days!). Take a ticket on entry, and get a form for 1st registration of a car. Fill in the form while awaiting your turn. You will need to have the temporary registration, together with some ID (passport) and proof of your address, and your No de Contribuinte (and photocopies!). You will be required to pay a registration of ownership fee ( 78). Then you will be given a receipt - which you must keep in the vehicle with the temporary registration doc.

And finally (!) you then need to visit a tax office, with the receipt and the (temporary) registration from the Alfándega, to pay the road tax. The amount will vary according to engine size and CO2 emissions. Offices are normally open 0900-1230, 1400-1600. Take a number and be prepared to wait. (Tip: if you are late in the day and the number still seems a long way off as they close the doors to newcomers (at stated 1600 closing time - but they actually work to 1700), be patient - lots of others will have given up, so the numbers may suddenly accelerate!)

Our formal car ownership/registration document arrived in the mail within a week of my visit to the Conservatoria do Registo Automovel.