If you’re moving your life back to the UK, or moving here for the first time to settle permanently, one worry tends to surface once the excitement of the move itself has settled: will customs charge you duty on the things you already own? Furniture you’ve had for years. Your children’s belongings. A kitchen’s worth of things that have nothing to do with trade or resale.
There’s a relief scheme built exactly for this situation, and it’s more straightforward than the acronym makes it sound. It’s called Transfer of Residence relief, ToR, or ToR1 after the form that grants it, and it’s what stops HMRC treating your household goods like a commercial import. Get the timing and evidence right, and you won’t pay a penny in duty or VAT on your own belongings. Get it wrong, and the same shipment can be held at the border while you scramble to prove what should have been straightforward from the start.
Here’s what it actually involves.
What Is Transfer of Residence Relief?
Transfer of Residence relief is a customs relief administered by HMRC that allows someone genuinely moving their normal home to the UK to import personal and household belongings without paying import duty or import VAT. It exists because the alternative, treating every returning resident’s furniture as a taxable import, would be both impractical and unfair. The relief only applies to used goods you already owned and had in your possession before the move; it isn’t a way to import new purchases duty-free.
The modern process runs through an online application to HMRC (it replaced an older paper form, C3, back in 2017), and approval typically arrives within two to six weeks, though this varies with how complete your documentation is and how busy customs processing is at the time you apply, so it’s worth building some buffer into your plan rather than assuming the fastest end of that range.
Who Qualifies
The relief is designed for people making the UK their genuine, long-term home, not a short stay. The core conditions are:
- You must have lived outside the UK for at least 12 consecutive months immediately before your move. This applies whether you’re a returning UK national or moving to the UK for the first time.
- The goods must have been in your ownership and use for at least 6 months before the move. Anything bought new specifically for the move, furniture picked up just before departure, for example, generally won’t qualify.
- You must import the goods within 12 months of your arrival in the UK. Splitting a shipment across multiple later dates is allowed, but everything still needs to fall within that window.
- You must apply before the goods arrive. ToR1 approval needs to be in place, or at least submitted and in process, ahead of your shipment reaching UK customs, not requested retrospectively once your belongings are already sitting at a port.
Certain categories are excluded outright regardless of ownership length: tobacco, alcohol above personal-use quantities, and anything intended for a second home rather than your main residence. Wedding gifts and a trousseau have a specific, narrower exception (generally within four months of the wedding date), worth flagging to your move manager directly if it applies, rather than assuming standard rules cover it.
Planning a move to the UK?
A dedicated move manager from Gerson Moving Services will support you every step of the way, from expert packing and shipping arrangements to talking through exactly what ToR1 will require. Start your move to the UK with confidence by booking your survey today and let our team take care of the details.
What the ToR01 Application Actually Requires
The application itself is submitted online to HMRC and asks for:
- Proof of your move, evidence you’ve genuinely lived abroad for the required period and are now relocating your main residence to the UK (this might include a rental or employment contract abroad, a change-of-address history, or similar).
- A full, itemised inventory of everything in the shipment. This is the part that catches people out most often — a vague “household goods, various” listing is not sufficient. Every item, or reasonable category of items, needs to be listed.
- Evidence of ownership and usage period, receipts, insurance documents, or photographs showing items in use in your previous home, particularly for higher-value items where customs may ask for more than a self-declaration.
The Mistakes That Actually Lose People the Relief
Most of the anxiety around ToR comes from a handful of avoidable mistakes, not from the scheme itself being unreasonable:
Applying after the shipment has already left, or arrived. ToR1 needs to be in progress before your goods reach the UK. Retroactive applications are harder, slower, and not guaranteed to succeed.
Including newly purchased items in the same shipment without separating them. If you’ve bought new furniture to take with you, it can usually still be shipped – but it needs to be declared and accounted for separately, not folded into the “used household goods” inventory as if it qualifies for the same relief.
A thin or vague inventory. “3 boxes of kitchen items” invites more questions, not fewer. A specific, itemised list is what actually speeds the process up.
Not accounting for the 6-month ownership rule on specific items. If you’ve recently upgraded a single expensive item – a sofa, a bike, electronics – right before the move, it may not qualify even if everything else in the shipment does.
How This Fits Into Your Wider Move
None of this needs to be navigated alone, and it shouldn’t be treated as a separate project from the rest of your move. At Gerson Moving Services, your move manager coordinates the ToR1 process alongside the physical logistics of your shipment – timing the application against your actual departure and arrival dates, helping structure the inventory in a way that stands up to scrutiny, and flagging in advance if a specific item (a recent purchase, a high-value piece) is likely to need separate treatment. The goal is straightforward: no surprises at the border, and no duty charged on things you already own.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to apply for ToR relief myself, or can my removal company do it?
You can apply yourself directly to HMRC, or your removal company can support and guide the process alongside your shipment. Either way, the application itself is submitted under your name as the person transferring residence – your move manager’s role is to help you get the timing, evidence, and inventory right, not to submit it as if it were their own import.
How long does ToR1 approval actually take?
HMRC’s typical range is two to six weeks, though this depends on how complete your documentation is when you apply and on customs workload at the time. Build in buffer rather than planning around the fastest possible outcome.
What happens if my ToR1 application is refused or incomplete?
If HMRC isn’t satisfied with the evidence provided, they can request further documentation or, in some cases, assess duty on part of the shipment. This is exactly why a specific, itemised inventory submitted with strong supporting evidence upfront matters more than speed.
Can I include items I bought new just before moving?
Newly purchased items generally don’t qualify for ToR relief in the same way as used household goods you’ve owned for six months or more. They can usually still be shipped, but should be declared and accounted for separately rather than included in the ToR inventory as though they qualify.
Does ToR relief apply if I'm moving abroad from the UK, not to it?
ToR is a UK HMRC scheme specifically for goods entering the UK. If you’re moving abroad from the UK, your destination country will typically have its own equivalent import relief scheme with different rules and evidence requirements – these are covered in our individual country guides, since requirements vary significantly by destination.
Related Topics
- : how your move manager coordinates documentation alongside your shipment
Your move manager can talk through exactly what ToR1 will need for your specific move in your first call – including whether any of your belongings are likely to need separate treatment.
