If I buy a used car in another country in the EU/Schengen and move to Germany, do I have to pay VAT again

Upvote:4

First of all, EU and Schengen Area are not the same. Schengen is irrelevant in this case. If you buy a car in a non-EU country (it could also be a Schengen country such as Norway or Switzerland) and then want to register it in Germany, you would have to pay customs tariffs in addition to taxes. Basically all paperwork will be much more complicated. Not recommended in your case.

So let's focus on the EU: If you're buying a new car (less than 6000 km odometer and less than 6 months since 1st registration), you have to pay VAT in the country where you're going to register it (NOT where you buy it).

If it's a used car (more than 6000 km odometer and/or more than 6 months since first registration), there are the following options: 1. if you buy from a dealership, the VAT will be included in the amount and nothing can be done about it 2. if you buy from a private person, there's no VAT to pay.

EDIT: Anyway, there are still certain costs associated with legally moving a car from one EU country to another. Overall, it could amount to several hundreds of euros. But those are not taxes, just administrative fees.

Upvote:5

It's hard to answer without knowing which is this "other Schengen country".

However, from my own experience :

  • I've bought a used car in Switzerland from a dealership. It was ~30% cheaper than in my own country (France).
  • The day I bought it, the dealership declared to Swiss authority I've bought this car "for export". I had one month to do the necessary paperwork in France, and I paid only ~200CHF as taxes / temporary insurance. They gave me a temporary Swiss licence plate and I could drive everywhere in Europe for 1 month.
  • Then I had one month to declare it legally in France, and I paid 20% VAT. So finally it was 10% cheaper than buying it in my home country.

However, the custom officer told me this 20% VAT is not to be paid if I could proove I was moving from Switzerland to France. It was not the case for me but maybe it is for you, as you're waiting for a residence permit in this "another country".

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