Guides / Car from the UK to Poland · Updated 30 September 2026

Taking a car from the UK to Poland: duty, VAT, excise and registration

What UK-based Poles and dealers need to do on both sides of the border: the DVLA export notice, the EU import declaration, Polish VAT and excise, household removal relief and registration.

This guide is also available in Polish.

Two countries, two sets of paperwork

Moving a car from Great Britain to Poland is not one process but two. On the UK side you tell the DVLA that the vehicle is leaving for good. On the Polish side the car arrives from a third country, so it has to be declared to customs, taxed and then registered with a Polish vehicle office. Whether you are a Pole returning home with your own car or a dealer buying stock in England for resale in Poland, the sequence is broadly the same; what changes is which reliefs you can claim.

UK side: the V5C and the DVLA

GOV.UK treats taking a vehicle out of the UK for 12 months or more as a permanent export. The steps are short:

Fill in the "permanent export" section of the V5C (log book) and detach it.
Send that section to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BD.
Keep the rest of the V5C. You need it to register the car in the destination country.
If you are owed a vehicle tax refund, GOV.UK says it usually arrives within 4 to 6 weeks.

If you have no V5C, apply for one before you leave. GOV.UK gives 5 to 7 working days online or 4 to 6 weeks by post. If you are buying a car in the UK to take to Poland, the seller must give you the full log book, not just the new keeper slip. Without the full V5C, registration in Poland gets much harder.

Getting the car into the EU

Because the UK is outside the EU customs territory, the car has to go through customs. The Polish government portal powroty.gov.pl explains that the vehicle can be placed under customs transit at the first EU office. Because the UK is party to the Common Transit Convention, the NCTS transit movement can already be opened in the UK. The transit then ends at a Polish customs office, where the car is declared for release for free circulation. For how transit works in practice, see our T1 transit guide. The person declaring needs an EORI number. Many private movers use an agent under direct representation, in which case the importer remains the liable party.

What you pay on import

Customs duty

Duty depends on the tariff classification and on origin. GOV.UK is clear that goods only travel tariff-free under the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement if they meet the preferential rules of origin. Goods that do not meet them can still be imported but pay the standard tariff. Origin has to be shown through a statement on origin or importer's knowledge. In practice this means a car built in the UK may qualify for the preferential rate if its origin can be proved, while a car made in Japan or the USA and later sold in Britain does not become UK-originating just because it was registered there. Do not assume a 0% rate until you know how origin will be evidenced.

Polish VAT

Importing goods from outside the EU is subject to VAT in Poland, and the basic Polish VAT rate is 23%. The Polish government business portal notes that import VAT on a vehicle from outside the EU is paid within 10 days of customs notifying you of the amount.

Polish excise on passenger cars

Passenger cars also attract excise duty (akcyza). The rates published on podatki.gov.pl, in force from 1 January 2025, are:

Type of passenger car	Excise rate (of the tax base)
Engine capacity above 2000 cm³	18.6%
Other passenger cars	3.1%
Hybrid, including plug-in, above 2000 cm³ up to 3500 cm³	9.3%
Hybrid up to 2000 cm³	1.55%

The excise declaration for an imported car is handled through the Polish PUESC platform, which offers a simplified declaration form (AKC-US) and certificates confirming payment or exemption. Keep the payment confirmation, because the vehicle office will ask for evidence that excise has been settled.

Relief for household removals

If you are moving back to Poland, the car may qualify for duty relief as part of a household removal (mienie przesiedlenia). According to powroty.gov.pl the main conditions are:

you lived continuously outside the EU customs territory for at least 12 months;
you owned and used the car in that country for at least 6 months before moving;
the car will be used for the same purpose in Poland.

Two limits matter. Cars bought on the way home do not qualify. And a car released duty-free cannot be sold or transferred for 12 months without the duty becoming payable. The same page stresses that duty relief does not automatically remove VAT or excise, so check each tax separately. This relief is for private individuals relocating; a dealer importing cars for sale cannot use it.

Do not confuse this with ToR1. ToR1 is the UK relief for moving belongings into the UK. For a move from the UK to Poland, the relevant relief is the EU household removal relief described above.

Registering the car in Poland

Once the car is cleared, the owner has 30 days from release for free circulation to apply for registration, according to powroty.gov.pl. The office issues a temporary registration for 30 days and completes permanent registration within 30 calendar days; if the temporary period is about to run out, you must ask for a 14-day extension before it expires. Typical documents are:

registration application;
proof of ownership, such as a sale agreement or VAT invoice;
the remaining part of the V5C and the current number plates (or a statement if unavailable);
a Polish technical inspection certificate;
the customs clearance document;
proof of third-party (OC) insurance;
sworn translations of foreign-language documents.

Right-hand drive is another point to check early. Powroty.gov.pl explains that only category M1 passenger cars may be registered in Poland with the steering wheel on the right; other right-hand-drive vehicles need to be adapted for right-hand traffic first.

Private mover or dealer?

A returning resident with an older, owned-and-used car may pay no duty under removal relief, though VAT and excise still need to be looked at. A dealer buying in the UK pays duty according to tariff and origin, then import VAT and excise, and cannot use removal relief. If you want to compare what a clearance agent does against handling it yourself, see do you need a broker. For a step-by-step view from the Polish side, including examples, there is a full walkthrough on the Easy Clearance site: a full walkthrough of importing a car from the UK. There is also a version of this guide in Polish (in Polish).

Related guides

Need the car cleared into Poland?

Easy Clearance is a UK–EU customs clearance agency handling import and export declarations, T1/T2 transit and UK–Poland removals.

See the car import guide

Sources

General information, not legal, tax or customs advice. Rules change; confirm current requirements on gov.uk or with a registered agent before you ship.