Taking your car to Spain permanently: relocation exemption and registration

The Spanish excise duties law (Ley 38/1992, article 66.1.n) exempts vehicles registered because their owner moves their main residence to Spain. Five conditions apply:

1. You lived outside Spain for the 12 consecutive months before the move.
2. The car was bought under the normal tax conditions of the Netherlands and received no tax exemption or refund on departure.
3. You used the car at your previous home for at least six months before you left.
4. You apply for registration within 60 days of starting to use the car in Spain.
5. You do not sell or transfer the car within 12 months of registration; otherwise the tax becomes payable after all.

For a car that was already yours, you do not need a purchase contract: according to the DGT, the original vehicle papers are enough to prove ownership when you move.

You claim the exemption from the Agencia Tributaria before the final registration. The government portal mentions form 05 or form 06. Because the relocation exemption needs no prior recognition, it is usually form 06 (modelo 06). Have the Agencia Tributaria or a gestor confirm this for your circumstances.

The 60 days run from the moment you start using the car in Spain. Apply late and you lose more than the exemption: the use of the car itself becomes taxable.

Besides the tax deadline, there is a deadline for registration itself. According to the Spanish government portal, a new resident has one month to register the car with Spanish plates. If that does not work out, temporary registration with green plates (placas verdes) is available, valid for 2 months and renewable.

Your Europe gives the general picture: when you move permanently, you register the car in your new country. As a yardstick for your normal residence, Your Europe mentions the place where you live for more than 185 days per calendar year. If you only spend the winter in Spain, your situation is different; get proper advice locally.

NederlandWereldwijd, the Dutch government's service for Dutch nationals abroad, warns that your car insurance is no longer valid once the car is deregistered. Until it is registered in your new country you need temporary cover. That is what our export insurance for the journey is for: 14 days of third-party cover with a Green Card, together with white export plates.

If the ITV inspection or the Tráfico appointment takes longer, you can extend the cover online, 14 days at a time and subject to the insurer's approval. Once the car is registered in Spain, you take out Spanish insurance.

Have you already moved, and is the car still on Dutch plates? For Spanish registration, the DGT requires the car to be deregistered for export in its country of origin. We can arrange that deregistration even when the car is already in Spain: entirely remotely, through a separate procedure that runs by post. The export certificate reaches you by insured DHL, in about 5 working days as standard or about 1 working day with DHL Express.

Do not leave it too long: registration is due within one month of becoming resident, and the exemption requires an application within 60 days.

Reclaiming Dutch BPM on emigration is only possible when moving to an EU country, according to NederlandWereldwijd, and Spain qualifies. The Dutch Tax Administration requires, among other things, that the car is registered in the new country within 13 weeks of receiving export status. We handle the application with our BPM refund service; the Tax Administration decides on the refund.

Mind condition 2 of the Spanish exemption, though: the car must not have received a tax refund on departure. Whether a Dutch BPM refund counts is unclear. If you want both, ask the Agencia Tributaria or an adviser about the consequences first.

1. Beforehand: check that the papers include a CoC. Without one, the ITV station needs a ficha reducida, which takes time. On request we help with CoC support.
2. Just before leaving: deregistration for export at our desk or remotely. You receive the export certificate and the registration card with one corner cut off; both travel with you to Spain.
3. The journey: on white plates with a Green Card, or on a car transporter.
4. In Spain: ITV inspection, form 06 at the Agencia Tributaria, road tax at your town hall and registration at Tráfico. All the steps are on registering a car in Spain.

This is what to bring to our desk:

Is a motorhome, caravan or trailer coming too? Read exporting a motorhome or caravan to Spain.