Nuss is licensed by Australia Border Force to operate a Customs and DAFF (Australian Quarantine Inspection Service) approved Bonded warehouse. Customs Officers and Quarantine Officers therefore come to our warehouse to carry out their clearance procedures.
ALL household goods (HHG) and personal effects (PE) without exception are physically inspected at the bonded warehouse by Quarantine officers before they are released for delivery.
We have available on this site a number of forms and advisory documents to assist, including the customs forms required for completion.
Before you dig in to the documents and forms, please enjoy this video that includes some highlights and top places to live in Australia.
The documents you need to provide for clearance
From your perspective as a private individual moving to Australia and importing used household goods (HHG) and personal effects (PE), the clearance process is quite simple; it is necessary for you to complete an Australian Customs form (known as a B534). This completed form together with a photocopy of your passport photo page only and for non-Australian citizens, a copy of your visa, should be given to us prior to the arrival in Australia of your belongings. NO DIGITAL signatures are accepted by customs. Receipts to prove purchase price and date of purchase for items less than 12 months old or which may appear to be less than 12 months old will be helpful. Additional documents will be required for other categories of items to be imported, including bequeathed items, please contact us for further information.
We have written what we hope you will find to be a useful ‘Guide to importing household goods and personal effects into Australia’.
Below are summaries of the pertinent information.
The general rules:
Duty & tax: Items of household goods and personal effects owned and used by you or your relocating family members for a minimum of 12 months prior to packing may normally be imported duty and tax- free (items with the exception of alcohol, tobacco and motor vehicles) . Should duty and or tax be applicable the rates vary depending upon the nature of the item.
Alcohol & Tobacco: Should you decide to include alcohol sand/or tobacco in your consignment the rates of tax and duty combine to approximately 60% of the assessed value; spirits or liquors attract an additional tax at the rate of A$77.00 per litre of pure alcohol. A full alcohol descriptive inventory must be completed (this is best done before packing in your home country). Use this form to declare your alcohol (click here).
DAFF (the Australian Quarantine department) is seeking to prevent entry into the country of any plant diseases or insects which may pose a risk to the balance of nature in Australia. Consequently the laws and regulations may appear to be somewhat strict. There are some items, which will be confiscated and destroyed but other items if considered a risk can be released after appropriate treatment.
Items that will normally be destroyed include (but are not limited to):
- those with seeds including dried flowers and pine cones (often used in Christmas decorations).
- raw or untreated timber
- some animal products such as skins
- foodstuff containing, meat or dairy products
- plants
- Vacuum bags left in vacuum cleaners
- items made of endangered species.
Items which will be inspected for evidence of soil, plant life (eg: grass cuttings etc) or woodworm (known as borer) include inter-alia:
- any outdoor tools or furniture
- bicycles
- golf clubs
- rattan, bamboo or antique furniture
- lawn mowers
- plant pots
It is advisable for you to clean any of the above items (which are not exhaustive listing) prior to shipment. Should Quarantine officers believe that any soil, borer, insect or plant be present then fumigation, gamma irradiation, steam cleaning or destruction will be ordered; Nuss will arrange this on your behalf on arrival but it can be costly. It is unusual for an entire container to be fumigated, we suggest that this not be done prior to shipment as certificates of fumigation issued and the methods used overseas are not always acceptable in Australia; indeed unless DAFF specifically so orders, fumigation overseas may be an unnecessary expense.
The clearance process
Physical inspections by Quarantine and Customs Officers are carried out in the secure and controlled conditions of the Bonded warehouse with skilled packers to re-pack and re-wrap the items after they have been checked. Normally only selected items are inspected, including items deemed ‘high risk’ as well as those at random.
It will normally be about 14 working days from the date of vessel arrival until the time your belongings will be cleared by Customs and Quarantine and be ready for delivery; air shipments would be cleared a little quicker, normally in around 7 working days.
Please note and check before sending if an import permit is required for the following items should you be considering including them in your consignment; (this is not exhaustive listing)
- Motor Vehicles (including trailers)
- Replica Guns
- Firearms
- E-Bikes, Scooters (off and on road)
- Boats
- ATV’s and golf carts etc
- Scooters (off and on road)
Note that there are strict rules concerning the import of items such as those above and permits which must be issued in advance are required in most cases.
Storage is available if required
Nuss has warehouses available specifically and exclusively used for the high security storage of household goods and personal effects. Nuss is a specialist removalist and forwarders of household goods & personal effects, so…you may be assured that belongings would not therefore be stored alongside industrial equipment or such like. As our facilities are bonded by customs we are able to store prior to clearance as well as after clearance. Should you need your belongings to be stored for a short period (‘storage in transit or ‘SIT’) or longer term (‘permanent storage’) before taking delivery then we can provide this service for you.
We operate both module storage systems and steel containerised storage so your belongings would be loaded into wooden storage modules and stacked inside our clean secure facility until you wish to have them delivered or stored in weathertight steel containers. On subsequent delivery the modules or containers would be loaded into specialised trucks and driven to your new home, thus avoiding the potential for damage due to double handling.
Delivery after clearance
Our delivery crews will unwrap and position furniture for you in the appropriate rooms and will unpack cartons to bench top, taking away the packing materials afterwards. Re-assembly of complex or specialist items such as climbing frames, waterbeds, complicated beds, bookcases etc, can be arranged on your behalf with ancillary service providers or by our specialist crews. Assembly of ‘Flat packed’ items or new items are not part of our standard delivery service. Our uniformed crews are trained to be as helpful as possible, are assessed and receive regular refresher courses.
Our Customer Service
In handling the administrative side of clearance and delivery of your belongings, our highly trained and experienced team of import specialists will focus on providing a communicative and excellent level of service using empathy and drawing on knowledge and experience to keep you informed of progress during the clearance process. We aim to make the final stage of your move as trouble free as possible by anticipating possible needs and working to exceed expectations. If at any time you feel we are not achieving this aim we ask that you let us know right away so that we can correct this.
Here are documents and/or forms for your use
- Australia customs form B534e
- Australia B534 customs form how to complete
- Australia FIDI Customs Import Guide 2023
- BMSB seasonal information 2023
- Australia – Restricted items
- Australia Motor Vehicle Import Brochure
- Australia – Tobacco Inventory Template October 2020
- Australia AIMA letter – Khapra Beetle – September 2020 onwards
Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us (click here). We look forward to welcoming you to Australia!
