The hidden costs of international moving

An international move costs more than its quote when charges fall outside the quote's scope. Those charges come from governments, from ports and the calendar, and from the scope of the move itself. You can ask about each of them before you sign.

Governments add duty or tax when your goods miss a relief condition. Ports add handling, and storage once the free days run out. The scope adds crating, building access and the kind of protection your goods travel under.

This guide takes each in turn. It sets out the official relief rules for the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, Singapore and the UAE, the rules for moving back to India, and a checklist for comparing quotes. For how a full move runs from door to door, see international moving with IMove.

Extra costs appear at each handover in a door-to-door move, from your home to the origin port, through freight, to the destination port, customs and your new home, and each one is set by a government, by the port and the calendar, or by the scope you agree with your mover.

The diagram follows one shipment through those handovers. Each cost point is shaded by who sets it.

• Government costs follow rules you can read before you pack
• Port and timing costs follow how fast your paperwork moves
• Scope costs follow what you and your mover agree in writing

The rest of this guide takes them in that order. It starts with what a quote takes in, and what it leaves out.

A door-to-door quote should take in packing, export paperwork, freight, destination handling, customs clearance and delivery to your new address, while a port-to-port quote stops at the destination port, so two quotes with the same total can describe two very different moves.

Duty and tax are set by customs at the destination, so a quote can only estimate them. The table shows who sets each line, and the question that settles it.

With IMove, work at the destination is handled by our own in-house coordinators, working with a vetted agent network and local destination partners. Sea or air changes the freight line, and our comparison of sea freight and air freight explains how. The international moving process guide walks through each stage.

Most destinations in this guide let a new resident bring used household goods in free of duty and tax, but only when every condition of the relief is met, such as how long you lived abroad, how long you had and used the goods and when they arrive, and missing one condition can make your goods dutiable.

The conditions differ by country. Each list below gives the main conditions, the paperwork and the official page.

USA

• Goods used abroad for at least 1 year
• Not for sale, and not for someone else
• Declared on CBP Form 3299, under US Customs and Border Protection regulations (19 CFR 148.52) (opens in a new tab)

Canada

• Goods owned, possessed and used abroad before you arrive
• A list of goods with you and goods to follow, shown at your first arrival
• Rules from the Canada Border Services Agency (opens in a new tab)

UK

• Living outside the UK for at least 1 year in a row
• Goods possessed and used for at least 6 months, and imported within 1 year of your move
• HMRC approval on a ToR1 before you claim, from HMRC (opens in a new tab)

Australia

• Goods owned for less than 1 year are assessed for duty and tax
• Declared on the B534 statement
• The form is published by the Australian Border Force (opens in a new tab)

Singapore

• Goods owned, used and possessed for at least 3 months
• Imported within 6 months of your first arrival
• A Declaration of Facts, under rules from Singapore Customs (opens in a new tab)

UAE (Dubai)

• Used household goods, inspected on arrival
• A passport copy, a residency visa copy and a list of the goods
• Rules from Dubai Customs (opens in a new tab)

In Singapore, goods that miss relief pay GST at 9% (as of October 2026), on their customs value plus any duty. The rate is on the IRAS GST rates page (opens in a new tab), and the method on Singapore Customs (opens in a new tab).

In Dubai, used household goods clear free of customs tax after inspection. If inspectors find commercial quantities, a 5% customs tax applies (as of October 2026, Dubai Customs (opens in a new tab)).

Moving from India? The route pages for the USA, Canada, Singapore and the UAE set out the paperwork for each route.

Relief is written for used household goods and personal effects, so alcohol and tobacco sit outside it in the USA, the UK, Australia and Singapore, and vehicles, goods for sale and goods in commercial quantities are taxed or declared apart under most of the rules this guide cites.

These are the items the official sources name.

• Alcohol and tobacco, declared apart in the USA, the UK, Australia and Singapore
• Motor vehicles, which Singapore excludes and Australia lists apart
• Cars in Dubai, taxed at 5% of each car's assessed value (as of October 2026)
• Goods for sale, for another person, or in commercial quantities
• Goods used abroad for less than the required time, such as under 1 year for the USA
• Boats, yachts and private aircraft in Singapore, and some professional instruments in the UK

The lists come from Singapore Customs (opens in a new tab), HMRC (opens in a new tab), the US CBP Form 3299 and the Australian B534 statement. Declare these items on their own line, or leave them behind.

Relief can be lost on timing as well as on the goods, because each destination expects certain papers before the shipment loads or lands, and some take relief back if you sell, lend or give away the goods within a set period after you arrive.

The timeline marks each deadline in the order you meet it.

Before your goods arrive

These filings must be in place early.

• In the USA, the Importer Security Filing for sea cargo goes in at least 24 hours before loading abroad (US Customs and Border Protection regulations, 19 CFR 149.2 (opens in a new tab))
• In Singapore, the Declaration of Facts goes to customs before the goods arrive (Singapore Customs (opens in a new tab))
• In the UK, HMRC approves your ToR1 claim, and its reference goes on the import declaration (HMRC (opens in a new tab))
• In Canada, your list of goods to follow is shown at your first arrival (Canada Border Services Agency (opens in a new tab))

Without a valid ToR reference on the declaration, HMRC may bill you import duties and administration charges.

After you arrive

Relief can also turn into a bill after you land. Three destinations limit what you do with relieved goods.

• In Canada, goods sold or given away within 1 year of import owe the duty and taxes first exempted
• In the UK, goods cannot be lent, hired out, used as security or transferred for 1 year after the move
• In Singapore, goods must not be sold, given away or disposed of within 3 months of arrival

If you are returning to live in India, the Baggage Rules, 2026 let you bring personal and household goods in free of duty up to a value cap, and the cap rises with the time you spent abroad, as long as you meet the stay conditions and have not used the concession recently.

The rules took effect on 2 February 2026, replacing the 2016 rules. They apply to a resident or a tourist of Indian origin, in three tiers.

• A stay abroad of 3 to 12 months gives the lowest cap
• At least 1 year abroad in the last 2 years gives a higher cap, if you have not used the concession in the last 3 years
• 2 years or more abroad, immediately before arrival, gives the highest cap. Visits to India in those 2 years must add up to no more than 6 months, and the concession must be unused for 3 years.

The amounts are set in India’s Baggage Rules, 2026 (opens in a new tab). The Press Information Bureau summary (opens in a new tab) also gives the general baggage allowance. Within the cap, listed appliances such as a refrigerator or a laptop count, one of each.

What is never in the allowance

These stay outside the allowance whatever your tier.

• Firearms, and more than 50 cartridges
• More than 100 cigarettes, 25 cigars or 125 g of tobacco
• More than 2 litres of alcohol
• Gold or silver, other than ornaments

When unaccompanied baggage must move

Goods sent separately must have been yours abroad. They must be dispatched within 1 month of your arrival in India. They may land up to 2 months before you arrive.

Once your shipment lands, the port or terminal gives it a period of free storage, and after that the terminal or shipping line charges for each extra day, so a delay in your paperwork or your new home can add a cost that no mover sets.

Missing documents can cause that delay. Dubai Customs (opens in a new tab), for example, asks for a passport copy, a residency visa copy and a written list of the goods. Have papers like these ready before the goods ship.

If your new home will not be ready, hold the goods at origin before they ship. That keeps them off the clock at the destination port. The storage during an international move page explains the options.

Three choices you make with your mover also change the bill, which are whether fragile or oversized items travel in a custom crate, how easy it is to reach both homes, and what kind of protection your goods travel under, so it helps to settle each one at the survey.

Crating

Artwork, large mirrors, marble tops and antiques often need a wooden crate built to size. Crates are assessed and priced item by item. Ask for every such piece to be seen at the survey, before you compare quotes.

Building access at both ends

In India and the UAE, a building may ask for move-out permission, a booked lift and a parking space for the truck. Tell your mover the floor, the lift and the street access at both addresses. The survey can then take them into account.

Transit protection

Ask whether a policy is all-risk, which pays for damage to single items, or total-loss-only. A total-loss-only policy pays only if the whole shipment is lost. Ask how declared values are set, because a claim is measured against them.

With IMove, your goods travel with all-risk marine cover at declared replacement value, included as standard.