Exporting a car
Exporting a car requires an export declaration and deregistration with the Swedish Transport Agency. Without the deregistration you remain the owner of a car in another country, with vehicle tax and the insurance obligation unless it is off road.
Two authorities, two tracks
A car export has a customs side and a vehicle side. Swedish Customs want to know the goods left the union. The Swedish Transport Agency wants to know the vehicle should no longer sit in the national register. The two do not talk to each other for you.
- 1. Export declaration
- Lodged before the car leaves Sweden. An eight digit commodity code, driven by engine type and cylinder capacity.
- 2. Presentation at the place of exit
- The goods are presented to the customs office of exit with a reference to the case’s movement reference number.
- 3. Exit notification
- Once the car has left the customs territory of the union that is notified. Only then can the certificate be created.
- 4. The certificate
- The customs office of export sends the certificate of exit electronically to the declarant. It is not a paper that travels with the car.
The customs side, step by step
The certificate of exit therefore comes last, not when the declaration is accepted. It is also electronic. Texts saying you receive a document to carry in the car describe something that does not exist.
Without a certificate of exit you have no customs proof the car left the EU. Without that, both the VAT and the deregistration are harder to substantiate.
The deregistration almost everyone misses
This is the most expensive gap in most texts about car exports, including the one that stood at this address before.
- Part 2, the original
- The notification of deregistration is made on part 2 of the latest registration certificate. For export outside the EU and EEA neither a form nor a copy will do.
- Proof of export
- A foreign registration certificate, confirmation from the authority in the receiving country, a customs document showing clearance, or the carrier’s certificate. Receipts, invoices and sale agreements are not accepted.
- The plates
- Both registration plates are sent in. They may be folded.
- Until all three arrive
- The vehicle is not deregistered. The seller remains the registered owner and pays vehicle tax and carries the insurance obligation, unless the car is off road.
Three things to the Transport Agency
Note that the sale agreement does not count as proof of export. That is precisely the document most people have and assume is enough. What counts is a foreign registration certificate, a confirmation from the receiving country's authority, a customs document or a carrier's certificate.
If you want the car out of the register before it leaves the country, the route is a temporary registration for export. It runs for one month and cannot be extended, so it has to be timed against the transport.
VAT, and the myth of the refund
The claim that you can apply to get the VAT back on an exported car is incorrect, and it is widespread.
- A private person selling their own car
- No VAT to reclaim. The sale is not a VAT transaction at all, because you are not acting as a taxable person.
- A company selling out of the EU
- The supply is exempt from tax if the export can be substantiated. That is an exemption, not a refund.
- The company car
- If the car was bought without a right of deduction there is no input VAT to deduct, whatever happens on export.
- The six month rule
- If the car is sold to someone resident outside the EU and registered for export, it must permanently have left before the end of the sixth month after the month of supply.
What actually applies
The difference between an exemption and a refund is not semantic. An exemption means you do not charge VAT in the first place, provided you can substantiate the export. A refund means money comes back from the tax agency, and that route does not exist here.
The evidence must be customs, forwarding or freight documents. Payment arriving from a country outside the EU is not enough. The documents are accounting records and must be kept for seven years after the end of the financial year.
Who may be the exporter
The exporter must be established in the customs territory of the union and have the power to determine that the goods are to be taken out. A buyer outside the EU therefore cannot be the exporter, however natural it feels to the parties. It is the seller, or a representative, who carries that role.
As a private individual you normally need no EORI number and are identified by a special code for a natural person without one. Swedish Customs direct private individuals to declare the export at the nearest customs clearance office, with the car present for a possible check.
Sanctions
Since 2022 the sanctions against Russia and Belarus have covered large parts of the passenger car range. Hybrids and electric cars are included whatever their size, and for combustion engines the lines run at certain cylinder capacities. There is also a value threshold for vehicles counted as luxury goods.
The annexes have been amended in several packages since then. So we check commodity code and destination per consignment rather than relying on a limit read in some text. It takes a few minutes and costs less than a stopped case.
What we need from you
An invoice or sale document with value, consignor and consignee. Registration number and chassis number. Which country the car is going to and where it leaves the EU. If you have already chosen a carrier that helps, because presentation at the place of exit belongs to the transport leg.
The rest of the export chain, including which messages are sent when, is on the export page and in detail on the page about the new export system. If you are bringing a car in instead, see importing a car to Sweden.
Read on
Taking the car with you when you move abroad? Read about moving from Sweden.
Common questions
Do I get the VAT back if I export the car?
As a private individual: no. Selling your own car is not a taxable transaction, because you are not acting as a taxable person. There is then neither VAT to exempt nor input tax to deduct. The claim that you can apply to get the VAT back is not correct.
As a company: it is not an application but an exemption. The supply is exempt from tax when the goods leave the EU and the export can be substantiated. That your input tax may still be deducted happens in the ordinary VAT return.
And even for companies there is a block. If the passenger car was bought without a right of deduction, which is the main rule for everything except resale, hire, taxi and a few other cases, there is no input VAT to deduct.
What is needed for the car to be deregistered?
Three things, and all three must arrive. The notification on part 2 in the original, a document that clearly shows the car has permanently left, and the registration plates.
A receipt, invoice or sale agreement does not count as proof of export. What does count is a foreign registration certificate, a confirmation from the registration authority in the receiving country, a customs document showing the car was cleared, or a certificate from a professional carrier.
What happens if I do not deregister?
You remain the registered owner. That means vehicle tax and a third-party insurance obligation until deregistration is done, unless the vehicle is off road. It is the seller who is responsible for sending in all three parts, and if any is missing no deregistration takes place. This is the item most often forgotten and it costs money every month.
Can the car be deregistered before it leaves Sweden?
Only by applying for and being granted a temporary registration for export. The car then gets a new registration number and special plates.
That requires among other things that the buyer is permanently resident abroad, a certificate of insurance, an approved roadworthiness test protocol no more than twelve months old, part 2 in the original with the deregistration notification signed, and the Swedish plates. The registration is valid for one month and cannot be extended.
Which documents travel with the car?
Not the certificate of exit, which many people assume. That is an electronic message sent to the declarant once the car has actually left the union. What is needed on arrival are the import documents in the receiving country, and there part 1 of the registration certificate and the sale document are usually asked for. If the buyer is to avoid duty in their country a proof of origin may be needed, and that requires a supplier's declaration from the manufacturer or the national distributor. A Certificate of Conformity does not prove origin.
Can the buyer be the exporter?
Not if the buyer sits outside the EU. The exporter must be established in the customs territory of the union. This is one of the most common reasons a car export has to be redone, because buyers in, say, Switzerland, Serbia or Kosovo naturally see themselves as the party exporting.
Is there an exemption for small or cheap cars?
No. The relief that exists covers goods under a thousand euro or a thousand kilos, and a car passes both limits. There is no value below which the export declaration can be skipped.
May I export any car at all?
No. The sanctions against Russia and Belarus reach a large part of the passenger car range, and hybrids and electric cars are included whatever their size. There is also a luxury goods threshold for vehicles above a certain value.
The limits in the annexes have been amended several times since 2022, and they are set per commodity code and sometimes per cylinder capacity. So we check them per consignment rather than trusting a figure read somewhere. Send the commodity code and destination and we will look it up.
