Hello, I am a UK national with a home in Switzerland but don’t have residency. I own a car that I bought and lives in Switzerland. I have to reregister the car annually. The Strassenverkehrsamt in Chur warned me not to drive across the border into the EU, as I may receive a large tax bill or fine. I have followed up on this, contacting the Austrian customs, as I want to drive over the border to Bregenz later this month. They say that provided I have the necessary car insurance it’s fine, and no tax or fine would be applied. Any views on this? Should I take my own car, or must I take the train or hire?
Hello and welcome.
It depends where your residency is.
If you are resident in any EU country and drive a car registered in Switzerland (Swiss plates) into the EU, it counts as importing the car into the EU. This creates tax liability.
If you’re resident anywhere outside the EU (including Switzerland), no prob.
Thanks Axa, my residency is in the UK. So should be no problem.
Huh? What? Maybe if you’re moving to Austria permanently, but just going for a short trip/holiday - no way! We drove over to Vienna in February and had no problems/queries about us or the car.
And, where do you reside?
Switzerland.
So, it’s normal that it’s trouble free.
But, residents in the EU driving a car with Swiss plates, there might be issues.
If the OP lives in the UK that’s not in the EU.
Every country handles that different, but you are not allowed to drive a car in your residence country and foreign plates, not in EU countries nor in Switzerland.
In Italy they stop and fine you. Even if you drive a friends car and the owner is in the car, they fine you.
In Spain it depends on the type of police. The national police will not care but Guardia Civil may. Spoke with one the other day, the fine is 2’500 Euros.
In Switzerland there are not many controls, but if you are controlled you are fined.
No idea about that in Austria, but in my experience they don’t take it too serious. They may in theory fine you but many will not even know that.
So, the question to the OP is:
What’s the purpose of the trip to Austria?
Then in your “no idea” you are wrong. They are possibly the worst of the neighbouring countries for fining (plus charging import duty on the car) for this. I know people who have fallen foul of this there.
It’s serious money, usually multiple thousands, so they are quite keen on getting the income.
I can attest to this.
During the COVID lockdown era, I drove to Italy to pickup my mother. This was when the borders were closed except for people returning home. I was in a legal greyzone, as registered as resident in both Switzerland and Italy.
The Swiss border let me out because I was “just an Italian resident returning home”. The Italian border gave me more of a headache - as I had a Swiss registered car, despite being “Italian resident” on paper.
Eventually - after explaining the situation (and the dual residence thing), the border guard let me through without a fine… but explained that this was an exception, and that it was because I was picking up my mother. Normally, if I were an Italian resident with a Swiss car, I would need to pay a substantial (5 figures) fee in terms of fine + import duties.
The return journey was simple (as we both had Swiss residence permits / B-permits) so re-entering CH was easy…
There’s several documented cases of people being fined - in once case, I believe someone who borrowed their dad’s work van to move house, got fined… let me see if I can find it…
Not the one I remember, but here’s an example (DE):
Many thanks to all for their discussion on this. As my primary residence is in the UK, which is not in the EU, I think it is clear, my short two day trip to the Bregenzer Festspiele in my own car, registered in Switzerland, will not be subject to any taxation or fines. Which confirms my correspondence with Austrian customs, but contradicts the advice I received from Chur’s Strassenverkehrsamt. That’s very helpful.
Don’t forget that the UK used to br an EU member state. Those rules did apply previously to UK residents.
You still want to take public transport, at least for the last kilometers. Traffic in Bregenz is very often a problem, during the Festspiele it’s absolute hell.
Without reregistration your insurance will be invalid.