Moving your household to the United States involves a customs process most people only discover once the shipment is already booked: whether your furniture and belongings can enter duty-free depends on how long you’ve actually owned and used them, not simply on the fact that you’re relocating. Getting this wrong can mean an unexpected import duty bill on a container full of furniture that’s already left the UK.
The rule that decides whether you pay duty
US Customs and Border Protection treats household items – furniture, carpets, paintings, tableware, stereos, linens and similar furnishings – as eligible for duty-free entry only if two conditions are met: the items must have been used abroad for at least one year, and they must be for genuine personal use rather than resale or transfer to someone else once they arrive. There’s no requirement that the year of use be the year immediately before the move, but CBP does need to be satisfied the ownership and use requirement is genuinely met, not just claimed on a form.
Household goods and “personal effects” are not the same category
This is where people relocating most often get caught out. CBP draws a clear line between household goods and personal effects: items like clothing, jewellery, cameras and portable radios are classed as personal effects rather than household goods, and are generally treated separately for duty purposes. Vehicles sit in their own category again and remain dutiable regardless of how long they’ve been owned – shipping a car as part of a UK-to-US move is a materially different process from shipping furniture, with its own separate import requirements that have nothing to do with the one-year household goods rule.
What CBP’s guidance doesn’t fully cover
It’s worth being precise about what CBP’s published consumer guidance actually addresses: it’s framed primarily around travellers and returning residents bringing back goods used abroad, rather than a full walkthrough for someone permanently relocating their entire household to the US for the first time on a visa. The underlying one-year use and personal-use principles are the same, but anyone moving as part of a work visa, family visa or green card process should treat this as the general framework rather than a complete answer, and confirm the specifics for their exact immigration category directly with CBP or their relocation agent before shipping.
Documentation to have ready
Whether goods travel with you or are shipped separately, expect to itemise what’s being imported and confirm it meets the personal-use and one-year criteria. Goods that don’t travel with you – the far more common scenario for a full household shipment – are typically declared using CBP Form 3299 (“Declaration for Free Entry of Unaccompanied Articles”), and it’s this form, completed accurately, that determines whether the shipment clears without a duty assessment or gets flagged for one.
Why timing your move matters here too
Because eligibility depends on how long you owned and used an item before the move, buying new furniture specifically to ship to a new US home is the one scenario duty-free treatment clearly doesn’t cover – new purchases haven’t met the one-year use test by definition. For anyone planning a UK-to-US relocation, it’s generally more cost-effective to ship what you’ve genuinely owned and used for a year or more, and buy replacement or new furniture once you’ve arrived, rather than assume everything in a shipping container qualifies automatically.
Why it’s worth keeping proof of ownership and use
Because eligibility for duty-free entry depends specifically on how long you’ve actually owned and used an item, it’s worth keeping some form of evidence – purchase receipts, photographs of furniture in your current home, or similar – particularly for higher-value pieces, rather than assuming CBP will simply take your word for how long something has been in use. This matters more for larger, higher-value shipments, where a customs officer is more likely to query specific items, than for a modest shipment of ordinary household furnishings.
How this interacts with the physical move itself
None of the customs process changes how a UK-based removal company plans the physical side of a move to the US – packing, shipping and delivery logistics are handled separately from the customs declaration itself. What it does affect is the paperwork a removal or relocation company will need from you before shipping: an accurate, itemised inventory that distinguishes household goods from personal effects, and reasonably honest information about how long items have actually been owned, since that inventory is what ultimately supports the CBP Form 3299 declaration once the shipment arrives.
The bottom line
Duty-free entry for household goods moving to the United States isn’t automatic just because you’re relocating – CBP requires genuine prior use of at least one year and personal (not resale) use, with different rules again for personal effects and vehicles. Confirming your own situation against CBP’s actual criteria, rather than a removal company’s general assurance, is worth doing before a container leaves the UK.
Sources
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection, “Customs Duty Information” – cbp.gov/travel/international-visitors/know-before-you-visit/customs-duty-information