Coming back from UK in FR campervan, do we need to pay duty on clothes etc

I’m trying to get my head round the customs/duty/declaration situation. Any advice appreciated, please don’t criticise our circumstances.

Long story short, we have a property in France, residency and 10 year CdS which we are waiting to exchange. But at present we are in the UK and have been since the covid business began because we decided to stay to look after elderly inlaws who were shielding and could not cope or understand. MiL then broke her hip.

We have a French registered camping car in which we travel. It is road legal in France and insured in France. The insurers understand our situation. It was bought in France.

We plan to come back to France end of June. I don’t know how long we will stay but we are likely to go back to the UK again. (Under the WA we can have 5 years away but we won’t).

Do we need to declare anything? The campervan is French so surely we don’t have to pay import. What about our clothes and stuff? Its really only going to be clothes, stuff you have in a camper for cooking, bedding and the like. This stuff is kept in the van, almost all bought in France anyway. And our dog (French passport).

How do customs/border differentiate between people on holiday and people moving? If covid hadn’t happened we would have gone back and forward more often.

If you have French residency then you are not moving…surely you are just coming home with your personal goods? And the same ones you took with you when you left…

You MUST apply for your new WARP card before the end of June. And you will then get a receipt that you show any customs officer as proof that you are coming home. What you do thereafter is not important, and whether you then get your WARP is not important.

Holiday makers will not have a receipt or a WARP card so their passports will be stamped and the 90/180 clock will start ticking.

Some border control people are a bit gung-ho with their stamps so the advice is to take documents with you to prove you live here (EDF bill, tax statement etc) and be proactive. Don’t wait until they have pulled out their stamp but say up front that you are residents.

Hi Jane

Thanks, that was exactly my thinking, then I started to get freaked out reading comments about forms and lists huge taxes, etc. Yes, everything in the camper and virtually all our clothes originated in France. We have old style CdS valid til 1 October and the receipt for application to exchange them.

Maybe one less thing to worry about then…