Vehicles

The general provisions for household effects apply to road vehicles, watercraft and aircraft.

Road vehicles

Our customs office will provide you with inspection report form 13.20 A as proof of customs clearance for registration at the cantonal vehicle licensing office. If you have any questions about traffic licensing (registration), it is best to contact the competent cantonal vehicle licensing office.

Important: The customs clearance of your private vehicle (after the change of domicile) must be done at one of our occupied customs offices when the vehicle first crosses the border into Switzerland. Details of which offices deal with the clearance of household effects can be found in our list of customs offices. Household effects, and therefore also your vehicle, are regarded as commercial goods. Therefore, please take note of the times during which the customs office deals with the clearance of commercial goods traffic (NB: the Precious Metals Control and Customs Investigation offices do not perform customs clearance of household effects).

If you have failed to do this, you must immediately clear the goods through customs retroactively at an occupied customs office. Please also note the opening times for the clearance of commercial goods traffic. The vehicle must be present during the customs clearance procedure. It is not necessary to arrange an appointment with the customs office. You will need form 18.44 and the supporting documentation mentioned therein.

If the requirements listed in form 18.44 for assessment as household effects are not met, you can apply for a customs permit form 15.30 under certain conditions. With this, you may continue to use the vehicle duty unpaid for a maximum of two years after your relocation. You must apply for Swiss number plates at the cantonal vehicle licensing office after one year at the latest.

Watercraft

The customs office will provide you with proof of customs clearance form 15.10 (PDF, 329 kB, 01.01.2022) for registration at the cantonal water transportation office. If you have any questions about traffic licensing (registration), it is best to contact the competent cantonal water transportation office.