![A Portuguese family living in the Netherlands planned their return home, and wanted to take their recently purchased 2018 VW Tiguan with them. They first hoped for a tax-free import, but because they’d owned the car for less than six months, that exemption didn’t apply. Taxes and Timing A 2018 Tiguan with a larger engine […]](https://carimportportugal.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/100/Tiguan.jpg)
A Portuguese family living in the Netherlands planned their return home, and wanted to take their recently purchased 2018 VW Tiguan with them. They first hoped for a tax-free import, but because they’d owned the car for less than six months, that exemption didn’t apply.
Taxes and Timing
A 2018 Tiguan with a larger engine attracts a hefty ISV bill. The car was also well under the 10-year mark, so it didn’t qualify for the maximum age discount.
Luckily, during the paperwork phase the Tiguan’s registration anniversary ticked over, lowering the taxes by several hundreds of euros. Sometimes waiting just a few weeks for that “birthday” can cut the ISV meaningfully. Despite the cost, importing still made financial sense, especially since the customer was able to get taxes back from the Netherlands, so we proceeded.
Extra-Fast Processing
The Tiguan was already in Portugal, but its Dutch insurance had expired—so speed was essential. The family chose our Extra-Fast service, which lets us move paperwork to the front of the line. In theory we could have scheduled the inspection the same day, but the test center’s schedule pushed it from Friday to Monday. The moment the inspection passed, we filed everything with customs.
A Surname Question
Portuguese passports show surnames in a different order than Dutch vehicle registrations. The maiden name, was in a different order. Customs somehow didn’t figure out that is was the same person and asked the owner to sign a declaration confirming her identity, an easy fix, but an extra step nonetheless.
Fast-Track IMT Registration
Standard IMT processing can stretch to 8–12 weeks (or more). For €45, we enrolled the Tiguan in the Fast-Track IMT program, cutting the wait to roughly 3–4 weeks. That speed mattered: the family wanted to reclaim Dutch BPM tax, which must be filed within 13 weeks and sometimes requires the Portuguese DUA as proof.
After a brief detour over surnames, customs approved the Tiguan.
Key Takeaways
- You can sometimes get silly questions from customs, such as the order of your surnames.
- Extra-Fast processing is ideal when foreign insurance is about to lapse or time is tight.
- Fast-Track IMT (for €45) is worth it if you need Portuguese registration quickly, especially for time-sensitive tax refunds like Dutch BPM.
