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Cape Verde Furniture Import

Importing furniture for your new house or flat in the Cape Verde islands

The Cape Verdes has a small scale industry making furniture to designs provided by buyers. It also imports Chinese made furniture of a design that does not often appeal to western tastes. Both furniture trades are protected by the Cape Verde Government with a prohibitive import duty of 100% on the assessed value including transpor and purchase price of the furnituret. Developers of properties have a duty free concession but are offering furniture packs at prices from £15,000 to £20,000 for one and two bedroom flats, which were sold without furniture.

Owners of properties who have obtained residency permits can import furniture duty free. Owners without residency permits will pay just a few thousand escudos per shipment if the furniture is more than six months old or looks as if it is. No proof of purchase is required.

We have now succesfully imported a container with mostly old but some new furniture. It was necessary to provide a complete list of items in Portuguese - they were fascinated by the futons. It was also necessary to get a signed and stamped declaration from a Council in the UK, that all items were indeed personal belongings. It can be very difficult to persuade any Council pen-pusher to do this foryyou, unless you have a personal friend.

If this is done the import duty for someone without residential status reduces to around 30% on declared values. The old teak benches from Surrey look just great on the verandah and seem to be withstanding the sun well enough!

Duty Free Furniture Importation

For commercial items for resale, duties range from 40% up to 100% of the assessed value, which can be wide of the mark. They are particularly severe for furniture. Getting residency is neither quick nor simple. Amongst other requirements you will need to submit paperwork from your local police to show that you have no criminal record. If a person can prove retirement through pension papers or has established a residency, then import duty is waived. So is the sales tax on purchasing property, So it is a worthwhile exercise if you are no longer earning a living. We have not met anyone who has succesfully achieved this.