Mail and Packages From the U.S. to Spain: Customs, VAT and Letters

Packages from the U.S. to Spain cost more than their price: Spanish VAT on every purchase, a flat 3 euro duty per item on low-value online orders since July 1, 2026, and the carrier’s own fee. Gifts enter tax free only up to 45 euros; moving boxes, food and medicines follow their own rules. A missed official letter or unopened electronic notice can also count as notified. This article is for informational purposes only and is not legal or tax advice; verify current requirements with the relevant Spanish authority or a licensed professional.

What can go wrong with a parcel from the U.S. or an official letter?

• VAT at the door. Unless the seller uses the IOSS (Import One-Stop Shop), which puts VAT in the checkout price, the carrier will very likely hold the parcel until you pay 21 percent VAT, says the Agencia Tributaria (AEAT), the tax and customs agency. Article 83 of the VAT law taxes shipping and duty too.
• A duty that stays paid. The 3 euro duty is not refunded on a return unless the goods were defective or not as ordered (AEAT).
• Controlled goods. Medicines, tobacco, food, animals or plants can be sent back or destroyed, or lead to smuggling proceedings (AEAT leaflet).
• An unpaid parcel. Goods may sit up to 90 days in temporary storage; if duty goes unpaid, customs may confiscate, sell or destroy them, or let you abandon them (Union Customs Code, articles 149, 198 and 199).
• An uncollected notice. Unclaimed official letters and unopened electronic notices can count as notified while the case goes on (administrative procedure law).

What a parcel from the U.S. pays in 2026

Each row links its source.

Who clears the parcel, and what it costs

Whoever clears it, the AEAT charges only duty, VAT and excise (AEAT leaflet). If the carrier needs your instructions, it must set a deadline, after which the parcel may go back (AEAT manual).

Correos, the state-owned postal company, sets its own prices. Its 2026 tariff for the mainland and the Balearics lists:

• Parcel up to 150 euros, fee paid online before delivery starts: 2.99 euros.
• Same parcel, fee paid at the office or on delivery: 6.05 to 16.76 euros, by value.
• Full import declaration (DUA): 26.39 euros, not counting 6.27 euros of warehouse handling.

Its DUA page lets you appoint Correos as your customs representative without a digital certificate; Correos still bills its charges if you clear the parcel yourself.

To clear a purchase over 150 euros or a gift over 45 euros yourself, file the AEAT’s form for individuals, the Declaración de envíos para particulares (AEAT, manual). It reads your NIE, the foreigner identification number, from the Cl@ve login or digital certificate you sign with, so get your NIE first. Then pay within 10 calendar days and send the carrier the release document.

In the Canary Islands, IGIC, the islands’ sales tax, spares imports up to 150 euros except alcohol, perfume, tobacco and nicotine products (Agencia Tributaria Canaria), but the 3 euro duty applies (AEAT FAQ).

Online purchases: VAT, the 3 euro duty and a 2 euro fee to come

Spain ended its VAT exemption for imports up to 22 euros on July 1, 2021 (VAT law, article 34). Rates are 21 percent, 10 percent for most foods and 4 percent for staples, books and medicines (articles 90 and 91), but on parcels up to 150 euros cleared by the carrier the AEAT applies 21 percent, books included (AEAT FAQ).

Regulation 2026/382 replaced the EU’s 150 euro duty relief on July 1, 2026 with a duty of 3 euros per item until July 1, 2028, when normal duties return, the Commission says. The AEAT applies it to online purchases up to 150 euros shipped from outside the EU, whatever the VAT scheme; what counts is where the goods ship from, not the website or currency. Customs claims it from whoever declares the parcel.

Under the binding definition in Delegated Regulation 2026/1022, one item is all goods in the parcel sharing tariff classification, description and, where declared, origin. In the Commission’s example, five T-shirts pay 3 euros and three T-shirts and a watch pay 6. Other wordings differ: per category of articles in the AEAT’s FAQ, per declaration line in its notice of April 30, 2026, per unique HS code, the tariff code, for USPS.

Regulation 2026/2108, published September 19, 2026, creates a non-refundable handling fee per item on goods sold at a distance, at any value, and the Commission’s delegated act of September 21 sets it at 2 euros. On September 26, 2026 that delegated act was not yet in the Official Journal. If neither Parliament nor Council objects within a 30-day window, shorter if both waive it, it takes effect on publication, and the fee applies 10 days later. The Commission announces the fee by November 1, 2026 and the AEAT for November; no official page says whether carriers will pass it on.

Goods made in the United States

Regulation 2026/1455 sets duty at 0 percent from July 1, 2026 to December 31, 2029 on the Annex I goods, such as clothing, footwear and toys, that originate in the United States. Origin decides, not the shipping country, and VAT still applies. The AEAT’s May 2026 note allows a preferential rate only in a full H1 declaration (a DUA), and IOSS goods pay the 3 euros anyway. No official page consulted says whether carriers claim the 0 percent on small parcels or what proof of origin you need.

Gifts and moving boxes: what enters tax free

A gift from a private person enters free of duty up to 45 euros per parcel if it is occasional, for your personal or family use and sent free of payment. Tobacco, alcohol and perfume have their own caps (Regulation 1186/2009, articles 25 to 27). Article 36 of the VAT law exempts the gift from VAT only if the whole parcel is worth 45 euros or less, with its own caps. To file such a gift yourself, the AEAT’s June 2026 FAQ still offers the H7 low-value declaration, but Delegated Regulation 2026/1022 now limits it to distance sales.

Above 45 euros:

• Duty. Items that would qualify if sent alone still enter duty free up to 45 euros in total, without splitting an item’s value (article 26). On the rest, the EU’s 2026 Combined Nomenclature, its customs tariff, sets a flat 2.5 percent when a parcel between private persons holds dutiable goods worth up to 700 euros; normally duty-free goods stay exempt, and you may ask for normal rates. No AEAT page consulted mentions this rate.
• VAT. Article 36 has no partial rule, unlike article 35 for travelers, so on its wording VAT falls on the whole value; no AEAT page consulted confirms it.

USPS says gifts between consumers worth over 45 and up to 150 euros have paid the flat 3 euros since July 1, 2026. EU texts limit that duty to IOSS goods and postal consignments, now defined as goods sold at a distance (Delegated Regulation 2026/1022), and the AEAT ties it to distance sales too; on our reading a gift is not a sale. Ask the carrier which rule it applied.

Your moving boxes

Belongings and household goods, except alcohol, tobacco, commercial vehicles and non-portable work equipment, enter free of duty and VAT on four conditions (AEAT, Regulation 1186/2009, VAT law, article 28):

1. 12 consecutive months living outside the EU;
2. ownership and use there for 6 months;
3. purchase with normal tax paid;
4. clearance within 12 months of settling.

Lending, renting or selling them within 12 months of clearance triggers duty even after notifying customs, and VAT unless justified. Claim the relief on a full H1 declaration with codes C01 and 101 (AEAT information note 08/2026) and attach:

• a valued list of the goods;
• proof of 12 months abroad;
• notice of your move to a U.S. authority, such as the IRS;
• your TIE (foreigner identity card) or its application, though a telework visa holder needs none at first (Washington consulate), and no page consulted names a substitute;
• your entry on the padrón, the town register.

USPS requires a disinfection certificate for used clothing (Spain listing); cars have their own steps (importing a car).

Restricted items and USPS forms

• Medicines. The USPS listing for Spain relays Spain’s ban on mailing medicines to individuals, and the medicines law bans selling prescription medicines by mail. The AEMPS, the medicines agency, lets travelers carry up to 3 months of treatment, with its permit for narcotics and psychotropics, but none of its pages consulted, Circular 1/2025 included, covers parcels. For a medicine not authorized in Spain, a hospital or regional health department can request exceptional access (Royal Decree 1015/2009).
• Food. The agriculture ministry’s note of April 8, 2026 refuses meat, dairy and anything containing them in personal parcels, seizing dairy outright; fish products pass up to 20 kilograms and other animal products up to 2 kilograms, with conditions.
• Tobacco and e-cigarettes. The same note admits them between private persons up to 150 euros, but USPS refuses cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes in international mail (International Mail Manual, 136).

USPS requires an electronically generated customs form (IMM 123). Its Spain listing names PS Form 2976 for First-Class Package International Service, up to 4 pounds, and 2976-A for Priority Mail International, up to 44 pounds. It wants the 6-digit HS code of each article and an invoice for personal shipments of $300 or more, and bars playing cards and foods containing saccharin. Vague descriptions such as “gifts” can get a parcel returned (USPS). The USPS alerts updated on September 25, 2026 listed no suspension for Spain.

Official letters and your U.S. mail

Certified letters

If you are out, anyone over 14 at home who identifies themselves may accept a notification; otherwise a second and last attempt follows within 3 days, under article 42 of Ley 39/2015, the administrative procedure law. After two failed attempts, Correos holds an administrative notification at the post office for up to 1 month under Royal Decree 1829/1999, article 42.3, kept in force by Royal Decree 437/2024, and leaves an arrival notice (aviso de llegada). A Correos notice form printed in 2017, on the Catastro site, says 7 calendar days: plan on 7.

A notification that fails is published in the BOE, the official gazette, and counts as made, and when the same notice also reaches you electronically, the earlier date counts (articles 41 and 44). After an AEAT notice in the BOE you have 15 calendar days to appear (General Tax Law, article 112).

Electronic notices

Electronic notices sit in the sender’s e-office or the DEHú (Dirección Electrónica Habilitada única), the state’s single inbox, which needs no registration: log in with Cl@ve or a digital certificate and add up to 5 emails for alerts (AEAT). Mi Carpeta Ciudadana, the citizen’s online folder, lists pending notices but, its help says, cannot open them; the government’s Punto de Acceso General and Social Security say it can. When electronic notification is compulsory or chosen, a notice unopened for 10 calendar days counts as rejected and the case goes on, email alert or not (Ley 39/2015, articles 41 and 43).

Individuals may choose paper or electronic and switch at any time (articles 14 and 41). Exceptions, and one struck down:

• Social Security: it already notifies birth and childcare, pregnancy risk and breastfeeding risk claimants electronically, with the same 10 days (Order ISM/903/2020); since September 1, 2026, Order ISM/541/2026 adds sick leave claimants and any notice about permanent disability.
• Traffic: the electronic road address (DEV) of the DGT, the traffic authority, is voluntary for individuals, but once you join, DGT fines arrive only there (DGT).
• Immigration: the Supreme Court annulled, on July 8, 2026 and again on July 29, article 197.2 of the immigration regulation, which required electronic dealings for listed applications, such as non-lucrative residence renewals; a new regulation may impose them for some procedures.

Your U.S. mail

USPS takes a change of address abroad only at a Post Office, with identity proofing before you leave (USPS), and forwards only First-Class and Priority Mail cards and letters without merchandise (Domestic Mail Manual 507). Send the IRS Form 8822. The SSA cannot mail a benefit verification letter abroad; print it online (see Social Security in Spain).

Your next step: set up logins and addresses before the first parcel

First, register for Cl@ve, which accepts a foreign cell phone number (Cl@ve), or, as a non-resident, get an FNMT (national mint) digital certificate at a Spanish consulate (AEAT). Then open the DEHú and add your email. Report each new address to the AEAT within 3 months, or 1 month if self-employed (Royal Decree 1065/2007, article 17); until you do, the change has no effect for the AEAT (General Tax Law, article 48). The DGT wants it within 15 days and says the Punto de Acceso General can update several bodies at once. Foreign residents must also inform the police within 1 month (immigration regulation, article 213); no page consulted says that update suffices.

With Cl@ve and your NIE you can clear a parcel yourself. Use a customs representative for household goods or anything held for controls, and a lawyer or gestor administrativo, a licensed paperwork agent, to contest a sanction or tax assessment.

The Spain Navigator puts every step of your move to Spain in order, from the visa to settling in.