ToR1 form: how long it takes, and what if it's late
What we saw of the ToR1 form on our own moves, and your choices if the URN is late.
A ToR1 form can come back from HMRC in two days or take weeks. HMRC publishes no processing time. On the moves we handled in 2025 most approvals came within three weeks, so plan for up to six. Transfer of residence relief lets you bring your own belongings into the UK without paying import VAT or duty, and the ToR1 form is how you apply for it. This guide sets out how long it took on our moves and who qualifies. It shows how to fill in the form, even before you have a UK address, and how to check on it once it is sent. And it gives the three choices you still have if your URN is not back by moving day.
How long the ToR1 form took to come back on our moves
These are the moves we handled between July and November 2025 where the customer told us two dates: the day they applied and the day their approval came. Two came back in about two days. One took ten to twelve days, one fourteen, and one about sixteen, after HMRC asked the customer to send the application again. One took up to twenty-nine days; we know only that it was somewhere inside that. And one, a move from France in October 2025, was still not back ten days later, when the van was due.
That is seven moves, not a survey, and yours can be quicker or slower than any of them. It is why we tell people to plan for up to six weeks. None of ours took that long, but nobody can promise you yours will not. HMRC told one customer on the phone to expect two to three weeks. She had her approval two days later.
What we told two customers too late
The waiting is not what went wrong for our customers in 2025. What went wrong is what we told them late.
A customer moving from France in October 2025 applied for his ToR1 form the day we spoke, for a move ten days away. We sent him the list of documents that day without the date they were due. He found out from us two days later that it was the next day. A woman bringing her father home from Spain in September 2025 had her relief refused. She agreed to pay the VAT and duty. Only then did we ask her for a second inventory, every item listed with its value, which is what customs needs when VAT is paid. She asked us why it was so complicated. It would have been simpler if we had told her at the start what each route needs.
That is why this guide sets out each route, and what it needs, before you need it.
Do you qualify for transfer of residence relief?
Transfer of residence relief is for people moving their home to the UK. HMRC's tests are plain. You must have lived outside the UK for at least 12 consecutive months. You must have had your belongings for at least 6 months before you move, and they must arrive within 12 months of you coming to live in the UK. Once they are here, you cannot sell, lend, hire out or give them away for 12 months.
Some things never qualify: alcohol, tobacco, and anything from a second or holiday home. If you have lived abroad for less than a year, or you are coming to study, the rules are different, so tell us at the first call. If you are moving from the EU to Northern Ireland, you do not need to apply at all.
How do you fill in the ToR1 form?
The ToR1 form is an online form on GOV.UK, and you sign in to use it; the link is in the sources below. It asks for proof of who you are and of where you live now, the address you are moving to, and a list of what you are bringing. That list is less work than most people expect. HMRC wants your belongings by group, such as books, clothes and kitchen things, not every item named. It does not want photos, prices or brands. Estimates are fine, and a typed list, a spreadsheet or a photo of a handwritten list will all do.
When HMRC approves the application, it gives you a unique reference number, the URN. The URN goes on your import declaration with the customs code for the relief. Without it, HMRC says, you risk a bill for import duties and administration charges on your belongings. So tell us the day it arrives.
Can you apply before you have a UK address?
Yes. Often a customer has no tenancy signed yet when they should be applying, and HMRC does not make you wait for one. You can send a statement from the person you will be living with and proof of their address. Evidence of temporary accommodation, such as a hotel booking, also works. Your belongings do not have to go to that address afterwards: they can wait in storage, as long as they arrive within those 12 months.
The one mistake you cannot undo: once you have sent the application, HMRC lets you add to it but not change it. Check the address, and everything else you have written, before you send it.
How do you check the status of your ToR1 form?
You cannot look it up. GOV.UK has no tracker for the ToR1 form and HMRC publishes no processing time, so the approval simply arrives when it is ready. The ToR1 page sends questions to HMRC's imports and exports helpline, linked in the sources below. On our moves most approvals came within three weeks. So if yours has taken longer than that and your date is close, call the helpline, and tell us the same day. The three choices below are easier to make with a week in hand than with a day.
How long is a ToR1 form approval valid for?
GOV.UK gives no expiry date for an approval. The time limit that counts is HMRC's: your belongings must arrive within 12 months of you coming to live in the UK. So an approval does not let you wait as long as you like. If you moved to the UK some time ago and are only now bringing the rest of your things, tell us before you book. Once that year has passed the relief may not cover them.
What if your URN isn't back by moving day?
Without your URN, your belongings do not cross the border on the relief route. You can book before it arrives. A customer moving from Brittany to Plymouth in November 2025 asked whether he could, and his approval came back two days later, before he had even placed his order. If yours is still not back when the van is due, you have three choices.
- Move your dates. Ask for new dates from your move page; it is free with the notice your booking states. So ask as soon as you see the URN will be late. Your belongings stay with you until it comes.
- Pay the VAT and duty and claim it back. Your move keeps its date, and customs charges VAT and duty on your belongings and the transport. Once HMRC approves your relief, you ask HMRC to repay it.
- Go ahead of your belongings. Leave them packed in storage or with someone you trust, and we collect them from there once the URN arrives. You do not need to be there, but someone does need to bring them out to the van.
The customer from France chose the second. He was leaving his flat that week and could not wait. So he paid the VAT and duty to keep his date, and he can claim it back from HMRC with his approval.
What happens if HMRC refuses your relief?
HMRC decides, not us, and it can say no. If it does, VAT and duty are due on your belongings, and your move goes on the paid route. That route needs an itemised inventory, each item with its value, if your goods are worth more than a set amount, which your document pack states. It is the second inventory we asked the customer from Spain for, and now you know before you need it.
Without relief, HMRC charges VAT at the standard rate on the total value of your goods plus shipping, insurance and any duty you owe. Customs duty comes at a rate that depends on the type of goods and where they came from. You pay it to HMRC, not to us. If you believe you did qualify, you can still apply for the relief afterwards. If HMRC grants it, you claim back what you paid.
What to have ready before you apply
Before you start your ToR1 form, have these ready.
- Check HMRC's tests: a year living abroad, six months with your belongings, arrival within a year of moving.
- Proof of who you are, and of where you live now.
- A UK address, or a statement from the person you will live with, or a hotel booking.
- A list of your belongings by group, such as books, clothes and kitchen things. Estimates are fine.
- Read the whole application before you send it: you can add to it later, but not change it.
- Tell us the day you apply, and the day your URN arrives.
- If your date is close, ask me about the three choices before you book, not after.
Sources
- GOV.UK: transfer of residence to the UK, who qualifies and what is excluded
- GOV.UK: application for transfer of residence relief (ToR1)
- GOV.UK: imports and exports enquiries, the helpline the ToR1 page sends questions to
- GOV.UK: moving personal belongings to the UK, and what you pay if you do not qualify