Moving to Poland- Best way to ship belongings w/out VAT tax

Hello. My name is Brandon. I am from San Diego California and am moving to Poland. I was wondering the best way to get my personal belongings there. Are my personal belongings subject to VAT taxes if I ship them? Is it better to ship them or to pay extra and check the extra luggage at the airport? Also I am going to buy an iMAC desktop (25lbs) and am wondering what the best way to get it into Poland without paying VAT on it. Can I pack it in a suitcase? Will customs check this? Will it get stolen? If i ship it can I claim it as a gift to avoid taxes, or claim its an old computer and repack it in a plain box? Thank you very much, any help would be appreciated.

All I can say is: undervalue it.

i'd ship everything via one of the polish shipping companies.. it's pennies on the dollar.. very cheap.

i wouldn't pack a computer in a suitcase.. it will get damaged. besides, in poland the electricity is 220/240V instead of 110V.

hey!
i m going to move to wroclaw from ireland and was wondering too what s the cheaper to move belongings over htere?heavy ones!(i don t care about the vat)if somebody know a truck company doing wroclaw- galway?

i moved all i had from Canada. 200kg with me, and 300kg with a shipping company. I never had to show anything to anyone.

your personal belongings shouldn't be subjected to VAT.

I had 2 laptops in suitcases...no damage

4 large suitcases & hockey goalie bag filled.... nothing damaged. i only had 1 flight change in Amsterdam

I've shipped probably close to 1000kg of things from Canada to PL with no VAT issues at all.

also the comp will be fine as the power is converted from 110V or 220V to 12V or less. you just need to look for the 110~240V symbol on it.. and u should be fine.

I don't think you need to worry about VAT, but you might need to pay "clo", which is customs duty. When I shipped my computer to Poland, it got held in customs and I was told that I would need to pay clo. I was able to get out of it, in this situation, by getting an official-looking letter from my school director saying I was a teacher and that I needed this for my work.

The Polish shipping companies are a good idea. You can put a low declared value on a package, and most come through without being checked. (Be careful about what you write as the contents of the package--for example, instead of "computer" write "used office equipment"). Remember, though, if you package should be lost of damaged, they shipping company is only on the hook for the declared value!