Parcels UK to Argentina: Couriers, Customs and What Gets Stuck

For anything that matters, send it by courier. DHL, FedEx or UPS take 3-8 working days from the UK to Buenos Aires and clear Argentine customs for you. Since December 2024 a personal shipment worth up to US$400 pays no import duty, only 21% IVA (Argentine VAT), and the limit is US$3,000 and 50 kg per shipment. Royal Mail is cheaper, but it hands the parcel to Correo Argentino (the state post office), where it can sit for weeks. Parcels usually get stuck for one of five reasons: medicines, food, batteries, several identical items, or a recipient with no Argentine tax ID.

Courier or Royal Mail

Royal Mail changes its prices every April and couriers add fuel surcharges, so get a quote using the real weight and box size. Couriers charge by volumetric weight, so a large, light box of toys costs more than the scales suggest.

Letters with a Royal Mail international stamp take 2-6 weeks and are not tracked. For anything you cannot replace, such as apostilled certificates, signed forms or a new bank card, pay for a courier document envelope. It takes 3-5 working days, and documents pay no duty.

Argentine customs rules for personal parcels

Courier parcels come in under the small-shipments regime (régimen de pequeños envíos), which was rewritten in December 2024:

• The limit is US$3,000 and 50 kg per shipment, for personal use, not resale.
• Up to US$400 declared value, there is no import duty. You pay 21% IVA plus the courier's clearance charge.
• Above US$400, you pay import duty on the amount over US$400, at a rate that depends on the product, plus IVA.
• Books are exempt from IVA in Argentina.
• A present is taxed like a purchase. Argentina has nothing like the UK's £39 gift relief.

Postal parcels follow Correo Argentino's own procedure, and the notice it sends states what you owe. ARCA (the tax and customs agency, formerly AFIP) publishes the current limits.

Receiving a courier parcel, step by step

1. Get a tax ID first. Couriers clear parcels in your name using a CUIL (work and social security number), a CUIT (tax number) or a CDI (a tax ID for foreigners without a DNI). A CDI can be issued on your passport: see how to get a CUIL or CDI.
2. Give the sender your details. They need your full name exactly as on your passport, your street and number, piso and depto (floor and flat) and barrio. They also need your CPA (código postal argentino: a letter, four digits and three letters, which you can look up on Correo Argentino's site) and an Argentine mobile number. If your building has a portero (doorman), the portero can usually sign for it.
3. The sender declares honestly. The declaration needs a specific description, whether each item is new or used, the quantity and the value in pounds. 'Clothes' invites questions; '3 children's cotton T-shirts, new, £24' does not.
4. The courier emails you one to three working days after the parcel lands at Ezeiza. It asks you to confirm your ID and pay the taxes online by card or bank transfer.
5. Delivery follows one to three working days later in Buenos Aires, and takes longer in the provinces.

Three things go wrong. With no tax ID, the parcel waits and storage charges start. A value that looks too low gets revalued by customs at its own prices. Goods that need a permit are held (see below).

Receiving by Royal Mail and Correo Argentino

Royal Mail hands the parcel to Correo Argentino at Ezeiza, and the UK tracking usually stops updating there. Small, low-value parcels often reach your door with nothing to pay. Otherwise you get an aviso (notice) by email or post saying that the Aduana is holding it.

1. Read the notice. It says whether you can declare and pay online and have the parcel delivered, or must go to the counter it names.
2. Take your passport or DNI, the notice and proof of value (the sender's receipt or a photo of it).
3. Customs may open the parcel in front of you and set the tax.
4. Pay, then collect the parcel or wait for delivery.

Act before the deadline printed on the notice, because unclaimed parcels are returned or treated as abandoned. Allow weeks, not days.

What gets stuck

Worked example

Grandparents in Leeds want a birthday parcel to reach their grandchild in Belgrano. It weighs 2 kg and holds new clothes and a Lego set worth £120 (about US$160). The parents have CUILs.

• Courier through a UK broker: about £70 and five working days. The parcel is under US$400, so there is no duty. IVA at 21% of US$160 is about US$34, roughly ARS 52,000 at ARS 1,545 to the dollar, plus the courier's clearance charge. The parents pay online, and the parcel arrives before the birthday.
• Royal Mail International Standard: about £30. It might arrive in three weeks with nothing to pay, or sit at Ezeiza for six weeks while a notice waits for action. That is the wrong choice when there is a date to hit.
• In a relative's suitcase: this costs nothing extra and arrives the next day. New goods count towards the traveller allowance: US$500 per person arriving by air (September 2026; check ARCA's traveller rules before flying).

The courier is the most reliable option, and the suitcase is the cheapest.

Sort this out before you leave the UK

• Give DWP's International Pension Centre, HMRC and your banks your Argentine address. DWP posts life certificates to pensioners abroad, and if you do not return one, your payments can be suspended. Send yours back by courier. See UK State Pension from Argentina.
• Keep a UK correspondence address, either with family or through a mail-scanning service. Use it for bank cards and anything a UK firm will not post abroad, and have the post forwarded by courier in batches.
• Get documents apostilled in the UK and carry them with you: see apostilling UK documents.
• Pack UK-only toiletries, chargers and spare prescriptions in your luggage rather than planning to have them posted.

Mistakes that cost time or money

• Writing 'gift' and a token value on the declaration. Being a gift earns no relief in Argentina, and a value that looks wrong gets revalued.
• Using Royal Mail for anything with a deadline.
• Arriving without a CUIL or CDI and then expecting a courier parcel.
• Posting medicines, which are routinely held.
• Leaving a Correo Argentino notice until after its deadline.

When this page does not apply

If you are a new resident moving household goods, boxes or furniture, a separate customs regime applies, with its own paperwork: see shipping belongings from the UK. If you plan to import goods to sell, you count as an importer rather than a private recipient and must register with ARCA.