Nicaragua customs in 2026: duties, shipping and what changed

Nicaraguan customs (la aduana, run by the Dirección General de Aduanas) charges import duty plus a 15% sales tax called IVA on most things you bring in.^5,6 What changed is the part most guides still get wrong: the old retiree law that let pensionados bring household goods and a car in duty-free was repealed in August 2024.^1,3 If you read an older page that quotes a duty-free dollar limit, treat it as history.

This guide explains how customs works now, the three real ways to ship household goods, why storage and timing hurt more than the duty, what to know about a vehicle, and how to get packages and online orders. We run a shipping service from Miami to San Juan del Sur with our partner Fast Pack Shipping, so much of this comes from clearing boxes every week. Where no public number exists, we say so instead of guessing.

The short answer

• Plan on paying duty and 15% IVA. Duty runs from 0% to 35% depending on the item, and the informal rule of thumb is about 30% in total for goods with no exemption.^5,6
• Don’t count on a duty-free allowance. Ley 694 was repealed on August 2, 2024.¹ Whether any exemption exists for new residents is still unconfirmed, so ask an attorney before you ship.
• Storage and delays cost more than surprises in the duty. Get your documents there before the container does.⁸
• A broker clears it for you. Never ship a vehicle or a container without a written quote that says “to the door.”

Nicaraguan customs at a glance, 2026

15% IVA on top of duty for non-exempt goods⁶

0–35% the range for import duty, by item⁶

4–5 wks typical clearance for household goods, per one movers’ guide⁸

Aug 2, 2024 the day Ley 694 was repealed¹

What changed in 2024, and why it matters before you ship

For years, Nicaragua’s retiree law (Ley 694) was the reason people shipped a container. Pensionados and rentistas could bring in household goods, and one vehicle, without paying import duty. That is the benefit most older articles still describe, including the previous version of this one.

Ley 1210, the new tourism law, took effect when it was published on August 2, 2024. Article 38 repeals Ley 694 by name, and the text we read has no carve-out that keeps its customs benefits alive.¹ Professional tax alerts covered the new law when it was published.² A few months later, Ley 1228 (published November 29, 2024) reformed the general migration law and moved retirees to a renewable temporary residence.³ Two independent write-ups say plainly that the duty-free household-goods and vehicle benefits ended with the repeal, and that new retirees now pay ordinary import taxes.^3,4

Why this matters first: your residency status decides whether any customs benefit applies, and the shipping date should follow your paperwork, not the other way around. The safest budget assumes you pay full duty and IVA.

How Nicaraguan customs works: duty, IVA and process

The mechanics are simple even when the answers aren’t. Customs values your goods at their CIF value, meaning cost plus insurance and freight to the Nicaraguan port. Duty is a percentage of that value. IVA, the 15% sales tax, is added on top. One shipper’s guide describes the structure as duty from 0% to 35% plus a flat 15% IVA,⁶ and a long-running expat forum lands on roughly 30% combined for ordinary goods, with a warning that three online calculators gave three different answers for the same laptop.⁵ Treat 30% as a planning number, not a tariff.

Three things worth knowing about the process:

• You clear through a licensed broker (agente aduanero). “Nacionalizar” is the local word for clearing goods into the country, and the broker files for you.
• Valuation disputes happen. Locals call them dudas de valor, and they are a known source of delay.¹⁴ The answer is a clear invoice, not a clever number.
• Some goods need a permit before they ship. Firearms and explosives go through the National Police, medicines and cosmetics through MINSA’s pharmaceutical office, plants and seeds through IPSA, most processed foods through MINSA food inspection, telecom gear through TELCOR, and gas cylinders through the fire department.⁷

Declare honestly. Customs fraud (defraudación aduanera) is treated differently from smuggling and carries fines.¹⁵ Under-declaring a container to save a few hundred dollars is the cheapest way to turn a smooth clearance into a long one.

Three ways to ship household goods

Most people think there is one way to do this. There are three, and the right one depends on how much you own and how soon you need it.

The door-to-door figure is what our clients report for a 20-foot container, and it is our own number, not a published tariff. It is a planning range, and we ask for a written quote before anyone commits. The published port-to-port ranges come from one forwarder’s planning estimates and leave out pickup, customs, duty and the truck to the door.⁹ That is why a cheap-looking “to Nicaragua” quote can be misleading: confirm that it means your address, not the port.

For boxes rather than furniture, our shipping service runs Miami to San Juan del Sur, shipped by Fast Pack Shipping, a partner company. We send a written quote first, and you can follow your package on our tracking page once it moves. If you’re moving a full house, ask us and we’ll tell you honestly whether a container or boxes make more sense.

What to ship, and what to leave behind

From years of unpacking other people’s containers, here is what we tell almost everyone:

• Don’t ship anything that costs less to replace here than the duty and freight will cost you.
• Do ship tools, good kitchen knives, books in small boxes, and anything sentimental you’d hate to replace. Photograph it all first.
• Keep new items together and keep the receipts. A box of identical new items looks like inventory.
• Pack one “open first” box so your first week isn’t 200 unmarked boxes.
• Skip big electronics and appliances unless you love them. They are easy to damage and often cheaper to replace than to clear.

The hidden cost: storage and timing, not duty

The duty is a number you can calculate. The cost that blindsides people is time. A container that arrives before the paperwork is ready sits in port storage, and storage is billed by the day. The best-documented example we found is an older anecdote from a shared load: a $600–$650 tax estimate on the spot became a $1,013 final bill after about 12 days of storage and insurance.¹³ It’s old and it was a partial load, so use it as a warning, not a rate. In our own shipments, we’ve seen storage of $30–$80 a day on a 20-foot container, which is our experience rather than a published tariff.

One movers’ guide says standard clearance for household goods takes four to five working weeks, that original documents should reach your agent 10 days before the shipment arrives, and that the pre-alert is due 15 days before arrival.⁸ That guide is from 2023, so use it as a shape, not a promise. Here is how those pieces stack up on the longer end of the sourced ranges:

Corinto, where much household freight lands, is mixed news. It received new cranes and equipment in March 2025,¹² and one tracker showed a median anchorage stay of about a day and a half in May 2025, though with a 14-day spike in December 2024.¹¹ A site notice also lists a 5.9% general rate increase from January 1, 2026, without saying what it covers.¹⁰ Our read: port speed is improving, but your own documents are still the main variable.

The mistakes we see most

A good broker answers a request for more documents in days, explains a valuation in writing and has a real office. In our experience the good ones charge roughly $400–$900 per household shipment on top of government fees, and the ones who quote far less tend to cost more in delays. That range is our own number, not a published fee.

Shipping a vehicle

Vehicles are where the repeal bites hardest, because the old benefit was one duty-free car. We can’t quote a current duty rate for a vehicle, because we couldn’t source one, so we won’t guess. Ask your broker for a written assessment before you buy a shipping slot.

The age limit is where sources disagree. A guide on importing vehicles (from 2021 and 2022) cites a general 10-year limit from the manufacture date.¹⁶ The U.S. government’s trade guide, last published in December 2025, says vehicles five years old or older are prohibited.¹⁷ We can’t tell you which one is current. Confirm the current limit with your broker before you ship, and don’t average the two.

• Price a local purchase against the full import bill (shipping, duty, IVA, broker, trucking). Used cars here hold their value well, so many clients buy locally.
• Check whether the vehicle’s year is allowed before you pay for transport.
• Ask what documents and insurance the broker needs, and get the quote in writing.

Not sure a vehicle is worth shipping? Talk to our shipping team and we’ll run through it with you.

Packages and online orders

Day-to-day orders are a different problem from a move. Amazon doesn’t reliably ship to Nicaragua at checkout. The usual workaround is a US forwarding address (services like Global Shopaholics, ColisExpat and MyUS do this) or a local mailbox company such as NicaBox or TransExpress, which reportedly offers pickup in Managua or Rivas for an extra fee.^18,19 We couldn’t find a current price, so ask each one for a written quote and confirm Rivas is still offered.

By post, USPS Priority Mail International (up to 66 lb) and First-Class Package International (up to 4 lb) remain available. USPS Global Express Guaranteed has been suspended to Nicaragua since September 29, 2024.⁶

In our experience, duty and IVA apply to online orders too, and the same permit rules apply to restricted goods.⁷ For anyone in San Juan del Sur or on the Tola coast, the practical tip is simple: use a forwarder that delivers or holds for pickup near you, and don’t order anything battery-heavy, medicinal or regulated without checking first.

Document checklist: what to prepare before you ship

Requirements vary by broker and by your residency status, so treat this as the list we start from. Confirm it with whoever clears your shipment.

• The bill of lading (sea) or air waybill, original copy
• A typed, itemized packing list, box by box, with values
• A copy of your passport, with the entry stamp visible
• Your residency papers, if you have them, and your attorney’s written view on any exemption
• A notarized letter authorizing your broker to clear on your behalf
• Purchase invoices for anything new
• Permits for any restricted category, obtained before the goods ship⁷
• Photos of what you packed, saved to the cloud

Putting it together is the same checklist as the rest of your move. Our moving checklist shows where shipping fits, and the cost of living guide shows what a first year costs once your things arrive.

Frequently asked questions

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