Taking Furniture into Baja from CA

We would like to take some furniture into Baja from California for our vacation home we have just bought in Baja. Can anyone advise us what the procedure is? Will we be able to get it into the border? Can we rent a one way Budget van from CA to Mexico? Will we have to pay tax on our own old furniture to take it into Mexico? Any advice would be gratefully received! Thank you.

[bajagirl]

You can take your old furniture into Mexico. There are two ways to go about this. One, is to go through the declarations lane in TJ or Otay, and expect to pay some tax on furnishings over $100 in value. If the furniture is used, they are pretty fair. However, if the furniture is new, or you have anything still in its original packaging, you will be charged tax on what the approximate new value of the item is. I would recommend not bringing the receipt although they will ask for it, because they will charge you less then what you paid for the items. The other option is if you are retiring down to baja, and are moving a large amount of furniture, then you can go to the Mexican Embassy on India St. in San Diego and file a log (Menaje), of items you plan on taking into Mexico. You are allowed to file this only once. You must list each individual item, such as 1-Krups toaster, 1-Oster blender, etc. If the item has a serial number, it must also be identified. Then, each time you bring a load of furniture, they will cross the items off of the list. I just moved down a whole house full of furniture and brand new appliances in June and July. The trip with the new washer/dryer, dishwasher, stove, fridge, cost us about $175 dollars in taxes. On new products the tax they charge is 18%. As an American, you can each bring $50 of new product into Mexico daily. So, the best way to do this is to make many trips, each time bringing something with you. Each subsequent trip we make with used beds, couches, tables, etc., they just waved us through. Put any new stuff underneath groceries, blankets etc. As a Mexican citizen, like my husband is, he can bring up to $300/day of new products into Mexico before being charge tax. Hope this helps.

Thank you so much! All of the stuff is used as I've bought new stuff to put in our house in California!!! Can you advise me - can we rent a truck like U Haul in California to take to Ensenda to return after a couple of days? Somehow, I don't think all our furniture would fit into the back of our Mustang!!