HMRC U-turn on tax on returning boats

[goeasy123]

Have you seen this.... GOOGLE.....UK boat owners left stranded in Europe and leisure marine industry faces turmoil due to Government inaction

Although it's not absolutely clear it looks like HMRC want to charge tax on boats returning to the UK after 3 years.... from the EU as well as the ROW.

 

[GrahamD]

UK boat owners left stranded in Europe and leisure marine industry faces turmoil due to Government inaction

What a rip-off. You have paid UK VAT on your boat, you have taken it perfectly legally to the EU for more than three years, and the HMRC now decide that you need to pay VAT on it again if you want to bring it back.

At last, a tangible benefit of Brexit; the government’s ability to make UK citizens pay tax twice on their possessions.

Time to write to my ERG-infatuated Tory MP, I think, and ask him to justify how fair this Brexit windfall is.

 

[greeny]

Fallout from Brexit.
When the nation voted to leave, things like this were not un -predictable to a thinking, intelligent person. But still the people voted to leave.
There will be many more instances like this where the people get a raw deal or just plain "get stuffed" I am sure.

 

[sailaboutvic]

Fallout from Brexit.
When the nation voted to leave, things like this were not un -predictable to a thinking, intelligent person. But still the people voted to leave.
There will be many more instances like this where the people get a raw deal or just plain "get stuffed" I am sure.

I am sure your right , all this money government are spending on the virus as to come from some where and it's the likes of you and me it be coming from and not only boats .

 

[Beneteau381]

Have you seen this.... GOOGLE.....UK boat owners left stranded in Europe and leisure marine industry faces turmoil due to Government inaction

Although it's not absolutely clear it looks like HMRC want to charge tax on boats returning to the UK after 3 years.... from the EU as well as the ROW.

Ive contacted my MP and he and several others are going to get on it, I suggest others do the same. I provided the RYA link to them.

 

[goeasy123]

Ive contacted my MP and he and several others are going to get on it, I suggest others do the same. I provided the RYA link to them.

Thanks for the constructive response. I'll do the same MP thing.

I think we should go further and get RGR abolished for returns from the rest of the world as well as the EU27. It's a ridiculous and unfair tax.

 

[Beneteau381]

Thanks for the constructive response. I'll do the same MP thing.

I think we should go further and get RGR abolished for returns from the rest of the world as well as the EU27. It's a ridiculous and unfair tax.

So far Ive got Simon Baynes, James Davies, David Jones involved and copied in Boris.

 

[RupertW]

So far Ive got Simon Baynes, James Davies, David Jones involved and copied in Boris.

This is not a U-turn as some of us have been endlessly saying. The government made a vague promise but the advice from CA, RYA and HMRC have been clear that unless the law is changed then boats will be either UK VAT paid or EU VAT paid but never both. All the times on this forum that people have blindly banged on about T2Ls and denied the problem. There is no U turn and no surprise but hopefully this will convince a few more people.

 

[st599]

This is not a U-turn as some of us have been endlessly saying. The government made a vague promise but the advice from CA, RYA and HMRC have been clear that unless the law is changed then boats will be either UK VAT paid or EU VAT paid but never both. All the times on this forum that people have blindly banged on about T2Ls and denied the problem. There is no U turn and no surprise but hopefully this will convince a few more people.

It's not a u turn on the application of the tax, but on the date. HMRC originally said 3 years after end of transition but now say 3 years after export. So now many have to get boats back by December.

 

[nortada]

This is not a U-turn as some of us have been endlessly saying. The government made a vague promise but the advice from CA, RYA and HMRC have been clear that unless the law is changed then boats will be either UK VAT paid or EU VAT paid but never both. All the times on this forum that people have blindly banged on about T2Ls and denied the problem. There is no U turn and no surprise but hopefully this will convince a few more people.

Then most who are not already on their way back to the UK have probably 'miss the boat'.

If I understand what is being said, come 1st Jan 21, if your boat has been out of the UK for more than 3 years, on return you will be liable for VAT on the current value of the boat?

Conversely, any boat in the UK on 31st Dec 20, would be liable for VAT if, subsequently, it ventures into the EU?

Like many others, I anticipate, when it becomes time to swallow the anchor, rather than look to return the boat to the UK, we will possible sell in situ, in the EU. As the boat will be deemed EU VAT paid, the new owner would not have any VAT liability so a Brit purchaser could buy my boat free of any VAT liability unless it is taken back to the UK?

This will make an UK VAT paid boats more expensive than my boat. As the EU boat market is bigger than the UK market, when it comes to sell, what is there not to like.

Mind you the post Brexit £/€, exchange rates could make a monkey of all of this speculation.

I would be interesting to know what percentage of owners in the EU expect to sell overseas rather than return the boat to the EU.

For reasons that are obvious, we are concentrating on boats but I assume the same situation will exist for all goods being repatriated.

T2L, which was always irrelevant, never came into this debate, it was just a means of meeting local demands in Portugal.

 

[Kelpie]

Can somebody clarify for me whether this affects somebody who is cruising continuously, i.e. travelling through several countries in the course of a year and not returning to any of them- or does it only affect people who are spending a lot of time (years) in one particular country?

 

[st599]

Can somebody clarify for me whether this affects somebody who is cruising continuously, i.e. travelling through several countries in the course of a year and not returning to any of them- or does it only affect people who are spending a lot of time (years) in one particular country?

RYA Brexit forum said it would apply to a boat that had been exported from the UK and reimported after greater than 3 years.

 

[Lucy52]

And presumably a UK VAT paid boat that spends more that eighteen months in the EU without leaving to reset the clock would become liable for EU VAT?

 

[nortada]

And presumably a UK VAT paid boat that spends more that eighteen months in the EU without leaving to reset the clock would become liable for EU VAT?

That’s my understanding but if that UK boat was in the EU on 31/12/20 it would retain it’s EU VAT status, indefinitely.

 

[Kelpie]

RYA Brexit forum said it would apply to a boat that had been exported from the UK and reimported after greater than 3 years.

And, excuse my ignorance, at what point will a boat have been exported? Is that something that happens when you stay in a new country for a certain length of time, or something that happens when you leave your home country for a certain length of time?

 

[longjohnsilver]

And, excuse my ignorance, at what point will a boat have been exported? Is that something that happens when you stay in a new country for a certain length of time, or something that happens when you leave your home country for a certain length of time?

I guess it’s after it’s been out of uk waters for over 3 years.

 

[Graham376]

This is not a U-turn as some of us have been endlessly saying. The government made a vague promise but the advice from CA, RYA and HMRC have been clear that unless the law is changed then boats will be either UK VAT paid or EU VAT paid but never both. All the times on this forum that people have blindly banged on about T2Ls and denied the problem. There is no U turn and no surprise but hopefully this will convince a few more people.

When I spoke to HMRC VAT Import and Export dept. some months ago, was assured the 3 year limit wouldn't apply to privately owned VAT paid UK boats returning to the UK under the same ownership after Brexit, just as has happened in the past.

Even if the time limit becomes 3 years, boats can be EU VAT paid by being there on 31/12 and still retain their UK VAT status for the 3 years. Those of us resident in the EU can always return to the UK at the end of 3 years for a short period to retain UK status and then back again to EU for another 3 years. Returning to the UK from EU will be no different to returning from a circumnavigation or any other third country.

 

[sailaboutvic]

That’s my understanding but if that UK boat was in the EU on 31/12/20 it would retain it’s EU VAT status, indefinitely.

After what the UK doing I not too sure indefinitely is right , as we seeing things as changing a lot when it comes to what government say and do .

 

[sailaboutvic]

When I spoke to HMRC VAT Import and Export dept. some months ago, was assured the 3 year limit wouldn't apply to privately owned VAT paid UK boats returning to the UK under the same ownership after Brexit, just as has happened in the past.

Even if the time limit becomes 3 years, boats can be EU VAT paid by being there on 31/12 and still retain their UK VAT status for the 3 years. Those of us resident in the EU can always return to the UK at the end of 3 years for a short period to retain UK status and then back again to EU for another 3 years. Returning to the UK from EU will be no different to returning from a circumnavigation or any other third country.

Here a question how do they know you returned to the UK and left again , come to that how do they know you even left ?
What stop me taken the boat back on a busy summer day entering the UK finding a marina berth and staying ?

 

[[178529]]

Here a question how do they know you returned to the UK and left again , come to that how do they know you even left ?
What stop me taken the boat back on a busy summer day entering the UK finding a marina berth and staying ?

I think there you have the answer.