Another RCD question - this time Spain

[eebygum]

Apologies for another question on RCD....

One of the two boats I'm looking at (Catalina 30) I'm considering the option of shipping via Peters & May from Baltimore to Valencia (same cost as getting it to Southampton) as I want the boat on the Med eventually but .....

- Will I suffer the same UK problems of needing to get RCD Registration ?
- Can I just get the lowest RCD (Inland Waters) registration if I'm not looking to resell anyway (as per the recent PBO article) ?
- Or can I just sail the boat away afterthe paying the VAT and duty and trust it's only the brits who are concerned about this registration ?
- Is the VAT lower in Valencia anyway ?

All answers gratefully received again

Thanks
Andrew



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Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.

 

[AndrewB]

Can only answer this in theory, hopefully you'll get someone with practical experience to contribute.

RCD applies equally in Spain. I would recommend that you have the yacht UK registered (SSR) before it leaves the US and then the local authorities will be far less concerned about it, and you can apply for Cat D certification in England.

VAT is slightly lower in Spain than England. Someone posted here a while back that Spanish customs were applying very low valuations for VAT purposes so it sound like there is an advantage in paying there.

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[smee]

RCD being an EU thing will apply just as much in Spain as here.

VAT is also cheaper in Spain, as percentage is lower for a start, but also the Spanish have a "system" of valuing everything much lower than reality and taxing things on the "value" figure and not the real price paid. It varies as to how great the difference is. I have known values that were about 20% of the real price or 80% of the real price though to be fair the 20% one was a value of a boat that was deemed exempt anyway, and the 80% was one where VAT was payable!
But certainly you would fair better there for VAT than UK, as in UK it would be 17.5% of Bill of Sale price, unless someone officious decides to come and personally value your boat in which case it could be above or below Bill of Sale price!!

The only thing that may be troublesome in this case is the RCD, and bureacracy in Spain. It could take a lot longer than you hope and be rather frustrating, and you could be back and forward to notaries and goodness knows what else, as paperwork seems to be long and drawn out over anything there, so you could find yourself in for a very tedious time, with probably some manana thrown in for good measure! But you never know you might find an efficient lawyer (which you would need)!!

Best of luck!

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[mikewilkes]

As regards tax etc. I spoke to some spanish boat owners with "company boats" ie a number 6 on the front instead of a 7 for a private boat. There comment was register them as a hire boat, go out once a year with some friends and call it a charter, save 28% tax!
Maybe worth looking into?


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