Another VAT question

[Bathdave]

I post a duplicates thread from Scuttlebut having been a MOBOer before buying a saily thingy, relevant to readers of this forum too.


I know there are some forumites with good knowledge of the complexities of VAT, so can anyone help me out ...


I live in Jersey ( outside the EU customs area ) and have recently bought a boat, VAT not paid. I may well move back to the UK next year and had envisaged I would have to pay VAT if I bring the boat with me.

However I have just discovered an HMRC publication

https://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channels...HMCE_CL_000289

Which seems to suggest I can import my boat without VAT provided I have owned it 6 months (which i will have) and been a outside the UK for a year ( which I have been). It also seems once I have kept it for at least 12 months after importing it ((which I plan to do) it will not be liable to VAT at all.

Similar provisions apply in respect of cars and personal effects, which circulate as indistinguishable from VAT paid items after the 12 months has lapsed.

Given the VAT status of boats are a bit more sticky (and the sums involved larger) its seems a bit of a 'win' and an unexpected benefit,so I am wondering if I have missed something.

So can anyone help me

1 does anyone have experience of this ?

2 is my interpretation correct?

3. How do I deal with a visit to say a French port after Imove to the UK, and be asked to prove its tax status?

4 . How do I claim deemed VAT paid status on it if I sell it in say 5 years time?

 

[superheat6k]

Or move it to UK as mentioned. Keep it for 12 months - cede it to your spouse, then buy it from her for a £1 and other considerations, completing a standard bill of sale from a UK address, register on SSR, then visit France.

You will then be accountable to UK HMRC, who will not be interested.

I doubt HMRC will provide anything to state they regard it VAT paid (or not). But a buyer is not obliged to prove VAT on used goods, and you can show it was bought in the UK.

Your bigger issue will be selling it without a VAT invoice, so take the knock at that at time in lieu of the money saved now.

 

[Tranona]

Or move it to UK as mentioned. Keep it for 12 months - cede it to your spouse, then buy it from her for a £1 and other considerations, completing a standard bill of sale from a UK address, register on SSR, then visit France.

You will then be accountable to UK HMRC, who will not be interested.

I doubt HMRC will provide anything to state they regard it VAT paid (or not). But a buyer is not obliged to prove VAT on used goods, and you can show it was bought in the UK.

Your bigger issue will be selling it without a VAT invoice, so take the knock at that at time in lieu of the money saved now.

None of that is necessary or true. See my response to the same question on PBO. If he qualifies as a returning resident than he will get confirmation from HMRC that no VAT is due while he still owns it, and he is free to move around the EU.

 

[jfm]

None of that is necessary or true. See my response to the same question on PBO. If he qualifies as a returning resident than he will get confirmation from HMRC that no VAT is due while he still owns it, and he is free to move around the EU.

I agree 100% with Tranona. If you meet the timing rules etc, the importation is VAT free and the boat is "vat paid"

As mentioned, you'd be well-advised to collect paper to prove this to a future buyer. But since the VAT-free importation involves papers and dealings with HMRC (you have to fill in a C104A) you'll collect all that paperwork as you go. FWIW you might as make the file complete, sod save papers to prove your >12mths residence overseas, like utility bills for your Jersey address or whatever else you have, plus some papers to prove the actual date you moved to UK (eg some other HMRC income tax correspondence might suffice, and ferry tickets, and utility correspondence relating to your new UK address). That might well grow into a sheaf of papers but you might as well collate it in real time because it is less painful than being price chipped when you sell the boat in the future