kremmen
Member
I would like to thank everyone for the responses posted here. I am just thinking about finding a boat just for winter months and this information is very useful.
Paul
Paul
I would like to thank everyone for the responses posted here. I am just thinking about finding a boat just for winter months and this information is very useful.
Paul
Hi Michael .
I am in Andalucia at the moment and IF I don't get a winter job next year I would consider it as an alternative to renting a house which is what I am doing this year. I am aware of the weather ( although not specific marina situation ) but almost anything here is warmer than my live aboard narrowboat on the Thames . Whilst it is toasty inside it's not so much outside
Paul
This is a very interesting thread. I had envisaged buying a Spanish registered boat because the matriculation tax was already paid and, therefore, I thought that this would allow me to go into Spanish ports and say look all the taxes are paid. Apparently not the best option.
Cannot understand why you would want to do that. Matriculation tax is only payable if you become resident, and even then it is easily avoided by declaring your boat at the time. There is no need to then put it on the Spanish register. If you are non resident you are free to move around anyway and do not have to pay matriculation tax.
So 2011 sale was made in spain to a brit removed from spanish reg and xferred onto ssr
Couple of years later boat then sold in gibralter to another brit - xferred on.
Not sure that taking the boat to Gibraltar makes any difference to anything - provided you do not register it as a Gib boat (which entails a 12% tax on the value - price paid!! They are all at it!)Firstly registration is irrelevant from a VAT point of view, it is the nature of the transaction that determines VAT. As macd says, and I think you already know taking the boat to Gib means that it is potentially liable for VAT if it re-enters the EU.
Critical will be the date it left the EU and who owned it then. If it went out less than 3 years ago in the ownership of the current owner then he can bring it back in and sell it without any VAT liability. A complication in that part of the world may actually mean that it has been in and out while cruising, in which case the time limit may be less of an issue. It would be sensible to have evidence of such visits if this is the case. If however the last sale took place in Gib then VAT would be payable.
Not sure that taking the boat to Gibraltar makes any difference to anything - provided you do not register it as a Gib boat (which entails a 12% tax on the value - price paid!! They are all at it!)
You can take the boat to anywhere in the world and purchase anywhere in the world (within certain time limits) and provided it is VAT paid and it is possible to prove that it is then the 'place' of the translation is irrelevant. If this were not the case then some circumnavigators would have problems - but in reality don't as the 'authorities have no way of knowing where in the world - EU the boat has actually been... And for the most part do not care.
I'm sorry, Paw-Paw, but you're mistaken:
Complications also arise because a VAT paid boat can lose this status. This will happen, for instance, if it’s sold outside the EU – even if purchaser and vendor are EU residents. VAT must then be paid if the boat is brought back into the EU. Equally, boats that are kept outside the EU for more than three years may be required to pay VAT again.
http://uk.boats.com/boat-buyers-guide/vat-boats-guide/
And, from the horse's mouth: https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...ailing-your-pleasure-craft-to-and-from-the-uk
3.5 Can a vessel lose its VAT paid status?
VAT is due on the importation of any vessel from outside the EU. However, there are provisions for this VAT to be relieved when an EU VAT paid vessel returns to the EU, refer to sub-section 3.4. If an EU VAT paid vessel leaves the EU, and whilst outside the EU it is sold, the new owner will, unless eligible for one of the reliefs described in this Notice, be liable to pay VAT if the vessel is brought back into the EU.
Section 3.4 is this:
A boat previously VAT paid and exported from the EU may also qualify for relief on return if:
imported normally within 3 years of its export from the EU
imported by the person who exported it from the EU
it has undergone no more than running repairs outside the EU that did not increase its value
Which seems not to apply in this case.
Really interesting and thank you for the correction.
I think however these rules apply to boats being 'resident' outside the EU, otherwise all the dozens of boats that are sole each year in Gibraltar with EU registration, would be in deep doodaa.... And they are not, because it is impossible for the authorities to know where in the EU a boat has been for the last years and indeed where in the world it has been... Of course the bill of sale should not state Gibraltar or indeed anywhere outside the EU.
I am sure from your quotes that legally and technically you are correct but the reality is provide the bill of sale says a EU country then it must be OK - n'est pas?
People i am a happy bunny...
I am afraid you are wrong there. HMRC VAT Notice No 8 is quite clear on the subject. And the rules apply to all VAT goods, not just boats. Suggest you look on the RYA site at the VAT information sheet where HMRC spell out quite clearly that if a boat leaves the EU it is potentially liable to VAT on return. The relief is available if the same person who took it out brings it back in, and then normally only within 3 years. So this does not normally affect ocean sailors who come back tot he UK, particularly as the "normally" is flexible.Not sure that taking the boat to Gibraltar makes any difference to anything - provided you do not register it as a Gib boat (which entails a 12% tax on the value - price paid!! They are all at it!)
You can take the boat to anywhere in the world and purchase anywhere in the world (within certain time limits) and provided it is VAT paid and it is possible to prove that it is then the 'place' of the translation is irrelevant. If this were not the case then some circumnavigators would have problems - but in reality don't as the 'authorities have no way of knowing where in the world - EU the boat has actually been... And for the most part do not care.
Michael