Buying VAT not paid boat in EU

[roblpm]

OK I know this has been done to death in various different threads but I want to check my thoughts. So if it bores you please feel free to move on....

The UK boat market as much discussed is pretty depressing for a prospective buyer. I have limited capital (divorce!) but good income so need a boat where the initial investment is low. I will then have money to spend on it over the next few years.

So.....

Buy ex vat in Croatia.

Issues:

I understand that as I am not an EU citizen I can get a transit log and not pay the vat? And after 18 months exit and re-enter basically forever? Seems too good to be true but maybe an upside of Brexit.

I also understand that I can only do 90/180. I can live with this. Return to UK. Or in future sail somewhere outside EU.

I don't understand of or how registry matters? Or affects this. Does it?

So 3 years in the med 4 months a year. Learn to sail (I do have coastal skipper and do quite a lot of inshore racing but not so much living aboard type stuff!) . Sort the boat. Sail to Caribbean and USA stay for a few years (I am a US citizen as well as UK which may be useful) . Sail back to UK and pay the vat. Or not.

My partner is a tropical girl.... grew up in 35+ daily temperatures so buying a boat in the UK at a top price set up for cold weather sailing doesn't really appeal long term. Well to her that is.....?

So advice on vat and registry welcome. I understand the visa issue I think so don't need advice on that!

 

[Tranona]

Registry is simple. As you are UK resident, you just register it on the SSR when you buy it - or indeed before completion. Once you get title you clear and sail out of Croatian waters and re-enter with your UK papers - or indeed any other EU state. Your 18 months starts then.

These are the least of your worries - the broker or charter company you buy your boat from will sort this out for you. Probably better to buy direct from the charter company as it may be easier to check clear title.

Much more important to get the right boat at the right price so best to go out there and look for yourself. From a distance it looks like the answer to your prayers, but you may well find the reality these days different. For a start, the non VAT paid prices that I see are very little lower than equivalent VAT paid prices here (very different from 10 years ago), boats are older and more heavily used and the choice of under 12m much more limited. You really have to be firmly fixed on the sort of plan you describe, because once you are committed and have bought the boat it is very difficult to get out of it. The market for British owned non VAT paid boats is small and uncertain and there is nothing worse than the prospect of having all your money tied up in an asset 1000 miles away that you cannot sell and is costing you £4-5 k a year in marina fees, insurance etc. Saw too much of that when I was out there - boats rotting away in yards because the owners were not in a position to use them and could not sell.

Exactly the reason why, when my circumstances changed I bit the bullet and sailed my boat to the UK where I had control over it and eventually sold it at a price higher than I would have achieved in Greece.

Being a third country resident now and being able to take advantage of the EU TI rules may seem an upside of Brexit and indeed it is in theory. However the number of people who can really take advantage of it is likely to be extremely small. Not so much complying with the mechanisms as having long term stability and resources to see such a plan through. It helps also if the sum invested in the boat is not a large proportion of your net assets - for most people it is a discretionary activity, not an essential part of life!

 

[roblpm]

Registry is simple. As you are UK resident, you just register it on the SSR when you buy it - or indeed before completion. Once you get title you clear and sail out of Croatian waters and re-enter with your UK papers - or indeed any other EU state. Your 18 months starts then.

These are the least of your worries - the broker or charter company you buy your boat from will sort this out for you. Probably better to buy direct from the charter company as it may be easier to check clear title.

Much more important to get the right boat at the right price so best to go out there and look for yourself. From a distance it looks like the answer to your prayers, but you may well find the reality these days different. For a start, the non VAT paid prices that I see are very little lower than equivalent VAT paid prices here (very different from 10 years ago), boats are older and more heavily used and the choice of under 12m much more limited. You really have to be firmly fixed on the sort of plan you describe, because once you are committed and have bought the boat it is very difficult to get out of it. The market for British owned non VAT paid boats is small and uncertain and there is nothing worse than the prospect of having all your money tied up in an asset 1000 miles away that you cannot sell and is costing you £4-5 k a year in marina fees, insurance etc. Saw too much of that when I was out there - boats rotting away in yards because the owners were not in a position to use them and could not sell.

Exactly the reason why, when my circumstances changed I bit the bullet and sailed my boat to the UK where I had control over it and eventually sold it at a price higher than I would have achieved in Greece.

Being a third country resident now and being able to take advantage of the EU TI rules may seem an upside of Brexit and indeed it is in theory. However the number of people who can really take advantage of it is likely to be extremely small. Not so much complying with the mechanisms as having long term stability and resources to see such a plan through. It helps also if the sum invested in the boat is not a large proportion of your net assets - for most people it is a discretionary activity, not an essential part of life!

Thanks for the reply. I'm not in too much of a hurry. So over the next 18 months I will go out there a couple of times and poke about and see also if prices settle down here. Buy in two years from now over the winter for sailing in 24 onwards! Maybe there will be a UK boat price crash..... ? Its not a big proportion of my net assets. They are tied up at the moment in business etc.......