Cheapest country to pay VAT in?

[penfold]

I have read the RYA advice, and searched on here but not found anything very relevant(all the VAT, spanish residency woes and greek tax threads make it a nontrivial search task). What is the easiest/cheapest EEA/EU country to pay the VAT in? I'm hypothetically importing from the US so Spain or Ireland are more attractive than Malta or Cyprus. I have read the threads on CE marking and they cover that adequately. The method of assessing taxable value appears to be far more important than the actual rate. Even a pointer to a relevant thread would useful.

 

[White Horse]

Vat

Suppose it depends how good your SPANISH is .. You are going to get a boat delivered from United States to SPAIN and then you are going to go to Spain to collect it and sort out all the paper work

Suppose you could get it POSTED to Ireland ..

 

[White Horse]

But

Your not going to do it anyway .......

Bit of a pointless post ...

 

[lpdsn]

VAT in Ireland is 21%

 

[BobnLesley]

Presuming that you're importing the boat under its own steam/sail, I understand that you can get a very favourable rate in the Azores - part of Portugal and EC.

 

[penfold]

Presuming that you're importing the boat under its own steam/sail, I understand that you can get a very favourable rate in the Azores - part of Portugal and EC.

That would be my intention; shipping renders the exercise far less viable economically.

 

[30boat]

15% in Madeira

 

[Gordonmc]

Equally as important as the VAT rate in any particular country is the method of establishing the value of the boat the rate will be applied to.
While a newish boat will be straightforward to assess an older model, especially ex-charter, will need a subjective valuation by a surveyor.
So the conclusion is to remove all expensive toys from the boat and find a friendly marine surveyor who will be "less than generous" with the valuation.

 

[25931]

Another important consideration - if you import into Spain you will probably be required to register the boat there with all the beaurocracy and cost.

 

[npf1]

A few years back, http://www.midatlanticyachtservices.com/ in Horta were helping people with sorting out the VAT & valuations on import.

 

[cliffordpope]

5% in Panama

 

[charles_reed]

I have read the RYA advice, and searched on here but not found anything very relevant(all the VAT, spanish residency woes and greek tax threads make it a nontrivial search task). What is the easiest/cheapest EEA/EU country to pay the VAT in? I'm hypothetically importing from the US so Spain or Ireland are more attractive than Malta or Cyprus. I have read the threads on CE marking and they cover that adequately. The method of assessing taxable value appears to be far more important than the actual rate. Even a pointer to a relevant thread would useful.

madiera is a well-known entry point for minimising VAT.

However, you only save 2.5% on the UK and if a 2nd hand boat, there might be very little to choose between the 2 entry-points.

 

[carrswood]

Whatever you do you must make sure its 100% legit. The EU countries are all cracking down yacht 'VAT' status now and I hear of boats being impounded etc.

I have recently used a Maltese tax specialist for a large private yacht (contact me for dtls) or you can speak to the Marine Tax Cafe (Dorset) who are experts in this field http://www.marinetaxcafe.com/

Good Luck

 

[saltwater_gypsy]

Depends what you are paying VAT on.
For example if you have bought a boat outside the EC then the key thing is to get the lowest possible valuation on which you then pay VAT . The jungle telegraph will guide you here but, for example Rhodes used to be good place to sort out Vat on boats purchased in Turkey.

 

[penfold]

Equally as important as the VAT rate in any particular country is the method of establishing the value of the boat the rate will be applied to.
While a newish boat will be straightforward to assess an older model, especially ex-charter, will need a subjective valuation by a surveyor.
So the conclusion is to remove all expensive toys from the boat and find a friendly marine surveyor who will be "less than generous" with the valuation.

This is the key, and HMRC's published info is delightfully vague on the topic. Ho-hum. A phonecall to their helpline is in order.

 

[Tranona]

This is the key, and HMRC's published info is delightfully vague on the topic. Ho-hum. A phonecall to their helpline is in order.

It is delightfully vague - because it is! The "method" is the same throughout the EU in that VAT is based on the value of the transaction. If there is no recent transaction (ie you have not just bought the boat) then a market value has to established. As there can be no market value without a transaction then it is up to the customs officer to make an assessment based on information available to him - which can be a bit of a lottery. Do not expect any customs authority to make any judgement in advance of any value to be used in a specific case.

It is simplest to buy the boat and import it as you will have a pretty good idea of the base value. Remember you pay VAT at your first port of entry into the EU, which often places a practical constraint on where you pay VAT. This is all part of ther negative aspect of buying a boat in the US for use in Europe, and why, despite the seeming huge difference in prices there is actually minimal real activity.

This does not mean that there are not specific situations where there might be benefits - just that they are rare.

 

[Gordonmc]

As there can be no market value without a transaction then it is up to the customs officer to make an assessment based on information available to him - which can be a bit of a lottery. Do not expect any customs authority to make any judgement in advance of any value to be used in a specific case.

It is simplest to buy the boat and import it as you will have a pretty good idea of the base value. Remember you pay VAT at your first port of entry into the EU, which often places a practical constraint on where you pay VAT. This is all part of ther negative aspect of buying a boat in the US for use in Europe, and why, despite the seeming huge difference in prices there is actually minimal real activity.

This does not mean that there are not specific situations where there might be benefits - just that they are rare.

I have no issue with any of the above, but my comments in my earlier post might benefit from context:
US registered boat was sailed across the pond by her owner. Port of entry to Eu was Falmouth. Boat was taken to Le Havre and VAT paid on the value assessed by a marine surveyor. She was then sold to a UK national and SSR registered.
These circumstances may be rare which, I guess, highlights how vague the guidelines are. Tranona's point; "it is up to the customs officer to make an assessment based on information available to him" is spot on... but the information could be worked to advantage.
BTW, the boat in question was in the EU just days the right side of the CE requirement.