Croatia EU VAT - New Advice!?

W

Windlass100

New Member
Joined
18 Jun 2008
Messages
12
Visit site
Advice from a Croatian "Forwarder" to re-flag as a Croatian Vessel.

Does anyone have definitive advice on the pros and cons of taking up this "offer"?
 
Last edited:
CROATIA EU 2013 VAT research

It seems amazing that very little information about this offer is being circulated. I know about 20 yotties champing at the bit to find out what will happen (including me).

It occurred to me that it would be an idea to form a big syndicate to hire a local VAT expert to look into this and help with forms, language problems, valuations etc.... Anyone interested?
 
Windlass100 said:
I am in contact with a German/Austrian/Swiss group (including a commercial lawyer) who are currently pooling information. When received I will post here.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I would be very interested in this info too
 
Adrian_ said:
Shameless tag :)

It would also be very useful to know if the boat needs to be in Croatia when the paperwork is done.
Click to expand...

I would be very very surprised if it doesn't. The primary purpose of the concession is to stop EU boats fleeing Croatia. As it is also a VAT collection exercise, I'd be surprised if they didn't want either a recent invoice or a valuation (more business for Croatian surveyors). Normally VAT is levied at the port of entry to the EU when the boat is imported - if this were not the case, you'd be free to choose the country with the lowest VAT rate without ever having the goods shipped there.
 
I agree that this is the normal and legal scenario.
However, given the fact that all this will hapen before the country actually joins the EU, and keeping in mind that Croatia is a Balkan country, I wouldn't be too surprised if they decided to make as much money as possible out of it.

Sure they'll want purchase proof that doesn't date back to the 80's, but reasonably "good looking" documents might as well be accepted without any other inspection/survey.

I think it might be worth investigating. For someone who has a boat without VAT paid somewhere in Eastern Turkey, getting it to Croatia before the deadline might not be a easy (or unexpensive) feat.
 
Last edited:
Think you are clutching at straws there. If it works the same as other accession countries then whatever mechanisms that are used to apply VAT to existing boats will be just that - the boat will have to be in the country. The arrangements according to earlier information will have a sliding scale for older boats and boats before a certain date (can't remember exactly when ) will be deemed VAT paid - just as in the UK and the other existing EU countries. Any new boats currently outside the EU would be treated as new entries and pay full VAT.
 
I'm definitelly not talking about new boats. However, if you had the experience I have with Balkan countries, you'd probably know that I'm far from clutching at straws.
Croatia could use this in order to get 5% not only from the boats being currently kept in Croatian marinas and harbours, but also from countless boats currently located in Montenegro and Turkey. They may seize this opportunity or not, but it's a possibility that I wouldn't rule out.
 
Adrian_ said:
I'm definitelly not talking about new boats. However, if you had the experience I have with Balkan countries, you'd probably know that I'm far from clutching at straws.
Croatia could use this in order to get 5% not only from the boats being currently kept in Croatian marinas and harbours, but also from countless boats currently located in Montenegro and Turkey. They may seize this opportunity or not, but it's a possibility that I wouldn't rule out.
Click to expand...

I bow to your obviously superior knowledge of the region and await the details of the Croatian governments phantom boat registration and VAT scheme with great interest.

I hope they also allow me to retain VAT paid status without the tedious chore of visiting the EU regularly. I guess they would as if they're going to break the EU VAT directive just before joining then why stick to any of the other rules.
 
Well, I realise that what I said might seem odd to someone living in Germany, but your irony is completelly uncalled for.
However, before posting it you might have asked yourself why so many of the car insurance frauds that happen in Germany involve the owner hading the keys to the "thieves" and then declaring the car stolen some 2 day after the "incident"? And that's just an example. If those involved in taking the cars out of the country didn't knew they can register them somewhere in the Eastern Europe, they wouldn't be doing it. (I'm not saying that this still happens in Croatia, but there was a time, not so long ago... :rolleyes: ).

So, if the Croatian naval authorities decide to make some money out of this facility negociated with the EU, I wouldn't be suprised at all. As I said before, the way I see things this isn't going to involve registering boats with fishy documents and so on. However, they might very well put in place a procedure that simply doesn't involve checking out the boat itself. The owner might have to declare that the boat is in a Croatian harbour, they might (I said might) just not bother to check :D.
 
Last edited:
Windlass100 said:
So I would not be too disparaging of the Croatian Authorities. They are a sovereign state and can make whatever rules and legislation they want.
Click to expand...

Not after July 2013 they can't. They are then a member of the EU and will have to make rules and legislation which comply, to the letter, with EU Directives.

In my role at work I deal with the ludicrous fallout from the EU Directives every day.

My sanity is based on two facts:

1) It keeps me in a job, and

2) I voted against EU membership in the only two referenda we have had in the UK so none of it is my fault! ;)

Richard
 
RichardS said:
Not after July 2013 they can't. They are then a member of the EU and will have to make rules and legislation which comply, to the letter, with EU Directives.

In my role at work I deal with the ludicrous fallout from the EU Directives every day.
Click to expand...

Judging from Windlass100's abrasive reply, I don't think that people living in their fantasy world want to hear how things really work in the real world.

I think that anyone who actually did business in the emerging EU countries understands perfectly what I said and why I said it. It's just pointless to argue this kind of stuff with people who have no first hand knowledge but still maintain strong opinions.

This being said, I thank Windlass100 for the useful information in the OP. Anyone can act on it according to his/her own knowledge and experience.

P.S. Paying marina fees in Croatia doesn't mean doing business there.
 
Last edited:
Windlass100 said:
My advice was directed to those who continue to think they can flaunt the Laws created by a Sovereign State - not the obligation of Croatia to be EU compliant!
Click to expand...

I expect you meant "flout" = "Treat with contemptuous disregard" rather than "flaunt" = "Display proudly; act ostentatiously or pretentiously".

But maybe not...

Mike.
 
Adrian_ said:
Judging from Windlass100's abrasive reply, I don't think that people living in their fantasy world want to hear how things really work in the real world.

I think that anyone who actually did business in the emerging EU countries understands perfectly what I said and why I said it. It's just pointless to argue this kind of stuff with people who have no first hand knowledge but still maintain strong opinions.

This being said, I thank Windlass100 for the useful information in the OP. Anyone can act on it according to his/her own knowledge and experience.

P.S. Paying marina fees in Croatia doesn't mean doing business there.
Click to expand...

Perhaps that is why the EU is spending £16m on PR to convince people (who?) that Croatia is a respectable country worthy of being a member of the EU - despite its debt now rated at junk bond status, 40% youth unemployment, 30% of the working population employed by the government and a past prime minister serving 10 years for corruption! Sounds like it is emulating a major EU member situated just across the Adriatic!
 
TBH I think they do the PR campaign only to pay fat bills to some companies owned by relatives/associates of some Bruxelles bureaucrats, but let's not spin off the thread.
It's not like they're holding referendums about accepting Croatia in the Union. And german folks are usually sympathetic towards Croatia anyway.
 
Adrian_ said:
And german folks are usually sympathetic towards Croatia anyway.
Click to expand...
:confused::confused::confused:
I know a lot of Germans (some are fellow berth holders in my Italian marina); had projects regularly in Germany; was frequently in my company's Frankfurt office before retirement; still visit regularly and am fluent in German. That has definitely not been my impression - very far from it. And over 30 years of cruising the eastern Adriatic seaboard puts me in the same camp.

If you change "folks" to "ministers" then perhaps, they need a larger market for their Audis, Mercedes and VWs.

Me, I'm glad I am based in a non-EU country, even if, to all intents and purposes, it is a quasi-member. A country, incidentally, that absorbed the highest number of ex-Yugoslavian asylum-seekers per head of the population than any other European country - and whose crime statistics have since gone through the roof, with the majority of perpetrators being from ..... I'm sure you can guess.
 
Barnac1e said:
:confused::confused::confused:
I know a lot of Germans (some are fellow berth holders in my Italian marina); had projects regularly in Germany; was frequently in my company's Frankfurt office before retirement; still visit regularly and am fluent in German. That has definitely not been my impression - very far from it. And over 30 years of cruising the eastern Adriatic seaboard puts me in the same camp.

If you change "folks" to "ministers" then perhaps, they need a larger market for their Audis, Mercedes and VWs.
Click to expand...

I guess it all depends of the folks we meet :) . But yes, I was talking rather about people in decision making areas rather then the average Hans.

Barnac1e said:
Me, I'm glad I am based in a non-EU country, even if, to all intents and purposes, it is a quasi-member. A country, incidentally, that absorbed the highest number of ex-Yugoslavian asylum-seekers per head of the population than any other European country - and whose crime statistics have since gone through the roof, with the majority of perpetrators being from ..... I'm sure you can guess.
Click to expand...

Of course I can :D . Tho, tbh, I'm willing to bet that the Kossovo albanian asylum seekers are by far the worst of the whole lot.


Windlass100 said:
FYI: Lived and worked in Kiev for two years; Lived and worked in Zagreb for seven years. Enough said?
Click to expand...

I was talking about doing business there. I did, on several occasions. Simply don't want to say more on a public forum.
 
Last edited:
Tranona said:
Sounds like it is emulating a major EU member situated just across the Adriatic!
Click to expand...
It certainly is. Rumour has it that Croatia borrowed heavily against future payments from the EU structural funds years before they even voted to join the EU. Thats how that shiny new motorway got built
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top