Have you actually had a VAT problem???

[Birdseye]

This forum frequently has people asking about VAT documentation, but I have yet to read of anyone who has recently had a VAT documentation problem in a foreign port . The RYA have , in the past, said that the small number of problems they have had reported have usually been triggered by some other issue such as lack of SSR.

So has anyone on the forum personally had real difficulty ( eg been detained or fined or had to pay the VAT - not just a cross questioning) solely on the issue of poor / unavailable VAT documentation?

 

[snowleopard]

good question.

 

[BrendanS]

The German yacht that had problems with re-import comes to mind.

 

[jerryat]

Hi birdseye,

We went through a hell of time getting the VAT (SAD) document from Customs and Excise many moons ago when the whole thing first hit the fan. After submitting heaps of info (receipts, invoices for anti-fouling, yard storage bills etc etc) and many exchanges of letters, they condescended to issue the thing. We must have about the tenth copy of a worn out carbon-papered pad and it's virtually illegible. Off we went on our travels and ........... nothing!! Despite occasional problems on other matters we've never been asked for it in the Med (or on the way there) or in the Caribbean.

In a way we feel cheated ... all that effort and no one's interested!! We have met scores of other cruisers, some sweating because of having no proof, but have NEVER heard of anyone being asked for the docs.

Even the French, who if I recall correctly, started the rot, have never bothered us.

Cheers Jerry

 

[tcm]

no, not had a problem, and i've been inspected by douaniers and gendarmes in numbers, four or five at a time with an inspection of everything lasting a couple of hours.

The fact remains that if you prepared a "Proof of VAT payment" in nice writing on a word processed document, they'd love it. In fact, "proof" of vat payment for example for people who buy a uk boat in europe has to be exactly on those terms - that someone just says "yes, vat is defintely paid on that boat and not reclaimed".

 

[Koeketiene]

Nope - seems like paranoia to me. Seems to me that more sailors were affected by the Boxing Day Tsunami that ever got into any real trouble over VAT.

 

[ridgy]

I think that if you didn't read this forum and didn't read yachting magazines then you would never have even heard of either VAT on boats or osmosis.

There's plenty of people who fall in to this category and happily sail all over the place in blissful ignorance...I've met a few and I like what I see!

 

[BrendanS]

A very expensive mistake when blissful ignorance has to give way to hard reality though

http://www.noonsite.com/Members/webmaster/R2001-05-30-1/view

 

[pandos]

The boat next to mine in the yard when I bought it was waiting to be sold by the vat people because it had been imported without paying up.

Remember they only have to seize your boat once, to really upset your day.

 

[jfm]

Yes, a good friend of mine was stopped by the douanes in France and the boat was impounded for a week, till the lawyers sorted it out. It was a a boat in the 30-40m range worth several million dollars, not VAT paid.

This was summer 2004. The lawyers did fix it and a fine was paid relating to taxfree fuel that had been bought the previous week, but the hull remains un VAT paid (though the crew are now following the commercial boat rules more assiduously, as a result, to keep it that way)

This is not third hand bar room story, I have known the owner 10 years and sail with him often and assisted him with the paperwork to unravel the problem. I wont post the yachts name but it's a reasonably well known case in France

But actually I agree the sentiment in the original post, which is that VAT problems are pretty rare

 

[chas]

Customs Notice 8 "Sailing your pleasure craft to and from the United Kingdom" has quite a lot of relevant info - including the bit about taking your boat away form the EU for three years. It is on the Revenue's web site.