Importing from France

[mbowden1]

Can someone Help.

I live in Jersey C.I and have been looking at buying a 1988 Princess that has always been registered in France. All has gone well with the survey and sea trials but now the brokers tell me the owners can't find the certificate of paid T.V.A (VAT). I know I do not need this in Jersey being VAT free, but if one day I want to sell the boat to a UK resident the new owners would have to pay VAT.
My question is how to you go about getting a certificate showing the boat is VAT paid.

Any ideas?

Mark



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[Heckler]

tell em no certificate no deal, its as simple as that. why should you worry about it? get the broker to earn his money for a change. theres plenty more boats out there.
stu

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[BrendanS]

Huge number of posts on this recently, so everyone is a little worked out on this subject.

Go to 'Search' above (just to right of Main Index.) Select 'All Forums' from the drop down box. Type in 'VAT' as search word, and select 3 months or so from the time drop down box.

You'll have a fair bit of reading, that will hopefully answer many questions. Suggest if you have any further questions from there, you list specifics, then post again here, or into one of the existing threads.

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[qsiv]

Put simply - without the ORIGINAL invoice or other ORIGINAL VAT receipt the boat will be deemed to be VAT free - and VAT will have to be paid on importation to EU. Copies will not do - even if notarised.

You need to have either the paperwork or a price reduction. (In fact the price reductio would do nicely, as the boat will depreciate and you will save 17.5% of the drop in value).

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[tcm]

I spoke to a french broker about this, and understand that if it is a recentish French-registered boat, with the (orange) document of "Franchisation" registered to a private individual, then it is guaranteed vat-paid. Registration isn't an optional thing for a french boat, it is a requirement for the annual boat tax. It can't be a french-registered boat unlesss the owner is french. And if he is french, he'll have paid the vat to get the orange book and register. The orange book should have sticky stamps for each year that the sailing tax has been paid. There should be registration number/letters along the side of the boat that correspond to the numbers inthe book. The name can be any old thing in france - the number is unique.

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[AndrewB]

As a Jersey resident I have a suspicion that you might run into VAT difficulties when subsequently reselling the yacht for export to mainland UK, even if the present owners can give you impeccable evidence that TVA has been paid on it in France. Take a look at para 6.4 of the <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.hmce.gov.uk/forms/notices/8.htm#P305_30902>UK Customs Advice</A> regarding loss of VAT-paid status.

Incidentally, in your position be very wary of advice offered by the yacht brokers suggesting alternative forms of VAT evidence, unless this is supported by the appropriate Customs authorities.