Importing old hydrofoil and VAT

[simples]

hello all, this is my first post as for the first time have not found the information though the other threads.

i have finally found an old Russian Volga hydrofoil for sale that is in a location possible to buy and transport, ive previously missed out on 2 sales before so have immediately put down a deposit.

the boat is in croatia and i have even found a brave croatian man to trailer it all the way to aberdeen,
we can assume there is no paperwork and no vat paid; i have no experience in importing things from the continent and would love to have some advice on how it works.

will i have to meet the man at dover and pay vat as soon as it comes off the ferry? or is it a case of him giving the officials my details and i fill out a form and pay later.

any advice would be gratefully received.

 

[jfm]

hello all, this is my first post as for the first time have not found the information though the other threads.

i have finally found an old Russian Volga hydrofoil for sale that is in a location possible to buy and transport, ive previously missed out on 2 sales before so have immediately put down a deposit.

the boat is in croatia and i have even found a brave croatian man to trailer it all the way to aberdeen,
we can assume there is no paperwork and no vat paid; i have no experience in importing things from the continent and would love to have some advice on how it works.

will i have to meet the man at dover and pay vat as soon as it comes off the ferry? or is it a case of him giving the officials my details and i fill out a form and pay later.

any advice would be gratefully received.

It is a shipment from an EU country to another EU country so no UK VAT or duty is payable at the UK border. You'll need the Croatia version of the SAD (=single administrative document, called a T2L in UK but it has other names in other countries, and SAD is the "universal" name), but that's straightforward

Nice project btw. I remember seeing the Volga 275 at UK boat shows as a kid and thinking they were very special machines. Please post picture son here as the project develops

 

[simples]

jfm,

thanks for the reply, so its a fairly standard procedure, it wont be impounded or anything when it gets off the ferry or anything draconian as that.

ive had a fascination with volgas for many years, but generally they are either restored and a frightening price or dilapidated and still in russia which i wouldn't want to get involved in the exportation bureaucracy.

The one ive found has an interesting history too, it looks like it was the boat used for the security or patrols for the former Yugoslav prison island of Goli Otok.

 

[scottie]

There was one that used to do round the bay trips at largs Ayrshire for several years

 

[burgundyben]

Wicked! I've long wanted one. There was one auctioned a year or so back, plus there used to be one in Lymington.

Lots of pictures and video clips please.

(I wanted to buy one in Volgograd and drive it home!!)

 

[simples]

funnily enough i missed out on the one at lymington which was advertised on boatshed, it nearly broke me.
then i recieved an email from a friend saying he had just seen one being auctioned from sweeney kincaid.

i would love to know how many more there are in the uk.

 

[burgundyben]

funnily enough i missed out on the one at lymington which was advertised on boatshed, it nearly broke me.
then i recieved an email from a friend saying he had just seen one being auctioned from sweeney kincaid.

i would love to know how many more there are in the uk.

As far as I know that is the only 2 in the UK. Of course there maybe others.

 

[Beamishken]

There was one that used to do round the bay trips at largs Ayrshire for several years

there are two still knocking around largs one belongs to my pal's old man (who used to do the trips) & is just sat in storage due to deteriorating health & the other I last saw in Largs yacht haven yard but haven't seen it for a while
I quite like the look of them & as my first ever boat was an aluminium delta I dare not ask about the hydrofoil for fear ill not be able to resist another Project

 

[henryf]

I'm sorry to be the voice of reason here and throw a spanner in the works but have you really thought this through?

I've just looked at a load of videos and it doesn't produce any wake. So Yachtists are going to see you coming, put the kettle on ready to have a scalding hot cup of tea in their hand as you go past, scream murder and then........

Nothing. Not even a bloody ripple. Dropping in another sugar lump will cause more mayhem.

I can see this this going very wrong. Don't say I didn't warn you

Very quiet as well. You'll have to find a way of taking the exhaust off.

Henry

 

[Divemaster1]

Excellent Project & Welcome to the Forum!

As JFM states, should be a relatively straight forward process.

However for those paragraph riders around, you ought to take into consideration that all yachts built in or brought into the EU on or after 1 January 1995 must be able to prove their VAT paid status. A boat built before this date is deemed to have VAT paid status if it was in private ownership and within the EU at midnight on 31 December 1992. Proof of this may be required by the local customs and can frequently be difficult to provide as log books, receipts or invoices going back that far have often been lost or destroyed or simply not passed on as ownership has changed hands. If documentary evidence of the location of the vessel on 31 December 1992 cannot be provided you should provide whatever documents you have so that customs may form a view as to the location of the boat based on the documents you do have.

Looking forwards to hearing more about this project and living and working in the area, I look forward to seeing the project progress into sea trials etc...

 

[Tranona]

Excellent Project & Welcome to the Forum!

As JFM states, should be a relatively straight forward process.

However for those paragraph riders around, you ought to take into consideration that all yachts built in or brought into the EU on or after 1 January 1995 must be able to prove their VAT paid status. A boat built before this date is deemed to have VAT paid status if it was in private ownership and within the EU at midnight on 31 December 1992. Proof of this may be required by the local customs and can frequently be difficult to provide as log books, receipts or invoices going back that far have often been lost or destroyed or simply not passed on as ownership has changed hands. If documentary evidence of the location of the vessel on 31 December 1992 cannot be provided you should provide whatever documents you have so that customs may form a view as to the location of the boat based on the documents you do have.

Looking forwards to hearing more about this project and living and working in the area, I look forward to seeing the project progress into sea trials etc...

In principle correct but the date varies from state to state being 8 years prior to accession. So the qualifying date is 1985 for those in the EU in 1992. Croatia joined in 2013 so qualifying date is June 2005. OP would be advised to get evidence that this boat complies with that requirement.

 

[simples]

if you think he would be interested in selling one id appreciate some contact details.

 

[simples]

so thats my Volga finally home and looking as beautiful as i hoped she would, needs a lot of work but I'm not afraid,
thanks for the replies on the original questions, as it turned out i went to dover to try to ease the boat through any paperwork problems but the UKBO / HMRC were incredibly accommodating and not the frightening facists some people make them out to be!

 

[henryf]

I see the birth of a long and interesting thread.....

Well done



Henry

 

[Divemaster1]

Excellent news! . ... Looking forward to the continuation of the story .... and pictures of course

 

[vas]

Excellent news! . ... Looking forward to the continuation of the story .... and pictures of course

+1
looking fwrd to a new thread appropriately titled for the restoration of this craft (the one I saw on youtube looked really great!)

cheers

V.

 

[prv]

so thats my Volga finally home and looking as beautiful as i hoped she would, needs a lot of work but I'm not afraid,

Wow!

Must admit when I first saw this thread I thought it would never come to anything. Very happy to have been proved wrong

Let's see the pics

(Perhaps best on a new thread so we don't keep getting people popping VAT discussions into the middle of your restoration because they can't be bothered to read )

Pete