Ireland boat import help

[Cretin211]

Hi,

I have located a cheap project boat with a non running inboard engine that is located in Ireland. It is being sold by a private individual and I was planning to just get a ferry over, pay in cash and trailer it back on the ferry.
It’s in the £1500-£2000 ballpark so still works out a worthwhile price.

I’m just confused by exactly what import tax etc I would be liable to pay especially post brexit, and how it would be calculated?

Any advice would be appreciated

Thanks

 

[ashtead]

Is there any tax as between the Republic of Ireland and the north of Ireland or indeed any borders?

 

[Tranona]

The simple answer i forget it. The boat is located in the EU and if you import it into the UK you will have to pay VAT plus have it certified to the latest standards. Trying to avoid that is a criminal offence.

The slightly more complicated example is that bringing it back via the north may be possible but suspect you will have difficulty in determining whether it is risk free.

 

[Cretin211]

So if I was buying it from Northern Ireland I would be able to travel back on the ferry to England with no issues is that correct?

 

[dunedin]

So if I was buying it from Northern Ireland I would be able to travel back on the ferry to England with no issues is that correct?

I suspect the answer is that nobody really knows how things like boat purchase work in NI - including HMRC / UK Government.

But if (through the efforts of the current owner) the boat were to be located in NI (part of UK) and you bought it in NI (preferably using GBP) I would assume there would be no issue in hopping on the Belfast ferry and bringing it home (not sure of ferry routes direct to England from NI, but certainly a ferry to Scotland).
As noted there are all sorts of logical inconsistencies about NI’s dual status, part in EU for some technicalities and more in Uk for others. But with a clear bill of sale for a sale within the UK it would seem plausible that this is all fine.

Mind you, the general advice on here is a “project boat” is generally an expensive millstone - so perhaps leaving in Ireland and using this as an excuse to walk away might be a better strategy. But clearly that is your call.

 

[DavidJ]

It’s worth doing a sanity check and looking for how much a working good condition boat like the project one is worth. If you assume a total spend of £10k, Does this look economic?

 

[Dino]

I know a few people who have done it the other way. They bought in the UK and brought it through NI to Ireland. One guy borrowed an NI registered jeep, got the ferry to the UK and bought a speedboat. Then brought it back on the ferry to NI. Swapped cars and drove south. Another bought a 36ft motorboat in the UK and had it trucked to NI. The marina launched it and he headed south.
I’m not sure what will happen if they go to sell it but maybe they are not worried

 

[dunedin]

I know a few people who have done it the other way. They bought in the UK and brought it through NI to Ireland. One guy borrowed an NI registered jeep, got the ferry to the UK and bought a speedboat. Then brought it back on the ferry to NI. Swapped cars and drove south. Another bought a 36ft motorboat in the UK and had it trucked to NI. The marina launched it and he headed south.
I’m not sure what will happen if they go to sell it but maybe they are not worried

Going to effort of changing cars could be seen as an attempt to evade taxes / import regulations and be treated more seriously if ever investigated, than just keeping simple and buying NI and driving back.
Presumably not often investigated, but the NI border movements are perhaps still given a degree of intelligence based / hidden scrutiny for various reasons. Best not to be seen to be covert operations.

 

[Ferris]

Going to effort of changing cars could be seen as an attempt to evade taxes / import regulations and be treated more seriously if ever investigated, than just keeping simple and buying NI and driving back.
Presumably not often investigated, but the NI border movements are perhaps still given a degree of intelligence based / hidden scrutiny for various reasons. Best not to be seen to be covert operations.

FWIW the main road from Dublin - Belfast is a motorway at the border crossing and that may indeed be 'monitored' but, lets be honest, they're most likely not interested in broken down old boats with little or no means of identification or tracking. For the border region there are literally hundreds of road crossings - basically impossible to police. There is even a waterborne crossing in the form of the Shannon-Erne waterway that Dino mentioned. The Republic - NI border is essentially wide open to all but genuine commercial import/export, postal deliveries and motor vehicle importation.

I would even doubt that the OP would be challenged on a Dublin - Holyhead crossing. Note that this is all my own opinion and I won't be drawn into the moralities but in the OP's case I know what I would be doing.

 

[Dino]

I have another friend who bought an old ex-Navy Avon Searider in the UK. It was just the rib hull with tubes on a trailer, no engine and looked fairly rough. On the way into Dublin he was asked how much he paid for it.. he said a grand. The customs guy gave him a bill for €230 for the vat so he paid it