More on Spanish Matriculation Tax

I've just been emailed, by an eminent Madrid lawyer, a copy of a ruling dcument issued by Spanish tax authority on this matric tax. It was issued following actual litigation involving a german boater in Palma. It's heading is "Referencia: C017235
DGT: 13-12-2002 N.º CONSULTA: 1945/2002"

It's in Spanish but I'm told it says what you've been saying, namely only Spanish residence of the boater triggers the tax, and the tax is not due merely because the boat is in Spain (I suppose that means that if Spanish Pedro drives the boat, even just around the marina, this doc doesn't protect you from the tax, becuase it merely deals with non sp residents driving the boat...)

I have no idea if this doc is old news and you all have it already, and I don't pretend it is any panacea. But if anyone wants it PM me an email addy and I'll happily forward it. It might just be worth carrying on the boat to wave under their noses in case of trouble. It's in Spanish, as i say
 
Boat in Marbella. He is scared that if he moves it he will get caught and get a precinto notice put on it

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From this I deduce he is a resident. Now I dont suppose they can be "watching " him as you say if he had somewhere to take it he could move it pronto, by using yourgoodself. He could slip it into Soto, reg his passport etc with the office, who by the way are not cooperating with the Guardia. If he used a UK address when booking in there he may be Ok for a while.

Then you could buy it for a snip
 
If those "2002" references are dates, then ignore it. Things changed in 2007 and 2008.
 
Good point, noted, thanks

I'll see if I can get mr lawyer to deal with that point and will post back on here if anything useful received
 
JFM's ref to his lawyer and the test case re the German boat is one doc we have used as well. Thisis all very very confusing and to that point I am trying to find out if a private vessel not for charter would benefit in its protection by having the 05(Matriculation exemption notice) This seems to be the key to everything. However will the aplication open a can of worms?? I feel that for private yachts if you make the aplication proving tax status of the vessel and non residency then should be no probs. This doc then goes with the boat papers and your covered.

However I do feel that the Pedro sinario i.e a Spanish person driving a other than Spanish flagged vessel is at great risk both license to drive insurance, Matriculation etc.

Must say I have sat in the customs office this morning listening to fast talking custome officials vs my historia and the above is the best I can gather.
 
It seems my information about a purge on Mat Tax in the Balearics on a previous thread was correct then. FWIW, I have spoken to my charter agent in Majorca Mallorca Cruising this morning and this is what he says. The authorities are looking at every foreign flagged boat in Menorca and Majorca with a Balearic charter licence and assessing them for Mat Tax. Any foreign flagged charter boat with a lwl in excess of 15m should already have paid the Mat Tax but apparently some have not. Any foreign flagged charter boat with a lwl less than 15m should have a certificate exempting the boat from Mat Tax. Unfortunately, because there has been no checks on exemption certificates in recent years, most if not all boats which should have an exemption certificate do not have them and the authorities are using this fact to try to extract Mat Tax on these boats too. Furthermore, and I'm still waiting for confirmation of this, the authorities are also demanding Mat Tax on properly exempted boats which they believe have been used privately by the owner, whether he is resident or not. Quite what logic is used to support this position I don't know.
As we know, boats in Menorca have had precinctos placed on them and I understand that boats in Portals (Majorca) have also been placed under precincto. Even 2 tourist trip boats owned by Tui (Thomson Holidays) have had precinctos placed on them. Apparently, there is a general air of panic amongst boat owners. My charter agent has quite a few boats on his books and he is expecting a visit from the authorities any time. His view is that the purge has been deliberately timed for the beginning of the charter season in order to catch as many boats as possible
Anyway, I'm now feeling a bit vulnerable. My boat has a Balearic charter licence (although I've only done about 10 days charter in 4 yrs), it has no exemption certificate (the lwl comes in just under 15m) and I have certainly used my boat for private use. FWIW, because of the way the 'book value' of the boat works and because of the age of my boat, the 'book value' for assessment of Mat Tax is well under market value and I would be charged about €13k in Mat Tax. OK it wouldn't break me but I feel deeply aggrieved about the fact that I probably spend about €30-40k pa in Majorca mooring and maintaining my boat and using local services and the barstewards want to penalise me for doing this.
Again FWIW, my charter agent believes that, once this story hits the local newspapers, there will be a big fuss because of the effect on the local tourism and boating industry and the authorities may back down but I have to say that if I was looking at a Med location for my boat now, the Balearics wouldn't exactly be top of my list.
 
Thanks Mike

I'm still remaining upbeat about the whole thing.
I dont charter, the boat is privately registered and I dont spend more than 183 days in Spain.
I will have a look at the implications and relavance of the Mat exemtion certificate though.
Indeed, this might be the way to put everyone's minds at rest.

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but I have to say that if I was looking at a Med location for my boat now, the Balearics wouldn't exactly be top of my list

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Shame - as you know, I'm new to the Med and from what I see, there are loads of really great places to visit.
 
As a private non resident owner, I don't think you have anything to worry about anyway. The trouble is that there are many non resident boat owners like me in the Balearics who do a bit of perfectly legal charter work and we are the ones who seem to be in the firing line
 
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