New tax for foreign yachts based in Greece from 1st January 2014????

[Tony Cross]

Oh. I forgot, but I've just been reminded by Pleias.

A current option is to hand your papers to the port police, declaring the boat as "not in use". Effectively, the boat is in bond. This exempts you from taxes.

That's interesting Jim. You might want to ask about this too. I think people will want to know what can be done to a boat "not in use" (ie. effectively in bond). Can you work on it? Can someone else work on it on your behalf? Can they run the engine for example, exercise seacocks etc.? Can it even be plugged into shore power? Or must it be isolated and inaccessible to anyone and not connected to anything?

Sorry, another can of worms!

 

[macd]

Peio . . ". . Anyone controled in the Saronique or Patras gulfs can argue that he is "en route" to Turkey or Italy through this canal because his boat can not afford the turn of Peloponnese..."
I am no expert but I think you'll find that your right of innocent passage through a country's territorial waters does not include stopping unless for reasons of safe navigation and also you do not have the right to venture into inland waters which I'd have thought included the Corinth.
You can claim to have engine problems, etc as the reason why you have broken your passage, but the onus would be for you to prove this.
Dave

I'm no expert, either, but if you read the relevant section of UNCLOS (which I quoted somewhere before in this interminable thread), it does specifically permit stopping/anchoring on innocent passage, except at a "harbour or roadstead". As you write, it also includes stopping to render assistance, force majeur etc, but seems not to insist on it.

 

[Aquarella]

Take a look at what's happened now in Mexico! This makes me scared. I sincerely hope the authorities won't go this far in Greece.
http://news.yahoo.com/us-canadian-boaters-left-limbo-mexico-050405394.html

 

[Appleyard]

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?383768-Now-it-s-Mexico-attacking-cruisers

Pay attention at the back!

 

[PLEIAS]

That's interesting Jim. You might want to ask about this too. I think people will want to know what can be done to a boat "not in use" (ie. effectively in bond). Can you work on it? Can someone else work on it on your behalf? Can they run the engine for example, exercise seacocks etc.? Can it even be plugged into shore power? Or must it be isolated and inaccessible to anyone and not connected to anything?

Sorry, another can of worms!

The PP keeps a special registry where one can register a boat as out of circulation.That is you give your boat's documents and you state as well where the boat is stored on land.The boat is by no way bonded and you can pick up your papers anytime you want.This has nothing to do with the small fee that you pay when you go in or out of the water as it is a different act and produces no proof (the fee) for taxation purposes.Meanwhile you can do whatever you want to the boat as it is in no other way different from being on the hard.Oh and before anybody gets any funny ideas the PP checked twice last year even the small boats for their storage giving very strict fines to those that were not found on land.

 

[Tony Cross]

The PP keeps a special registry where one can register a boat as out of circulation.That is you give your boat's documents and you state as well where the boat is stored on land.The boat is by no way bonded and you can pick up your papers anytime you want.This has nothing to do with the small fee that you pay when you go in or out of the water as it is a different act and produces no proof (the fee) for taxation purposes.Meanwhile you can do whatever you want to the boat as it is in no other way different from being on the hard.Oh and before anybody gets any funny ideas the PP checked twice last year even the small boats for their storage giving very strict fines to those that were not found on land.

Interesting, thank you!

 

[Bertramdriver]

The PP keeps a special registry where one can register a boat as out of circulation.That is you give your boat's documents and you state as well where the boat is stored on land.The boat is by no way bonded and you can pick up your papers anytime you want.This has nothing to do with the small fee that you pay when you go in or out of the water as it is a different act and produces no proof (the fee) for taxation purposes.Meanwhile you can do whatever you want to the boat as it is in no other way different from being on the hard.Oh and before anybody gets any funny ideas the PP checked twice last year even the small boats for their storage giving very strict fines to those that were not found on land.

Am I alone in never bothering to do this paperwork for the PP?

 

[1bobt]

Am I alone in never bothering to do this paperwork for the PP?

I tried doing it this year, Port police had no receipt book, could not even pay for a lifting paper.

 

[nimbusgb]

Am I alone in never bothering to do this paperwork for the PP?

Yard charges €15 for 'port police paperwork'. Not sure that means much and I am in possession of my documents so nope, don't bother even though we are out of the water for about 10 months of the year.

 

[NornaBiron]

Am I alone in never bothering to do this paperwork for the PP?

We anchor year round so go to see them only if they ask.

 

[Cardo]

Am I alone in never bothering to do this paperwork for the PP?

I'm working on the assumption the marina are sorting that out.

I have yet to visit the PP since we arrived in Corfu from Italy back in September. The few times I tried to visit them the office was closed. Can't be bothered anymore.

 

[Mad Pad]

Cardo,if closed in Gouvia did you try Corfu town?
Actually I wouldn't have bothered either!!
Correct?

 

[Cardo]

Cardo,if closed in Gouvia did you try Corfu town?
Actually I wouldn't have bothered either!!
Correct?

Haven't bothered trying the Corfu town PP. I appreciate I'm meant to see them when entering the country, but seeing as I went pretty much straight to Gouvia and have the relevant paperwork, I really can't be bothered chasing them up. I'll make sure I visit them before we set off in March/April.

 

[Sybaris]

No wonder they introduce a new tax when so many guests "can't be bothered" to do the minimum paperwork actually required, or paying the very low port fees actually required. And no, I don't buy all excuses of "not being able to find them", or "having to walk really far to the tax office to pay 0.80 cents" or whatever other reasons you make yourself for not doing what is required. Perhaps you don't bother to pay your restaurant bills either.

 

[RupertW]

No wonder they introduce a new tax when so many guests "can't be bothered" to do the minimum paperwork actually required, or paying the very low port fees actually required. And no, I don't buy all excuses of "not being able to find them", or "having to walk really far to the tax office to pay 0.80 cents" or whatever other reasons you make yourself for not doing what is required. Perhaps you don't bother to pay your restaurant bills either.

Oh come on - it's a ridiculous system that simply inconviences sailors for the sake of a tiny revenue. What would be wrong with the marinas collecting the fee as part of their charge and cut the PP out of the equation altogether. To an outsider the PP sound like the Hairdressers' Police or the Taverna Army, in other words a strange and pointless institution.

 

[Steve C Cronin]

No wonder they introduce a new tax when so many guests "can't be bothered" to do the minimum paperwork actually required, or paying the very low port fees actually required. And no, I don't buy all excuses of "not being able to find them", or "having to walk really far to the tax office to pay 0.80 cents" or whatever other reasons you make yourself for not doing what is required. Perhaps you don't bother to pay your restaurant bills either.

Sorry, that is c r a p!

It's €20 each way by taxi just to pay 80leptas. The officers in the tiny, rarely manned PP office in Gouvia know the score.

Incidentally, it is now the law in Greece that if you don't get presented with a bill at a restaurant, you have no obligation to pay!

Kali Nikta!

 

[Steve C Cronin]

Oh come on - it's a ridiculous system that simply inconviences sailors for the sake of a tiny revenue. What would be wrong with the marinas collecting the fee as part of their charge and cut the PP out of the equation altogether. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In a lot of places, particularly in the Aegean, that is what they do.

 

[Cardo]

No wonder they introduce a new tax when so many guests "can't be bothered" to do the minimum paperwork actually required, or paying the very low port fees actually required. And no, I don't buy all excuses of "not being able to find them", or "having to walk really far to the tax office to pay 0.80 cents" or whatever other reasons you make yourself for not doing what is required. Perhaps you don't bother to pay your restaurant bills either.

Steady on, fella. I've paid my dues to the marina, like I would in most other countries. I even tried visiting the PP office out of courtesy, but they've always been closed. As I understand it, as I'm in the marina, there are no further dues to pay, so what, precisely, are you preaching?

 

[duncan99210]

I, like many, take the view that the PP are in fact a job creation scheme, not a revenue raising set up. The charges they are meant to collect are such that a single person can collect by walking along the quayside with a receipt book, as happens in Gaios for example. It doesn't need an over staffed office full of people who can't be bothered to take a hike down the quay to enforce the charge. If they don't ask they won't get.

 

[1bobt]

No wonder they introduce a new tax when so many guests "can't be bothered" to do the minimum paperwork actually required, or paying the very low port fees actually required. And no, I don't buy all excuses of "not being able to find them", or "having to walk really far to the tax office to pay 0.80 cents" or whatever other reasons you make yourself for not doing what is required. Perhaps you don't bother to pay your restaurant bills either.

And what`s wrong with the port police getting off their backsides and actually visiting the port, they are supposed to be policing?