Outdated advice on Spanish matriculation tax on MBY News

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Could somebody at MBY explain why they are publishing a piece on their news page titled New advice on matriculation tax here http://www.mby.com/news/405042/new-advice-on-matriculation-tax-in-spain when the article is dated 11 June 2009? Not only that but the article fails to address the key issue with the application of the matriculation tax in Spain and that is the fact that some local tax authorities have chosen to apply the tax to foreign boat owners who offer their boats for charter in Spain. Whilst these foreign boat owners may not be personally resident for tax purposes in Spain, the tax authorities maintain that offering a boat for charter in Spain is engaging in a business activity in Spain. That in itself does not make the owner liable for matriculation tax but if the owner should use the boat for his own personal use as well as offering the boat for charter, then the owner is liable for Spanish matriculation tax.
AFAIK, despite stories of protests by boaters and the boating industry in places like Majorca, the Spanish authorities have not budged an inch on this issue. So any non Spanish resident with a boat in Spain should still be aware that offering a boat for charter and using it for personal use may well trigger liability for matriculation tax there
 
Mike,
after 3 years we were building a nice skipper charter activity in Spain (we never did get to meet in Denia!) - chartering maybe 5 days a week in the main season -and then loomed the Mat tax - possibly €18,000 for us (or a bit more).

Now add the other proposed changes; must have a Spanish company (or be associated with one), limiting charter activity to 30 days in any 90 day period, monthly inspection by Spanish (more costs), increased marina fees for being a charterer, (the fees were going up anyway), and a few other additional costs as well.

We brought Seraph back to UK in 2009.
 
Surely this is just an old news story that you happen to have found? It has the old quote "Spain is governed by the rule of law". They don't mention that Spain decides which laws to follow and which to ignore (and which to make up on the spot).
 
lovezoo said:
Surely this is just an old news story that you happen to have found? It has the old quote "Spain is governed by the rule of law". They don't mention that Spain decides which laws to follow and which to ignore (and which to make up on the spot).
Click to expand...

No its a link on the current Motor Boat news page http://www.ybw.com/news/motorboats and anybody reading it without noticing the date would think it was current advice when it most definitely isn't
 
Steve Clayton said:
Mike,
after 3 years we were building a nice skipper charter activity in Spain (we never did get to meet in Denia!) - chartering maybe 5 days a week in the main season -and then loomed the Mat tax - possibly €18,000 for us (or a bit more).

.
Click to expand...

Hi Steve, sorry we never met in Denia and sorry to hear you were forced out of Spain. The Spanish tax authorities have lost a huge amount of money with their pig headed attitude over this. Yes they may have scammed a few Euros out of people like me but thousands of boats such as your and mine have moved out of Spain as a result and it's killing the local boating industry with the result that far more in VAT and income tax has been lost than was gained through the mat tax.
As you may remember, after a season in Denia, we moved our boat to Majorca. I was persuaded by the company that I engaged to guardiennage my boat there (who were also a charter company) to put my boat on their books for charter (skippered only). I spent about €8k coding and licensing the boat but in 5 yrs in Majorca, the boat actually did only 5 days charter which didn't even give me enough to cover my coding costs. Despite this, I was one of the early ones caught in the mat tax crackdown because, for reasons unknown, the Majorcan tax authorities targeted boats with charter companies in Menorca and N Majorca first. Anyway, I had no choice but to pay the mat tax as my boat was put under a precinto immediately. What with the mat tax + interest, legal fees and the coding costs, those 5 days of charter in 5yrs cost me an awful lot of money:mad:
When I heard that the local tax authorities were also planning to hit those who had already paid the mat tax with an additional fine that could be as much as 75% of the tax paid, I lost my rag and had the boat moved out of Spain within days to Sardinia. Unexpectedly, I got an offer to buy that boat in Sardinia and bought another boat which happened to be in Croatia, which is how I've ended up in Croatia
 
Mike, the mby home page has been like that for several months, with 3 or 4 old stories linked to. I agree with you that it's not good

I agree most of your sentiments on spanish shooting themselves in the foot with the mat tax. However, despite other reports on here to the contrary, when i was in Menorca this August both Mahon and Cuitdadella were full of pleasure boats every night, with no more spare berths that you could count on fingers of one hand. Ditto San Antonio, Palma, Cala D'Or
 
jfm said:
I agree most of your sentiments on spanish shooting themselves in the foot with the mat tax. However, despite other reports on here to the contrary, when i was in Menorca this August both Mahon and Cuitdadella were full of pleasure boats every night, with no more spare berths that you could count on fingers of one hand. Ditto San Antonio, Palma, Cala D'Or
Click to expand...

jfm, before the mat tax thing, you wouldn't have been able to get into those places to judge whether they were full! The last time I visited Mahon (2007 I think), I booked (and paid) in February for a July berth and I was told I got the last berth available. We never got to berth in Cuitadella because it was always full! I'm sure that the Balearics were full of boats this year just like every year but, like you, many of those boats would have been visiting from outside the islands. Its the number of boats permanently berthed in the islands that has diminished and thats what hurts the local boating industry more
 
Deleted User said:
jfm, before the mat tax thing, you wouldn't have been able to get into those places to judge whether they were full! The last time I visited Mahon (2007 I think), I booked (and paid) in February for a July berth and I was told I got the last berth available. We never got to berth in Cuitadella because it was always full! I'm sure that the Balearics were full of boats this year just like every year but, like you, many of those boats would have been visiting from outside the islands. Its the number of boats permanently berthed in the islands that has diminished and thats what hurts the local boating industry more
Click to expand...

Yup, I see your point mike, all agreed. I suspect all I saw was August vistors, which is always peak time. And in all those places I got a berth just by ringing a few days before arrival
 
Not a particuarly representative sample but every marina I've visited in Mallorca this summer has had plenty of empty berths even in July/August.

We have a place in Cala D'Or now and I would guess that its probably no more than 70% full - the marina that is not our place!

Martyn
 
Deleted User said:
Could somebody at MBY explain why they are publishing a piece on their news page titled New advice on matriculation tax here http://www.mby.com/news/405042/new-advice-on-matriculation-tax-in-spain when the article is dated 11 June 2009? Not only that but the article fails to address the key issue with the application of the matriculation tax in Spain and that is the fact that some local tax authorities have chosen to apply the tax to foreign boat owners who offer their boats for charter in Spain. Whilst these foreign boat owners may not be personally resident for tax purposes in Spain, the tax authorities maintain that offering a boat for charter in Spain is engaging in a business activity in Spain. That in itself does not make the owner liable for matriculation tax but if the owner should use the boat for his own personal use as well as offering the boat for charter, then the owner is liable for Spanish matriculation tax.
AFAIK, despite stories of protests by boaters and the boating industry in places like Majorca, the Spanish authorities have not budged an inch on this issue. So any non Spanish resident with a boat in Spain should still be aware that offering a boat for charter and using it for personal use may well trigger liability for matriculation tax there
Click to expand...

Hi Deleted User,

I have only just seen this and we're not sure why it's is coming up as a new link on ybw. I'll talk to the web team and see what's going, sorry about that.

Thanks,

Jack
 
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