Philip Asherson
New member
I am resident with my wife in the UK. We purchased a boat in 2019 vat paid originally in UK, but present in EU on the Brexit transition date - so treated as EU VAT paid. We have now been sailing in the canaries, Caribbean and USA for more than 3 years - now thinking to return to EU via the Azores, but could go another route. Ideally we’d like to regain EU VAT paid status under RGR rules with ‘special circumstances’ for being away longer than 3 years. The boat is UK registered. I’ve read that some countries are more likely to give us back VAT paid status than others (some more lenient interpretation of rules) - for example Ireland or the Azores. Does anyone have experience of this situation and which county/port might be best to obtain the RGR exemption and regain VAT paid status?