Selling a yacht abroad

[andy6093]

This is my first post so hello to everyone.

I'm looking in a couple of years to buy a yacht and following the many across the pond. I would then like to sail to Aus/NZ. My question is due to time constraints I would say (12-14 months) from Spain to Australia I would then consider selling the boat in Australia to return home, is there any rules which govern the selling of British registered boats, are they are any they may sell better. Or are there any other options for getting the yacht back to the UK.

Sorry about all the questions!

 

[Talbot]

Big penalties for selling boat in Aus.:

Your yacht will attract duty of 5% and GST of 10%.

The duty applies to the Customs Value

The GST is calculated on the Customs Value, the duty payable and the
overseas freight and insurance costs/essential sailing costs.


Privately imported vessels, outlined in (a) above, are generally valued using the transaction value method of S161 on the basis of price actually paid or payable for the vessel. Transaction value is the primary valuation method and will be utilized to the greatest possible extent. The transaction value is determined irrespective of the time at which the sale contract was concluded and hence irrespective of any market fluctuations after the date when the contract was concluded.

However, the price paid or payable can only be determined when there is sufficient reliable information (S160) for the purpose. S161H is also directed at specific situations where the transaction value cannot be applied. Where the transaction value method cannot be utilized, recourse must be had to the alternative valuation methods in their sequential order.

Examples of situations which would require using one of the alternative methods would include:

 when the vessel is built by owner labour (and is therefore not subject to a contract of sale);

 the vessel has been extensively modified since purchase;

 the purchaser and the vendor are related parties (S154 (3)) and that relationship has influenced the price of the vessel.

/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[Sea Devil]

Even worse than Talbots post is that boats in NZ and Australia are a lot cheaper than UK boats and the market is much smaller! You will drop quite a lot.

It is doable in the time Down to Canaries September/October - cross the Atlantic in November - head for Panama ETA late January - 2 weeks to organise Canal Transit - to Galapagos 2 weeks to Marquesas 4 weeks to Tahiti 4 weeks to Cook Islands couple of weeks to Tonga week or so to NZ couple of weeks - now May or June - to Sydney or Brisbane couple of weeks - August but a pity to have rushed through the most beautiful part of the entire world

 

[andy6093]

Thanks a lot for your advice. The selling the boat idea does not sound great! Are there any other ways to get a boat back from Australia, if I had to return home for a job?

The reason for the compressed timescale is that I think I maybe able to wangle 12-14 months off work with a guaranteed job at the end of it - which would give me a bit of security.

 

[Talbot]

See if there are any australians who want to do a trip to europe?

 

[Ric]

I've looked into this too (in my case, NZ). It is very punitive - if I remember correctly I would have to pay around 15% of the value of the boat as tax before selling it, even if the boat were second-hand. I decided the best solution would be to buy a brand VAT exempt boat in Europe, register it in NZ, sail it over, then pay tax on arrival if I decided to stay on there.