VAT exempt

[pmyatt]

You may be right, but:

Sailing your pleasure craft to and from the United Kingdom
HMRC Reference:Notice 8 (December 2002)

4.4 Will I have to pay customs duties on my pleasure craft?
Vessels under 12 metres long are potentially liable to customs duty when imported from outside the EU, and all vessels ‘designed or adapted for recreation or pleasure use’ are liable to VAT.
If you are temporarily importing your boat from outside the EU, it may qualify for relief from these charges as described in Section 5.
If you are permanently importing the boat on transfer of your residence from outside the EU, it may qualify for the relief described in paragraph 4.11.
A boat previously VAT paid and exported from the EU may also qualify for relief on return if:
▪ imported normally within 3 years of its export from the EU;
▪ imported by the person who exported it from the EU; and
▪ it has undergone no more than running repairs outside the EU that did not increase its value.
If, after reading this notice, you are still in doubt about whether customs charges are due in your case, you should contact our National Advice Service.

4.11 Are there any additional requirements if I am transferring my residence to a place in the EU?
If you are moving your normal home from a non-EU country to an EU country, including the UK, you may import your vessel free of customs duty and VAT providing you:
▪ have lived outside the EU for a continuous period of at least 12 months; and
▪ have possessed and used the vessel outside the EU for at least 6 months prior to importation; and
▪ did not get the vessel under a duty/tax free scheme (see below); and
▪ declare the vessel to our officer; and
▪ will keep the vessel in the EU for private use; and
▪ do not sell, lend, hire out or otherwise dispose of the vessel in the EU within 12 months of importation unless you notify us first and pay duty and VAT on disposal.
If you purchased the vessel under a duty/tax free scheme in the vessel’s country of origin or departure, relief from customs duty and VAT will only apply if at the time you got the vessel you were:
▪ a diplomat;
▪ a member of an officially recognised international organisation;
▪ a member of NATO or UK forces, or the civilian staff accompanying them, or the spouse of such a member; or
▪ you can prove that duty and tax has subsequently been paid and has not been, nor will be, refunded.
Our officer will give you the form we require on your arrival. You should be ready to produce the vessel and all evidence of use and possession outside the EU such as registration papers and berthing fees. The rules regarding your ‘normal home ’ are complex. If you are in any doubt, please contact our National Advice Service or any of the offices listed in Section 7.
If you do not arrive with the vessel yourself, we will not normally release it until you arrive. However, we may release it for storage under certain conditions. You should contact us for details of these arrangements.
If you import a vessel under temporary importation conditions (see Section 5) and then decide to move your normal home to the UK, you may still apply for Transfer of Residence relief.

 

[swift2]

You do not say where the boat is but if the boat is vat paid then do the transaction in Greece. Simi or Rhodes is only 2 hours out from Turkey. Get a local to witness the bill of sale for proof then you keep the vat paid status.

 

[kingfisher]

\"placed on the market\"

A recreational craft is exempt from the directive if it has been:
- placed on the market, so
- made available
OR
- put into service
before the implementation of the directive.

Please refer to page 15 to 20 of the Guide on the RECREATIONAL CRAFT DIRECTIVE AND COMMENTS TO THE DIRECTIVE COMBINED.
ec.europa.eu/enterprise/maritime/maritime_regulatory/doc/guide_v2_94_25_en.pdf
A 106 pages of CE-marking goodies.

I spent 15 months in the Turkish Ministries, three months in the state inspectorate in Croatia, a few months in Morocco. Before that it was Poland, Czech Rep and the rest of those countries. Ah yes, inbetween there was Jordan, Tunisia, Moldova, Albania, Kosovo, ...

Soon off to Kazakhstan. Thank god they don't have seas. That's one directive less to deal with. And they always send you to cold countries in winter and hot ones in summer. I'm scheduled for Algeria from April onwards.

 

[kingfisher]

Re: RCD and Turkey

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the explanation. However, this would only apply (potentially) to a very small numbers of boats if being on the Turkish market is defined as having been sold in that market. Many boats have ended up there by being sailed from other countries. Would they be considered as being exempt simply by being moored in Turkey before 2005?

[/ QUOTE ]

First of all: all brand names used in this post are purely used a examples.

"Mooring" in itself does not constitute "placing on the market". "Placing on the market" on the other hand cannot be translated as traded: a boat sold from builder (Island Packet) to trader (Opal Marine) is not "placed on the market". It has to be made available to the end user. There are dozens of scenarios possible, most of them with a yes/no answer. Some of these questions are open to interpretation. But that is what a judge does.
Trader sells boat to leasing company, who leases boat to consumer: yes (placed on the market)
Trader uses boat of owner as demo boat: no, not placed on the market
It is somewhat similar to the question in bankruptcies as to when a boat changes owner, with the same number of variables.

[ QUOTE ]
Presumably for more recent EU built boats (ie post 1998) RCD would be less of a problem as, even if the individual boat did not have a CE mark, the information required would be readily available from the builder.

[/ QUOTE ]
Post 1998 EU boats will have been CE-marked. An EU boat is a boat that was placed on the market in the EU and then sailed to Turkey. But a 2002 Bénéteau shipped directly from the factory to Turkey will not necesserily be CE-marked.
2 problems with getting a boat from outside the EU into the EU, even if the boat is a brand that is trading in the EU:
Problem 1 is that the RCD requires that you are able to provide some economic sensitive information (name of subcontractors, test results,...), which the mftr will not be ready to divulge. In some cases, the mftr uses the RCD to prevent parallel import, to prevent individual users to bring in a boat from the US to the UK instead of buying from the UK dealer.
An import nuance is that the directive only mentions that you should be able to provide any information when asked for by authorities. So there is no formal technical file.
Problem 2 is that on top of the information requirement (technical construction file, users manual, CE-label), even for a class D, the involvement of a notified body (sort of a classification body) is required.


[ QUOTE ]
However, the OP was talking about a 1985 boat, which would be RCD exempt if he could show that it was in use in the EU prior to 1998 (as was a boat imported from the USA as described in this month's PBO). But if it was exported from the EU from new it may not be. If it went to Turkey in 1985 seems it would hinge on how "placed on the market" is defined.

[/ QUOTE ]
If Westerly made the boat, and they shipped it to Turkey immidiately, the boat was never placed on the EU market.
If Westerly made the boat, and the owner arranged a crew to sail it from Southamton to Turkey, it was placed on the market (made available) on the EU market.
If Westerly made the boat, shipped it to Turkey, but the papers were signed in London, and the cheque handed over at the Westerly offices, the boat was not placed on the EU market.

I mean, the variations are limitless. Give me the concrete history of the boat, and I can maybe give you an answer. We spend at least half a day in trainings playing these sorts of mindgames.

 

[Tranona]

Re: RCD and Turkey

Thanks for this additional explanation. Cynics might say that this confirms the view that this is an anti consumer, protectionist piece of legislation!

There may be an opening here for a book on the subject. The RYA information is very good in laying out the basic principles, but it does not go to this level of detail.

On the other hand, the number of people directly affected - ie actually want to import a boat from outside the EU may be very small - perhaps because of the obstacles!

Enjoy Kazakhstan. I went there in February last year. Snow bound in Astana airport, where I discovered why vodka is the drink of choice in that part of the world.

 

[goboatingnow]

Re: RCD and Turkey

There is no porblem other then cost in having a post construction ce certfication done to get the boat certified to any RCD class( other then cost of course). You do not need access to sensitive information. Post construction certification was added recently to the RCD legislation.

PS the RCD legislation was primarily a result of UK pressure on the commission not french or anyone else

In the boat was in the EU pre 1985 and you can prove it then VAT is not an issue

If the boat had VAT paid and was exported outside the EU , then do the deal in greece as stated to retain the VAT paid status.

If the boat is old , then have the current owner pay the VAT as part of teh deal. The boat would be valued at its financial value , which is often way way less then its market value. If you buy it and pay the vat it will cost you more as you will have just proved its value.

I once did a transaction in Majorca where a non-eu boat was valued for 16K VAT on a 250K sales transaction , all legal and stamped by the Palma authorities.