VAT on imported yacht

OP here - sorry re delay in replying but I’ve been busy at work!
Many thanks for all the input which TBH has not left me much clearer. Some more details may help;
  • There exists a MCA Certificate of United Kingdom Registry (I presume this is SSR) issued March 2019 which states the ‘port’ as Exeter. The boat was built in 1999 in USA. Don’t know when it was imported. I believe it was used on the Exe for a while prior to going to Portugal but no details
  • I have no idea if any “CE mark” exists. Where would one find such a thing? Who would ask for it? (Presumably any subsequent purchaser)

  • There is a MCA bill of sale dated October 2018 transferring from previous owner (address in Switzerland) to the current owner (address in Portugal)
  • Someone raised the question of engine compliance; it has a Mercury outboard (date unknown)
  • The tentative plan is to pay someone to bring it to UK on its trailer
I appreciate this is all a bit complicated and we may need professional advice. From whom? Is it worth joining RYA for legal advice from them? I’m beginning to wonder if Tranona’s advice just to sell it in Portugal and buy something here may not be best.
 
OP here - sorry re delay in replying but I’ve been busy at work!
Many thanks for all the input which TBH has not left me much clearer. Some more details may help;
  • There exists a MCA Certificate of United Kingdom Registry (I presume this is SSR) issued March 2019 which states the ‘port’ as Exeter. The boat was built in 1999 in USA. Don’t know when it was imported. I believe it was used on the Exe for a while prior to going to Portugal but no details
  • I have no idea if any “CE mark” exists. Where would one find such a thing? Who would ask for it? (Presumably any subsequent purchaser)

  • There is a MCA bill of sale dated October 2018 transferring from previous owner (address in Switzerland) to the current owner (address in Portugal)
  • Someone raised the question of engine compliance; it has a Mercury outboard (date unknown)
  • The tentative plan is to pay someone to bring it to UK on its trailer
I appreciate this is all a bit complicated and we may need professional advice. From whom? Is it worth joining RYA for legal advice from them? I’m beginning to wonder if Tranona’s advice just to sell it in Portugal and buy something here may not be best.
My understanding, and remember this advice is worth at most what you paid for it, is that there is no issues of RCD II compliance as the boat imported into the UK after RCD I was necessary. I.e. it was already legally on the the UK and EU markets

It belongs to some one else and it is outside the UK. Therefore as a UK resident importing the boat into the UK (it does not change anything if some one else is doing the driving), you will have to pay UK VAT and import duties (I think duties are 0%). There is no return of goods relief as you are not returning something VAT paid which you took out of the UK. (It was VAT paid, some one else took it out of the UK to some where in the EU, and did not need to pay any VAT as it was all in the EU common market - but as you know the B thing happened).
 
My understanding, and remember this advice is worth at most what you paid for it, is that there is no issues of RCD II compliance as the boat imported into the UK after RCD I was necessary. I.e. it was already legally on the the UK and EU markets

It belongs to some one else and it is outside the UK. Therefore as a UK resident importing the boat into the UK (it does not change anything if some one else is doing the driving), you will have to pay UK VAT and import duties (I think duties are 0%). There is no return of goods relief as you are not returning something VAT paid which you took out of the UK. (It was VAT paid, some one else took it out of the UK to some where in the EU, and did not need to pay any VAT as it was all in the EU common market - but as you know the B thing happened).

The UK is ceasing recognition of RCD and CE marking at the end of the year, you will need to prove the boat passes the new RCR and UKCA marking. (At the moment RCD=RCR, but that doesn't mean it's a direct mapping - RYA are reporting there will be a fee) New post-Brexit rules for the sale of second hand boats - Yachting Monthly
 
If you can get it into the UK via IRL who is going to know or even care .
You might find that the authorities know much more about what is going on than you would care to know. :cry:

As part of the regular surveillance which happens on companies in France (particularly those who have potential high tech security implications like mine - I supply the CPU which is used in the majority of bank and SIM cards in Europe), I was called in for an interview with the French equivalent of MI5 (Internal security service), They knew exactly which countries and cities I had visited over the last few years. :eek:

The fun part was they took some hand written notes on the back of a document I had given to them, which I then took with me when I left. :ROFLMAO:
 
You might find that the authorities know much more about what is going on than you would care to know. :cry:

As part of the regular surveillance which happens on companies in France (particularly those who have potential high tech security implications like mine - I supply the CPU which is used in the majority of bank and SIM cards in Europe), I was called in for an interview with the French equivalent of MI5 (Internal security service), They knew exactly which countries and cities I had visited over the last few years. :eek:

The fun part was they took some hand written notes on the back of a document I had given to them, which I then took with me when I left. :ROFLMAO:

And here's another fun factoid that I was not aware of until recently - HMRC like to know from brokers, builders and agents who's buying what above a certain value, especially ocean going boats. I expect that HMRC are generous in sharing their information with other guvmint agencies who have a need to know. Substantial sums of money shifting around anywhere in UK/EU probably triggers a few algorithms at the banks as well. We are being watched, and it's the geeks and nerds like me who are to blame. Where's viago these days to add a few conspiracy theories to the mix?
 
And here's another fun factoid that I was not aware of until recently - HMRC like to know from brokers, builders and agents who's buying what above a certain value, especially ocean going boats. I expect that HMRC are generous in sharing their information with other guvmint agencies who have a need to know. Substantial sums of money shifting around anywhere in UK/EU probably triggers a few algorithms at the banks as well.
Anything about 5K euro triggers things in French banks.

Every time my company gets paid from a Russian customer, we have to produce a documents to justify receiving the money.

Many many years ago, we had a windsurfer stolen from the roof of our UK car in the SoF.

9 months later, plod turned up at our house in the UK asking to see my father who was not in at the time. It was my father who had bought and paid for the windsurfer. Anyway, plod came back later when my father was in, and said the french police had found a windsurfer which apparently belonged to him. Had he lost one? Any way, we eventually recovered it next time in France.

So if they are tracking windsurfers, you can be sure they are tracking bigger stuff.
 
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