VAT!

[nickh]

I'm Thinking of buying a boat to be moored in Turkey or Croatia.
Sunsail seem to be able to do it without paying VAT.
How could I do it? Does one have to set up a resident company or what?
What are the implications in 5 years time when we move it to the EEC?

 

[DepSol]

You could buy and register one in the C I then its no problem.

Dom

2003 is going to be a good year for me

 

[snowleopard]

coming home

a boat kept long-term in EC waters will be liable for VAT so when you bring it back you'll either have to cough up or take it out of the EC every few months (i think the time limit is currently 18 months but i'm sure someone will correct me if i'm wrong.)

a particular nasty is that a boat bought vat-paid in ec waters, then sold abroad will be liable for a second dose of vat when re-entering the ec!

 

[Chris_Robb]

The charter companies within the EU can reclaim their VAT as a business reclaimable item. So if you form a charter company yourself you can do it in the UK.

 

[snowleopard]

if you have a one-boat charter co and claim vat back, the customs people are likely to look very hard at your usage and charge you a proportion for private use.

 

[Guest]

You can only reclaim the VAT if you become VAT registered and provide VATable services to opthers. Then wehn you colect VAT of you customers you do not pay it back to customs but keep it - up to the point that you have matched the VA you paid on the boat. This is a very simplified explanation of a complicated tax system - in a nutshell, it would not be a worthwhile exercise unless you really are setting up a UK registered charter company to run as a business.