Why not buy a decent boat in a cheaper country ?

[Tranona]

Saw some Bavaria's in Vancouver, which I was told, were built in US.

You may be right, but in all the time I have been involved with Bavarias have never seen any reference to US built boats - their whole method is based on mass production in one factory in Germany.

Incidentally, Bavarias are considered (or were) a premium brand in US! Something like a person who is an expert because he comes 70 miles down a motorway!

 

[Baggywrinkle]

Buying in Croatia now may be an opportunity to benefit from the country's entry into EU. Country of registration may play a role so probably better to keep a Croatian flag and registration on the boat if possible...

If you buy in Croatia, and register in Croatia, you will have to pay Croatian VAT (which you can re-claim on export) unless you are a Croatian registered company that can run the boat VAT unpaid.

The only way to avoid the VAT is to buy and export. (We did it last year.)
If you export you must leave the country with the goods. i.e. passport stamps, border control followed by leaving (or appearing to leave) Croatian waters.

The next step is either ...

Import to an EU country - you're welcome to simply sail into a port without a yellow flag flying if you want to, but if you go through border control they might check your papers and charge you VAT (all the countries round Croatia aren't stupid and are expecting a Croatian exodus - it's free revenue for their governments after all, and the onus is on the owner to prove VAT paid.)

or

Return to Croatia, in which case you gain entry but as the boat is a foreign asset owned by a foreign individual, it's exempt from Croatian VAT - at the moment. The grey area is if they see this entry into the country as an import or whether you can wriggle through with a boat older than 8 years that has proof of use in Croatia.

Our boat is 1999 vintage with no VAT paid and is lying in Croatia. I fully expect to be billed next year.

My logic is as follows ....

As a foreign flagged vessel, I have to sign a request to place goods under customs control in the marina where I keep the boat. It won't be too difficult for the customs officers to round up all the foreign boats in all the marinas in Croatia - I'd do it if I were in their shoes.

It might well be worth a trip to Italy or Slovenia to pay VAT there, I'll have a better feel for it nearer the time.

One disclaimer - my boat is not worth much, so I don't stand to gain enormously from trying to avoid the VAT. If it were worth hundreds, rather than a few tens of thousands then I might put in a bit more effort to find a way out.

 

[alant]

You may be right, but in all the time I have been involved with Bavarias have never seen any reference to US built boats - their whole method is based on mass production in one factory in Germany.

Incidentally, Bavarias are considered (or were) a premium brand in US! Something like a person who is an expert because he comes 70 miles down a motorway!

Found this http://www.bavariayachts.com/pdf/P047_IBI_FEB10.pdf

 

[Ben Dockrell 22]

Found this http://www.bavariayachts.com/pdf/P047_IBI_FEB10.pdf

Beautifully enough this is the awesome view from a little place in Baveria.


http://www.fabulousnature.com/img5107.htm

 

[Tranona]

Intereresting. Guess they have to do something to try and plug the hole left by the decline in their European markets.

Leaving aside the fact that the factory will own the dealerships, the model of subsidising new owners through charter management deals is exactly the same as they used in other markets over 10 years ago when they first expanded production. That is how I bought my boat, although the deal was managed by a dealer it was part of their strategy to get lots of boats out on the market. The year I bought my boat there were 63 in total delivered to Greece under the scheme. Ben/Jen do the same with their tieups with Sunsail and Moorings.