Buying a Boat: VAT not paid

[seadove]

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There is no specifific cetificate that says 'VAT Paid'.


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Take all the papers to the Customs & Excise. If VAT has been paid they will give you a nicely stamped Certificate saying "VAT PAID".

[gjgm]

ah yes, but gifts are fully taxable too, by the recipient, so VAT is decidedly better at 17.5pct!

[thefatlady]

My understanding of Spanish VAT is that they are fairly flexible on second-hand price and the boat does not have to be in Spain. They like making the money.

As I said somewhere else, my last but one boat was British built, bought by a Dutchman via the Channel Islands, British registered, kept in France and VAT paid in Spain. Before I bought it, it had never been to Spain.

A small number of years ago, I was interested in buying a new boat from a well-known British manufacturer. They offered to base the boat in the Channel Islands, rent it to me for 6 months, then deduct the rental from the selling price and VAT would be payable on the remainder.

[whisper]

I don't know what the comparative VAT rates are around Europe, but we bought our previous boat in Denmark where it was also at 15%. It's a very useful saving and paid for the boat to be transported back to the UK.
I suggest you investigate what other EU nations would charge.

[David_Jersey]

[ QUOTE ]
Take all the papers to the Customs & Excise. If VAT has been paid they will give you a nicely stamped Certificate saying "VAT PAID".

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I didn't know they still did this?

The old man got a bit of paper from UK customs confirming the boat was VAT paid when he bought her 10 years ago - the downside was that he had to take the boat to the UK to do the sale.

[ QUOTE ]
There is no specifific cetificate that says 'VAT Paid'.


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If you pay the VAT then you <u>do</u> get a receipt from HM Customs (or whatever they are now called!) - and in my book this is as good as it gets, cos not only will it be a receipt from those whose job it is to collect the VAT, but should also be verifiable as to wheter ot is genuine (although I stand to be corrected on this).

[harvey]

A few years ago I bought a second hand boat in the US and sailed her home. On arrival in Weymouth I contacted the Customs to sort out VAT and found them extremely helpful. They calculated VAT on the price I paid, minus the cost of the bits that had broken since I presented the boat, ie depreciation since purchase. There was quite a lot of this (including a new engine). It made a significant difference to what we had to pay in VAT and it brightened my view of the Vatman enormously.
John

[tcm]

yep agreed, no argument here,an hour is quite good.

[dansar]

Hi

Bought a used yacht last year with no paperwork at all. No evidence of VAT being paid so my offer to the broker was accepted by the owner but less 17.5%. I paid the VAT direct and a few weeks later I received a stamped certificate showing the VAT had been paid.

David

[tcm]

No, i didn't miss the point. No big beef, but not only is there no such document saying "yes the vat has definitely been fullypaid on this boat" but (under the way in which uk vat works) - there cannot be a valid piece of paper saying VAT paid in uk and any such stamp is worthless, as below.

Say someone buy a boat, and pays he vat. Nips over to vat office toget a stamp saying "vat paid". Hurrah. But then, they get the boat coded and start doing a bit of charter work, get some contracts etc. They can then apply for vat refund and they'll get it too. In fact, this is precisely what happens to all boats chartering in uk - the vatisn't exempt - the mechanism that you pay it, and *then* you reclaim it.

This cannot hapen in france frinstance - there is no mechanism for reclaiming the vat. It is either vatpaid ornot vat paid tostart. So a vat invoice proves vat has ben paid in france,and it proves the same in the uk. But in uk it could have been reclaimed later - after getting a vat paid stamp too.

There's no register of which boats have and haven't had vat reclaimed, all buried in various vat offices, so all probly fine imho.

[Rogershaw]

This having to prove that VAT has been paid on UK yachts in other EU countries confuses me.

If you take your car to France for a visit do you have to prove that VAT has been paid on the car in the UK. If you re register your car in say France or Spain do you have to pay VAT /Duty as being part of EU.

When I came to South Africa I did not pay any duty / Sales Tax /VAT and my personal items and the would include a car or yacht providing I cound prove ownership for at least 6 months.

If you register a yacht in the UK new or imported dont you have to pay VAT before it can be registered ?

If I sail my South African yacht into an other African country which is part of the SACU or OZ or NZ, I dont have to prove VAT paid but if I register it or keep it for more the 6 months to a year , depending on country, I have to pay VAT and any import duties.

Or could this just be yet another form of goverment extorsion ?