Croatia Cruising Permit and Sojourn Tax?

[athene]

At the risk of overloading this section with Croatia threads, can anyone offer an update on when and if Croatia is intending to drop the cruising permit and sojourn tax for EU-registered and crewed yachts?

If accession goes ahead in July this year, it will be illegal under the Treaty of Rome to discriminate between Croatian and other EU yachts and their crews, so either both will have to pay these imposts or neither will.

Does anyone know which way Croatia is going to jump?

[goboatingnow]

My understanding is the sojurn tax is leveled on all foreign yachts and EU and elsewhere, in that case it is fully compatible with EU law, but only if it was extended to Croation yachts. It remains to be seen

I mean its more a light dues type of level at , 100-150 euros a year

The permit is entirely compatible with EU law , in that it will either have to be applied to all sailors, Croatian or otherwise. I suspect however , that rather then applying it to their citizens, it will be removed for EU Citizens. ( Thats what Greece did)

I know loads of people, currently frantically making use of the 5% VAT concession to make their boats EU legal.


Note the "Cruising Wiki " says

"Note: once Croatia accedes to the European Union in July 2013 it will be necessary under EU regulations to waive the Cruising Permit and Sojourn Tax for EU-registered yachts. It remains to be seen whether the authorities will attempt to recoup the revenue in some other way."

I have several friends with yachts in Croatia, They think the Sojourn tax will not go away , but may mutate.

Dave

[athene]

Thanks Dave. I had to chuckle at the quote from the Wiki, since it was me that wrote it - as with starting this thread - in the hope that someone had the inside track on what the Croatian authorities planned to do.

I think your posting is a useful summary of the options open to the authorities. Hopefully someone who is based there will cast more light on the subject as we get closer to accession this July.

GORDON

[andrejv]

Hello to all,

i've been interested in this topic quite a while, so a few weeks ago i sent a question to the Ministery of the transport about changes after 1st of july.

They answered me, that they will change the regulations acordingly to EU laws. Not an exact answer really.

But right now there is a new Maritime law in a procedure in Croatian parlament, which covers those changes. It's in "urgent" procedure, so my guess is, that it will be adopted before end of April.

http://www.vlada.hr/hr/naslovnica/sjednice_i_odluke_vlade_rh/2013/77_sjednica_vlade_republika_hrvatske/77_5/(view_online)/1#document-preview


In short... article 12 states, that the goverment of Croatia with the special act will regulate the entrance of foreign yacht, and the paying of the dues in acording of the basic principles of EU.

BUT !!! In provisional article 141 it states, that the Goverment has 1 year time, to prepare the new special act !!

So in my humbble opinion, no changes this summer. For me personaly the dues aren't such problem. I would be really pleased when they remove the crewlist for EU yachts.

Bye from Slovenia.

[athene]

Thank you, Andrejv - that's very useful. Perhaps you could revisit this thread if you learn anything further as I suspect there are quite a few yachts waiting to see what will happen following Croatia's accession to the EU.

GORDON

[goboatingnow]

Interesting talking to one of my friends currently in Croatia ( sorting out his vat ) , he says the feedback is the tax and cruising permit will just be forgotten about after July. Croatia has no desire to annoy EU citizens.

Dave

[andrejv]

Hello to all,

the new law has been adopted by the Croatian parliment on 26th of April. Now is the question when the special act will be prepared?

[andrejv]

Some new information:

Today the spokesman of Croatian transport ministry has sent me the proposal of the future special act, which will regulate the entrance of foreign yachts in Croatia. This is still not adopted in the legislation, so there could be some changes!

What will change?

1. There will be no vignette after 1.1.2014. After that date the yachts will still have to pay some dues (probably the same as Croatian flagged). But the new dues will be paid only for the year in which they are paid, not for the next 12 months!
2. Crew list will be stamped only on entrance and departure from Croatia. In the proposal there is no mention about writing the changes if there is a crew change in Croatia.
3. There will be no more limits, how many persons can change on boat in one year.
4. Sojourn tax stays as it is. (The Croatian yachts also has to pay this)
5. But there is one important addition. If you are not the owner of the yacht ( or close relative of the owner) you have to have special power (the content of the power is well defined in the new act), but it must be translated to Croatian buy a court appointed translator.

[goboatingnow]

I presume most of these wil not apply to EU yachts. ( especially the crew lists )

Dave

[andrejv]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

I presume most of these wil not apply to EU yachts. ( especially the crew lists )

I think it will apply also for Eu yachts. Nowhere in the act the definition EU yacht is used. They always use the term "foreign".

I already asked the spokesman about this, but as I see it, probably also the Croatian flagged yacht when crossing the border, will have to stamp the crew list.

So they made the Croatian flagged yachts and all other EU yachts equal.

[d4raffy]

So what do we think happens until 01/01/2014 ?
Do I (UK flagged & Croatia Imported and Tax paid) buy a new Vignette this year or not ?

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by andrejv

I think it will apply also for Eu yachts. Nowhere in the act the definition EU yacht is used. They always use the term "foreign".

I already asked the spokesman about this, but as I see it, probably also the Croatian flagged yacht when crossing the border, will have to stamp the crew list.

So they made the Croatian flagged yachts and all other EU yachts equal.

That's the only way it could be legal , ie that Croatian yachts would have to do it as well.

I do think all this crew list stuff is just to prevent illegal chartering.

Dave

[athene]

Originally Posted by andrejv

Some new information:

Today the spokesman of Croatian transport ministry has sent me the proposal of the future special act, which will regulate the entrance of foreign yachts in Croatia. This is still not adopted in the legislation, so there could be some changes!

What will change?

1. There will be no vignette after 1.1.2014. After that date the yachts will still have to pay some dues (probably the same as Croatian flagged). But the new dues will be paid only for the year in which they are paid, not for the next 12 months!
2. Crew list will be stamped only on entrance and departure from Croatia. In the proposal there is no mention about writing the changes if there is a crew change in Croatia.
3. There will be no more limits, how many persons can change on boat in one year.
4. Sojourn tax stays as it is. (The Croatian yachts also has to pay this)
5. But there is one important addition. If you are not the owner of the yacht ( or close relative of the owner) you have to have special power (the content of the power is well defined in the new act), but it must be translated to Croatian buy a court appointed translator.

Thanks for that, Andrejv - exactly the information I hoped someone would post. On a point of detail, does the contract with a marina to qualify for the lower, flat rate of sojourn tax have to be a 12-month contract, or does a 6-month wintering contract also qualify?

GORDON

[andrejv]

Good news from Croatia. Last Thursday the Croatian government has adopted the new special act regulating the entrance of foreign yachts. The act was published in Official gazette on Saturday and is in act from yesterday.
http://narodne-novine.nn.hr/clanci/sluzbeni/2013_07_97_2189.html

I have to say, much has changed..
The dues from 1st of January 2014 will be equal as for Croatian boats. There will be no more Vignete, but there still will be some dues for navigational security and prevention of pollution. The new dues still have to be determined. But until 1st of January, in this part everything stays as it is.
The big news is that the Crew list are gone and so is the limitation of the persons which can use the boat. This is already in act!
Article 7 states, what documents have to have aboard for the controls:

- Proof that the dues and the Sojourn tax has been paid. Till 2014 the payment of a Vignette is valid.
- Evidence of Seaworthiness
- evidence that the master or skipper of the craft holds the required certificate of competency
- evidence that the craft has been insured against damage
- proof of ownership or evidence as to the person who is assigned by the owner to use the Craft</SPAN>

In this article is stated really clear, that there is no need for a Crew list.
For the special power is ok, when is confirmed by officials in the country from where the yacht is …(this has changed significantly from the first draft)
And important is, that this act aplies not only to EU yacht, but also to all others (US flaged i.e)

[Buena Vista]

Thanks Andejv that is excellent information you have been posting. We will be coming to Croatia next year (Australians coming from Turkey) and have also looked into visa requirements.

For general information, it appears that although Croatia has joined the EU, it will not join Schengen until at least 2015. This was confirmed by the Croatian Consulate in Melbourne.

Croatia tourist visa is valid for 90 days and CANNOT be extended. A "Temporary Stay" visa for 6 months can only be obtained for; family reunification, work, secondary school education and university-level studies, scientific researches or humanitarian grounds .... I guess cruising does not tick any of those boxes!

So for us, next year is a good time as we juggle our travel around the restrictive nature of Schengen.