Paying VAT on a yacht leaving charter

[Rapanui]

We are taking our boat out of charter in Croatia this 2015/6 winter and intend keeping the boat in the EU thereafter. We are EU citizens so will have to pay VAT on the boat to do this legally.

VAT rates vary in the region, but clearly the valuation of the boat value for VAT is also important in determining the amount to be paid.

We are therefore looking for advice from people who have done this on:

• The process of actually doing this
• Valuations for paying VAT compared to market value in different places in the eastern Med
• If I wanted to sail out of Croatia to pay VAT in another country, is there a method to do this without being liable for VAT in transit.

The essence is that I want to pay the least amount to achieve VAT paid status.


Many thanks in advance for your contributions.

[Zanshin]

The VAT is payable at the tax rate of the first port within the EU that you clear into. I believe that the VAT rate in Croatia is 13%, which is less than other places. I would have expected that one could find a method of valuation in Croatia, perhaps involving payment of "fees" sans receipt, which might minimize the valuation. It is unfortunate that you weren't able to take advantage of last year's reduced VAT registration fees that Croatia was offering, that would have saved you a significant amount of money.
My boat is also not VAT paid and I would like to minimize my tax liability once I enter EU waters. I believe that the Germans use a linear depreciation model which penalizes newer boats, as their true value is less than that used in a linear model. It is difficult to value boats, since there's no official "blue book" value and there is a large difference between online asking prices and actual sales prices.
I think that your best bet is to use whatever contacts you can find in Croatia to negotiate your VAT payment there rather than in places such as Greece, Spain, France, Germany and the U.K.