VAT in Italy- Import Ship Parts

[Ram]

Some countrys are more frendly to the import of parts and supplys for your boat than others in Europe, France , Spain are easy Greece is not, Greece charges about 20% vat for anything even if its a Vessel in Transit

What Im woundering is does anyone here have any experence with Iraly and importing under the vessel in transit rule?I want to import some things for the boat and I want to aviod the vat, so its easy to go to Italy and pick the parts up

[Pblais]

so its easy to go to Italy and pick the parts up

So it's the Italians that don't know this? I would be thinking non EU.

[VieuxMalin]

Originally Posted by Pblais

So it's the Italians that don't know this? I would be thinking non EU.

Italy has a 20% VAT as well, folks....
as a matter of fact, France, Greece, Germany and (believe me) also Italy are all part of EU community. The only place in europe to have no vat items are Gibraltar and Isle of Man, I believe.
As far as I know, to get duty free things, you might be required to state that your next destination is a non eu country.
Also fuel is quite an issue, since should be boarded vat extempt on a vessel...
Nevertheless, I've never seen a harbour with a duty-free zone, like you have in airports.

[Ram]

Yes all of the EU countrys have VAT , just some will not make you pay it for a Vessel in Transit, Like France, if you leave the country within a certin peiord of time and check in a different country.
anyway I wondered if italy was the same. Greece makes you pay >>>

[VieuxMalin]

It would be interesting to know.
But, are you referring for example at ship chandlers that will sell you non VAT gear?
I hardly believe that an italian ship chandler would sell you things this way.
Or maybe, you purchase one thing normally and then you go to an office to get your VAT back?

[Ram]

I was talking about importing a dingy and moter from America, then pick it up and leave the country so I would not have to pay VAT, Ive done this with other large items in France and all I had to do was to sail to Spain and check in there and show that I had the goods onboard and was refunded the VAT back, Greece does not allow this and keeps the 20% along with lots of other small charges that add up
Anyway I have a dink/motor onboard already and I dont really have to have the big one shipped over at this point so ive decided to wait and see, when I go to Italy I will have time to check into all of it in person

[Jim Thomsen]

I am not sure about Italy, but we purchased a number of big items (dink/motor, etc.) from a dealer in the Netherlands who sold us everything without VAT and we had to have the invoiced stamped when we arrived outside the EU (Gib for us) and returned to him so that he would not have to pay when he was audited. (We did the same thing with our boat, which is American flagged).
Currently we are in Spain and just came back from the USA with 5 large bags of expensive things and were checked at customs, but they only asked about the dried blueberries.
Jim

[Chiroeurope]

Okay, Italy has 20% VAT and if your boat is NON EU and you are leaving EU water to your next port (a non EU port) than you can file to get your VAT back (this can take a bit of tiime). Gib's status is currently under review as is the status of the ABC's and the other East Antilles due to the issuance of EU passports to citizens of those countries by the central governing body. This is due to Brussels and also many EU governments getting tired of tax evasion by these small loop holes in the EU charter and laws.

For a non EU boat, there is a move to start coming down harder on those who go over the 9 month limit (minus any time properly spent under bond on the hard) as there has been a view that too many owners of boats are using non EU reg' to avoid EU VAT. The good news is that there is going to be a sliding scale for used boats (greater than 5 years old) and that they may completely waive VAT for those built before December 31, 1985. These are currently in discussion and we will see how this all plays out.

On the VAT issue the best practice is to keep your documents of purchase and claim back upon leaving EU waters, if you are leaving within the required time period.