Buying in Curacao

[Tricolor]

@Ted, again in the dutch language.....

Uitzonderingsgebieden binnen de EU-landen

Voor bepaalde gebieden die deel zijn van EU-landen, de uitzonderingsgebieden, gelden andere regels. Deze gebieden zijn:

• Åland (Finland)
• de Canarische Eilanden (Spanje)
• de Kanaaleilanden (Verenigd Koninkrijk)
• de Franse overzeese departementen Guadeloupe, Frans Guinea, Martinique, Mayotte en Réunion
• Berg Athos (Griekenland)

Voor deze gebieden gelden afwijkende regels voor accijns en omzetbelasting (btw). Komt u uit een uitzonderingsgebied een EU-land binnen? Dan geldt de vrijstelling van belastingen voor de goederen die u meeneemt alsof u uit een niet-EU-land komt.


Google Translate;


Excluding areas within the EU countries

For certain areas that are part of EU countries, except the territories, other rules apply. These areas are:

Åland (Finland)
Canary Islands (Spain)
the Channel Islands (UK)
the French overseas departments of Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte and Reunion
Mount Athos (Greece)

For these areas different rules for excise and sales tax (VAT). You enter an EU country from an exceptional area? The exemption from tax applies to goods you take if you come from a non-EU country.

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by Tricolor

For these areas different rules for excise and sales tax (VAT). You enter an EU country from an exceptional area? The exemption from tax applies to goods you take if you come from a non-EU country.

Looses a bit sense with the translation I think, not that I understand dutch perfectly but some..

[ReneJK]

oh I know about the overseas EU territories , and this (checking in and out of them) is what the Dutch customs suggested to me as well while I am circumnavigating

the caveat here was that the boat may have been in Curacao for more than 4 years. Its a moot point as VAT was never paid in the 1st place but if it was a EU VAT paid yacht it may have lost its VAT paid status due to the fact it was outside the EU for more than 4 years .

And this is not a 'Dutch customs' thingy , the article referred to is a EU tax law article . Anything outside the EU for more than 3 years looses the VAT paid status . And as with anything tax related , you are guilty until proven innocent , so the burden of proof lays with yourself , not the tax office , so be prepared to come up with proof your yacht had not been outside the EU for more than 3 years.

And to come back to the original question , what needs to happen when selling a dutch yacht depends on the sort of registration it has

if its registered through the 'kadaster' the new owner may consider to leave the registration 'as is' and transfer ownership through the 'kadaster' and keep it dutch flagged with an english owner . If its registered through the ICP scheme , just get it deregistered from Dutch ICP and register it with the English SSR

the Kadaster route is probably easiest and cheapest *IF* the yacht is already registered there . The Netherlands (like the UK) does not require a yacht to be registered at all , so probably there's an ICP . if the new buyer requires proof that the yacht has been taken out of the dutch registration , the ICP org. even offers a service where the yacht gets registered and de-registered at the same time , just to be able to provide proof the yacht has been de-registered

Internationaal Certificaat Pleziervaartuigen (ICP) - Watersportverbond

[El Pinguino]

Maybe people should go back and re-visit #9.

The question I would ask is 'Can a British national own a yacht on the Dutch register?'. If the answer is yes then its straight forward... Buyer gets bill of sail... posts off paperwork to Dutch registry... job done.

[ReneJK]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Maybe people should go back and re-visit #9.

The question I would ask is 'Can a British national own a yacht on the Dutch register?'. If the answer is yes then its straight forward... Buyer gets bill of sail... posts off paperwork to Dutch registry... job done.

yes that is possible

1) if its kadaster registered its easy , just put the new name in the registration (doesnt matter if the new owner is dutch or not , any nationality is acceptable)

2) if its ICP (Dutch SSR equiv.) registration transfer is a bit harder but still possible

if its ICP registered it might be easiest for the new owner to go the UK SSR registration route and drop the Dutch ICP registration

[crankysailor]

Hopefully I am not opening a can of warms by reviving this old thread...

So I found an interesting boat to buy and the boat is in Curaçao similar situation as the OP on this thread. UK boat, been outside the EU for longer than 3 years, VAT paid status has been therefore lost.

As a EU resident and tax payer in Germany, if I bring the boat back to the EU, say via the Azores, the moment I step off the boat, customs will extend their hand out and ask for VAT to be paid. That much is clear. But this thread suggests that a boat's VAT paid status could be kept alive by visiting the french territories overseas like Martinique for example, even though these are in the EU but *not* part of the VAT zone. Well, assuming that this is correct, wouldn't that also mean that if I were to visit Martinique, if it is "enough EU" to keep the VAT paid status on a visit, it surely would also be the case that I would be asked to pay the VAT for the boat upon arrival in Martinique ...wouldn't it? .. I mean, you can't have your cake and eat it too I think.

Soo.. either the idea that visiting Martinique, Guadaloupe etc to reset the 3 yr clock so to speak to keep VAT paid status on a boat is wrong or if this is so then EU residents sailing VAT not paid status boats to these islands are risking being asked to shell out VAT no? has this really happened? if not can one conclude that keeping VAT paid status by visiting the overseas territories is a myth?

[sailnautilus]

Not to cause your thread to drift too far from taxation.....
We are sitting at Curacao Marine waiting on a generator part for our Northern Lights gen set.....
My husband and I are very experienced sailors, having owned 6 large sailing yachts over 50’. We are currently on a 52’ Kanter.....
If you would like us to visit a vessel you are interested in we have the time and could take digital pictures and give you our impressions.....
Might save you a flight over.....no obligation or compensation expected......someone once did this for me and I avoided a wasted trip.
You may PM me.

[ReneJK]

Originally Posted by crankysailor

Soo.. either the idea that visiting Martinique, Guadaloupe etc to reset the 3 yr clock so to speak to keep VAT paid status on a boat is wrong or if this is so then EU residents sailing VAT not paid status boats to these islands are risking being asked to shell out VAT no? has this really happened? if not can one conclude that keeping VAT paid status by visiting the overseas territories is a myth?

please contact your local tax office (UK HRMC ? ) and make some inquiries about your personal situation and about article 154 of the EU VAT tax laws



official replies are always better than advice from a public forum :-)

[crankysailor]

Originally Posted by sailnautilus

Not to cause your thread to drift too far from taxation.....
We are sitting at Curacao Marine waiting on a generator part for our Northern Lights gen set.....
My husband and I are very experienced sailors, having owned 6 large sailing yachts over 50’. We are currently on a 52’ Kanter.....
If you would like us to visit a vessel you are interested in we have the time and could take digital pictures and give you our impressions.....
Might save you a flight over.....no obligation or compensation expected......someone once did this for me and I avoided a wasted trip.
You may PM me.

Wow thanks for the generous offer!.. I will take you up on that once I arrange things with the seller. Apparently there is a queue to see this boat ..

Maybe one day I will also be able to pay this favor forward :-)

[crankysailor]

Originally Posted by sailnautilus

Not to cause your thread to drift too far from taxation.....
We are sitting at Curacao Marine waiting on a generator part for our Northern Lights gen set.....
My husband and I are very experienced sailors, having owned 6 large sailing yachts over 50’. We are currently on a 52’ Kanter.....
If you would like us to visit a vessel you are interested in we have the time and could take digital pictures and give you our impressions.....
Might save you a flight over.....no obligation or compensation expected......someone once did this for me and I avoided a wasted trip.
You may PM me.

Thanks once again sailnautilus. PM sent!