A Word of Warning if you intend major repairs/purchases on Malta

[hogesinwa]

We did some major updates on Malta last April/May. Assuming like all the EU you could get your VAT back if the items were being exported from the EU (as it says on the top of their forms), I duly completed all the VAT refund applications with a Customs Officer when we exited.
After a wait of 15 months, I contacted Malta Tourism, as Malta Tax hadn’t bothered to contact me. They forwarded my inquiry to the VAT people.
I was informed by the head of the VAT department that they had rejected my claim on the grounds that items purchased for a pleasure boat by the owner or owner’s agent are not eligible for refund.
This sounds like pure made up bulldust to me – all the tourists exiting at the airport are encouraged to complete forms for the pissiest items but major expenditure is not covered??
The EU is supposed to have uniform tax laws. However, after a major electronics upgrade in Portugal, they happily refunded the VAT after a Customs Officer came and inspected the items (except the radar – she wouldn’t climb the mast?) Hard to see where any uniformity exists in that dog’s breakfast of a union (see also the UK’s Red Diesel wars with Belgium and the EU Court of Justice)
This is not a 3rd hand account by someone who overheard somebody talking to his niece’s fiance at the Yacht Club Sundowner. It is a direct email to me from the head of VAT Malta.
So, if you are thinking of wandering into Malta to get a refit or some new big bits, think again and factor in the knowledge that they will rip you off 23% or whatever and not give it back. (We left the EU, as we advised, for Turkey, but that does precious little good).
Purchase your thingys in a more benign environment and not in Malta.