shipping boat to europe?

[samson]

hey guys another random question for you today.

if you were to ship your boat from mainland USA to Europe what sort of customs would you have to deal with? lets say EU in general. i have read some people say you have to pay import tax or vat or something while others you don't live there so you don't pay tax. what is it?

reading this i don't know if i missed something but i think this is more along the lines of you cruising to the destination and not shipping the boat there

Some Frequently Asked Questions about the rules for private boats - European commission

reading this
"A boat is temporarily imported into the EU and not into one of the constituent Member States. Thus it can move from one Member State to another with no further customs formalities during the 18 month period allowed."

what are your thoughts or the rules that you know. personal experience?

thanks
John

[ProtectTheOcean]

The VAT, etc. is for vessels that don't leave the EU within the 18 months that are allowed for the cruising visit. In short, they want to be sure that you're not importing for resale without them getting their cut. If the boat doesn't leave again, that may be a problem.

[Pete7]

Samson, the VAT rate differs between countries. However, for the UK assuming you plan on permanently importing the boat then the Queen will take the going rate of import duty, including the cost of shipping, plus VAT at 20% on top of all that. This will give you a flavour of what is required:

HM Revenue & Customs: Customs Duty, Excise Duty and Import VAT: introduction

You would also need to have the boat brought up to CE spec.

this will help explain the problems with importing a US boat:

CEProof | american imports (ASB)

In general then, when you add up the cost of permanently importing and then changing hardware from say 120v to 240v it is going to expensive. As Protectingtheocean says, a temp import and then exporting the boat is a lot easier.

Pete