Covid, Spanish customs and the 18 months temporary importation period

[jhe]

My boat - US flagged - is in Spain on the hard and I am getting close to the maximum 18 months temporary importation period for VAT purposes. Keeping the boat in Europe past the 18 months would mean that I owe VAT on the value of the boat. Yet I cannot currently travel to the boat from the US and have had to cancel my entire season, including a sail to the Faroe Islands to get out of the EU customs zone and reset my 18 months. The EU indicated in March that local customs offices should show flexibility in situations like mine. So I engaged a customs agent is Spain to get me an extension of the 18 months to next summer. They just got back to me that they could not help me. Has anyone had success with Spanish customs (or French customs) on this issue? I’m thinking of sailing the boat to France if the French are more helpful. Many thanks for any help you can provide!

[Prairie Chicken]

One possibility, and I'm sure it's near the end of the list you'd want to consider, is to have a trusted individual or professional crew take your boat out of the EU and back. As you likely know, you only need to get out, get proof of being out, and return. Four of us did that for friends who couldn't reach their boat the year she had to get out of the EU. We went to Gib and back from Mallorca.

[ccannan]

I'm interested in the outcome. I'm in a similar situation with my boat in Greece. I had my boat in Spain for a long time. Where in Spain is your boat (as I think it matters)?

Originally Posted by jhe

My boat - US flagged - is in Spain on the hard and I am getting close to the maximum 18 months temporary importation period for VAT purposes. Keeping the boat in Europe past the 18 months would mean that I owe VAT on the value of the boat. Yet I cannot currently travel to the boat from the US and have had to cancel my entire season, including a sail to the Faroe Islands to get out of the EU customs zone and reset my 18 months. The EU indicated in March that local customs offices should show flexibility in situations like mine. So I engaged a customs agent is Spain to get me an extension of the 18 months to next summer. They just got back to me that they could not help me. Has anyone had success with Spanish customs (or French customs) on this issue? I’m thinking of sailing the boat to France if the French are more helpful. Many thanks for any help you can provide!

[scargo]

Originally Posted by jhe

My boat - US flagged - is in Spain on the hard and I am getting close to the maximum 18 months temporary importation period for VAT purposes. Keeping the boat in Europe past the 18 months would mean that I owe VAT on the value of the boat. Yet I cannot currently travel to the boat from the US and have had to cancel my entire season, including a sail to the Faroe Islands to get out of the EU customs zone and reset my 18 months. The EU indicated in March that local customs offices should show flexibility in situations like mine. So I engaged a customs agent is Spain to get me an extension of the 18 months to next summer. They just got back to me that they could not help me. Has anyone had success with Spanish customs (or French customs) on this issue? I’m thinking of sailing the boat to France if the French are more helpful. Many thanks for any help you can provide!

Don't go to France. They simply don't allow nor recognize any VAT extension done by an other European jurisdiction see https://www.noonsite.com/report/eu-v...siting-europe/

What I herd from a broker in Greece, is that when your boat is on the hard, you can leave your boat documentations with the local customs and it stops the VAT clock. This is maybe only true in Greece.
In your case, if the Spanish authorities refuse, the only option left to you is to hire a skipper who can sail the boat to Tanja Marina in Tangier, Morocco. But you need to contact the marina to see if the border is open http://www.tanjamarinabay.ma/en/
If the Boarder of Morocco is still closed, I would try Gibraltar.


Good luck

[Prairie Chicken]

Spain used to allow a boat out of service (on the hard or tied up) to be sealed by the Aduanas & as long as it was sealed, the VAT clock was stopped. That is no-longer an option. They ceased doing so quite a few years back.

Another option would be to take your chances, leave her on the hard where she is, keep all your attempts at getting a VAT extension as corroboration in case you need it, and make best efforts to clear the VAT zone asap once you can get back. It's a bit of a risk, but the odds of being boarded & inspected by the Aduanas on your way out of the EU are slim. If you were stopped, the officers may well just wave you on, and if you did have to argue the fact, you'd have a lot of mitigating circumstances.

[Waveda]

Spain Customs is actively seeking to get all the Vat they can get, reasonably or unreasonably. Your only option is to hire a skipper and get the boat out, Gibraltar is the best option. Do it now