USA Flag

[antwerp]

Hi all,can someone help me on this:
I have a USA flag(Delaware) and my boat is in Croatia,vat not paid in EU,,for now this is no problem but Croatia is going to become a member of the EU.
Anyone knows what is going to happen...?
Of coarse I am not the only one on american flag...
PH.

[Simes]

Hi Antwerp,

Well around the rest of Europe you will have to pay the VAT after a stay of 6 months. Si I would guess that the same will apply to Croatia. 6 months after Croatia joins the EU VAT will become payable upon your vessel.

I, like many others, feel that this is a rotten state of affaires. 6 months is no where near long enough to explore Europe.

Simes

[hoppy]

Foreign vessels can remain in the EU for 18 months. On the other hand the Schengen visa is for only 3 months and that causes problems for visitors.

There must be a lot owners of EU flagged yachts that are based in Croatia to avoid VAT, that will be starting to panic.

To the OP, why not move your yacht to Turkey before tax is due.

[CarinaPDX]

Simes: Unless things have changed again recently, the EU rule went from 6 months in/6 months out to 18 months in/1 day out nearly a decade ago. (BTW I spent a winter up the Medina at Island Harbour - miss the Folly.)

Every EU country seems to have a different interpretation of the rules, and a different attitude towards enforcement, so the best thing would be to check locally. If you are a cruiser and will be moving around then a visit to Turkey or Tunisia is all that may be needed. If you are leaving your boat in Croatia full time then it will depend on how the Croatians decide to handle the transition. I suspect that at the end of 18 months they will require the tax at their rate. Possibly worse, if it is considered to be imported, they might insist on getting CE approval - a near impossibility unless your model already has the approval. OTOH they might grandfather your boat into the country (unlikely IMHO). Or they may offer a way of putting the boat in bond during the winter if it is in storage, and stop the 18 month clock. There really is no way of knowing short of asking a Croatian official. Since most marinas are government owned, your marina manager should know once the policy is published. In my experience Croatian officials do not cut tourists any slack, so it is best to stay on top of this one. Good luck.

[antwerp]

Thanks everybody for their reply,
PH

[kokni]

Just FYI, in Greece a boat with non EU flag is given a 6months permit which can be either 6 consecutive months or a total of 6 months within a given 12months period.

Now, the good part is that if you have your boat in Kos island, you just sail 4.5 miles, right into Turkey, then you come back, preferably not on the same day ( ;-) ) and you get a new 6months permit! The sad thing is that you can do it only a number of times before getting into the eyes of the coast guard.

Want something better? If you get the ship out in the dry, (anywhere in Greece), say in late October and you deliver back the permit, then 6 months later, in late April, you get a new 6mo permit for the summer season! This you can do for ever, it is perfectly legal and in fact encouraged.

This is how many US ships spend years in Greek islands, and I would not be surprised if the Croatians would devise a similar system in order to keep Non-EU sailing boats, provided of course that you don't opt for permanently moving your boat in Turkey, which makes things even easier.

[Boatinglifeaway]

That is sure interesting information. It is so hard to keep up with all the new changes going around in the world. Thank you everyone for the posts here and all the explanations. Great info.