UK Citizen Buying Croatian Flagged, non VAT-Paid Boat

[savoir]

HMRC put it this way:

" You will be not ordinarily resident during the tax year ended
5 April 2010 if:
• you made a one-off single visit to the UK and left before you had been
here for 183 days and do not intend to return, or
• you have made a one-off single visit to the UK for a period of fewer than
three years from the date of your arrival and upon your departure you do
not intend to return, or
• you left the UK before 6 April 2009 for permanent residence or full-time
employment abroad and your visits to the UK over a period of four years
have averaged fewer than 91 days each tax year, or
• you are making a single one-off visit to the UK and leave before you have
been here for 183 days and do not intend to return, or
• your home is normally abroad and you are making regular visits to the
UK, your visits over a period of four years average fewer than 91 days
each tax year and at no time did you intend to stay for three years or
more, and
• you did not own or buy accommodation at any time, or
• you did not lease accommodation for a period of three years or more. "




For you stevensuf this is mostly academic. If you are resident of Scotland then you face a tax liability every time you enter an EU country with the boat. They may or may not check your boat's tax status.

There's always the Caribbean or alternate seasons in Turkey and Morocco..

[boatman61]

Ahh well.... looks like I've provoked as many answers as available...
You could always have a go a pissing off the UK VAT man by lodging a payment and re-claim of VAT at the same time just for a laugh... Ship in... Ship out...
That way... could be your covered for transit and get your cash back at the end.... rofl

[stevensuf]

Well i spoke to the croation brokerage and they can deregister the boat in croatia and i can reregister it in the UK SSR and pay neither croation or EU tax, though if croatia joins the eu in a few years then the boat will have to be moved, Im not particularly interested in cruising the North of the med, ive seen a lot of it already, though would miss the greek islands, I'm thinking more turkey, north africa then perhaps the arc, anyone know what the situation would be in the canaries? they are part of spain but a tax haven, would their be any problems stopping off their for the arc? The way i see it, the boat would not be returnign to eu waters for some time, so better to pay the vat a few years down the line and save money, as the boat will have devalued a fair percent by then.

[savoir]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Ahh well.... looks like I've provoked as many answers as available...
You could always have a go a pissing off the UK VAT man by lodging a payment and re-claim of VAT at the same time just for a laugh... Ship in... Ship out...
That way... could be your covered for transit and get your cash back at the end.... rofl

What happened ?

Did a VAT man kick sand in your face and run off with your girlfriend ?

[boatman61]

Stevensuf... personally I can't see the big deal, especially if there's no intent to stay in the EU... and your travel/destination log can back your claim that you merely intend to transit.. not import.
But there's more careful/obedient/wiser heads in here than mine so I guess it boils down to .. "Yer pays yer money..." or "Yer takes yer Chances..."