Aussie owner Italian flag

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by eldarbaker

Gee, that is crap … especially when an os buyer will have to pay vat/gst on the value in the destination country.

Only if you take it 'home'.

Don't know what your budget is but the GST/duty that you save by not importing it into Oz or Unzud will pay for an awful lot of airfares to Thailand/Fiji/Papeete/wherever.

And the sailing is better......

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by eldarbaker

Gee, that is crap … especially when an os buyer will have to pay vat/gst on the value in the destination country.

Plus on the cost of getting it to OZ..
Why would you expect a tax refund on a secondhand boat that you've not paid any tax on.. the only person who pays that tax is the 1st buyer.. exceptions being boats coming out of big charter fleets that sell their boats ex VAT.. a great deal for non EU folk but.. if I were to buy one I would be liable for the VAT as I'm a Brit.. whereas you get it VAT free unless you overstay the grace period.

[hellosailor]

You can also get into odd situations when a sham corporation is involved, or the nationality of the owner (from their passport) doesn't match that of the vessel. Then there are the issues of VAT on boats in the EU, and a different set of rules for Schengen Zone problems.

I'd suggest some hours spent carefully searching old threads, or investing an hour with an admiralty lawyer who might be aware of issues you won't casually run across online.

If your boat is Italian flagged...it is a "citizen" of Italy. Make sure that doesn't place the boat under any obligations you might not want. For instance, a US documented vessel has obligations under our Jones Act, and stranded crew may receive special assistance with repatriation. For an Aussie on an Italian boat? If Italy used the same set of rules (highly doubtful) they'd help someone get back to Italy--and you might want to go home to Oz.

There are arcane and subtle laws about these things.