We consider that there are at least four key points that Spanish tax authorities have the capacity to address and that would allow a vigorous boost to the superyacht industry in Spain. 1. Matriculation Tax In 2013, an amendment of the Spanish Excise Duty Law, made available to commercial yachts, regardless of their length, an exemption from the Spanish matriculation tax. However, the legal provision establishing this tax benefit stipulates that it won't be possible to hire the yacht to a re... More
The TA regime is laid down in Articles 250 to 253 of the UCC. For the specific case of means of transport (yachts), the conditions to be fulfilled for granting total relief from import duty are established in Article 212 of the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 of 28 July 2015 Delegated Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 (“The DR”): “(a) they are registered outside the customs territory of the Union in the name of a person established outside that territory or ,where the means of trans... More
Commercial yachts intending to charter in Spain must be in free in circulation, which means that VAT should have been paid or accounted for. Since Brexit, British-flagged yachts have been subject to some sort of uncertainty about their customs status and how that would affect their commercial operations in the EU. A consequence of the Brexit process, therefore, is that yachts must now be considered as either imported into the UK or into the rest of the EU27 Member States, but are no longer c... More
VAT must be paid on any yacht sailing EU waters unless it falls under the temporary import relief. The rules are not prescriptive about the basis for VAT except that it should represent the market value, but if you have bought it recently the price you paid could be used as a base value. Although the Spanish VAT rate (21%) is not one of the lowest in the EU, Spanish VAT on yachts can be reduced using a formula based on a "book" value that takes depreciation into account. Spanish Customs Inst... More
On the 10th February 2021 the Spanish Merchant Marine Directorate, as a result of the effects of Brexit, published an internal instruction establishing that UK RYA qualifications certificates were no longer acceptable for use on Spanish-flagged rental yachts. The publication of that instruction immediately caused great concern among the charter industry all across Spain due to the significant negative impact of such a decision, which could represent a 15% of business turned down. Fortunatel... More
Latest fiscal amendments with impact in the superyacht chartering season 2021 in the Mediterranean: The below is a summary of the most relevant fiscal amendments with effect on the superyacht chartering activity in the Mediterranean which were discussed by representatives of different jurisdictions in the roundtable organized by Quaynote Thursday 18th in the course of “The future of Superyachts, Business Jets and Luxury Property Online Conference” France: The new situation for summ... More
