Sale or Purchase of your vessel
We regularly receive questions from boat owners who do not receive a VAT statement from Customs.
This VAT statement is also very important if you want to buy or sell a vessel. They want to be sure that the VAT has been paid in the Netherlands. This sometimes involves considerable amounts and you do not want to be confronted afterwards with a VAT assessment from Customs!
Please Note: A VAT statement is not always necessary, for example:
- For vessels shorter than 8 meters or not suitable for “open sea”.
- Only use in inland waterways and/or that you can prove that you have not been outside the 12-mile zone during a customs check.
A ship broker nowadays requires you to submit a valid VAT certificate during mediation. Without this proof, your vessel will not be taken into intermediation! It is also important when trading in that you have the correct VAT documents.
Your application to Customs can be rejected. For example, the original invoice is no longer available and it can no longer be requested anywhere.
Or no invoices etc. have been saved during a self-build. Your application is then immediately rejected by customs or your VAT payment is unexpectedly much higher than estimated! We can advise you to take the right path and possibly save you unnecessary costs.
It could happen that customs will value the vessel and send you a VAT assessment on that amount. With a vessel of € 50,000.00, the bill is already over € 10,000.00! All this only because nothing has been preserved! The statutory retention period of seven years for a company has nothing to do with customs in this regard. At every check you have to prove that the VAT has been paid for the vessel, just like you regularly arrive at Schiphol from America with your expensive Rolex watch, laptop, etc..
The following applies as an exception:
Vessels built before 1985 that have been demonstrably used in the EU and are still in the same condition are VAT “Deemed Paid”
Note: The German authorities have declared this no longer applicable. Now you still have to demonstrate the VAT status with original invoices.
Germany states: No pre-1985 vessel is no longer in the same condition.
