Moody 38 (90s) Advice on moody purchase

L

Logan Geeves

Registered Guest
Hi. I currently live in Auckland. I'm planning to head up to europe or the uk in March 2022 to purchase a yacht. Most likely a moody 38 or something slightly larger. I will be sailing some sections of a circumnavigation solo. Was thinking of staying in the med area for around 2 years before heading across the Alantic and eventually back to New Zealand. I thought I would reach out hoping someone could point me in the right direction or advice on purchasing as a non resident. What pit falls I could come across during a purchase tax etc. Insurance. Places to look other than yacht world.
I sat my yacht master offshore nearly 2 years ago in preparation for depature. That's about when covid hit and stopped me. I figure it's not going away soon so I might ass well pressure the dream. Got to admit I'm nervous now and starting to stress a bit. Any help you can offer would be appreciated. Logan
 
Logan, if you buy a UK VAT paid yacht in the UK, the yacht can have 18 months in the European Schengen area before you need to leave or become a European resident and register the yacht in a European country. This could trigger a VAT bill importing it into Europe so be careful with dates etc. If you buy a UK registered yacht in Europe then things get really interesting, we will leave that for another time as the details are still confusing.

You as an individual can have 90 days in a Schengen country in the previous 180 days. Its a rolling clock, don't break the rules or you will be expelled, probably without the yacht. However, some countries have longer agreements with some European countries for longer stays. They only cover individual countries not the whole of the Schengen area, but worth investigating. I think Australian's get 6 months, not sure about NZ.

We have Australian friends currently cruising Scotland in an Australian registered yacht. Oddly this year they have had insurance problems were in the past they just renewed each year. So I would investigate if you can get insurance before buying the yacht.

Great choice of yacht btw, good luck.
 
Pete Rowland said:
Logan, if you buy a UK VAT paid yacht in the UK, the yacht can have 18 months in the European Schengen area before you need to leave or become a European resident and register the yacht in a European country. This could trigger a VAT bill importing it into Europe so be careful with dates etc. If you buy a UK registered yacht in Europe then things get really interesting, we will leave that for another time as the details are still confusing.

You as an individual can have 90 days in a Schengen country in the previous 180 days. Its a rolling clock, don't break the rules or you will be expelled, probably without the yacht. However, some countries have longer agreements with some European countries for longer stays. They only cover individual countries not the whole of the Schengen area, but worth investigating. I think Australian's get 6 months, not sure about NZ.

We have Australian friends currently cruising Scotland in an Australian registered yacht. Oddly this year they have had insurance problems were in the past they just renewed each year. So I would investigate if you can get insurance before buying the yacht.

Great choice of yacht btw, good luck.
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Thanks for taking the time to answer. It was useful.
 
Hi Logan
We keep a Moody 346 in Leros, the Schengen 90 days is the real pain for us but that is only because of Brexit, our Aussie and NZ friends have always had to juggle this. We shall be spending time in Turkey this year to extend our stay ( Its outside Schengen) and it re-sets the clock on the 18 months that the boat is allowed in the EU. We noticed last year that some boats have taken up the Polish flag but do not know the details . Glad to hear you are pushing ahead, the only snag I see is that 2 years in the Med is long enough to get hooked and too short to see it all!!!

Happy sailing

Steve

Miss Adventure
 
Hi Logan,

As others have said, there is a clear distinction between rules for the boat and rules for people who are not citizens or residents of an EU country. Your boat must satisfy the first ones and you will have to satisfy the second set, unless you choose to take up residence of an EU (preferably Schengen) country. Note that taking up residence may well incur liability to local income tax and health insurance contributions.

I do not believe that the country of registration of the vessel has any significance for the boat's VAT status. If the boat has documentary evidence of EU VAT pais (including paid in the UK prior to B day) and of being in the EU (not UK) at midnight on B day, my understanding is that it is deemed an EU VAT paid vessel, but not UK VAT paid. However the owner of the vessel on B-day will be permitted to repatriate such a boat to the UK without incurring further VAT liability. A subsequent owner purchasing that vessel after B day will incur a UK VAT liability if he repatriates the boat to he UK. A boat which has evidence of UK VAT paid and evidence of being in the UK at midnight on B-day is deemed to be UK VAT paid.

Boats which were the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland at midnight on B-day seem to have won out as it appears that they are deemed VAT paid in both the EU and the UK.

That is my understanding of the position for the boat, but please don't act on it without getting official confirmation. When buying, it's worth checking for evidence of VAT paid (the original VAT receipt on initial sale, not a photocopy) and where the boat was at midnight on B-day (a letter from the harbour where she was moored).

Peter
 
Hi Peter. We are looking to buy a Moody to keep in the UK, North Wales and don’t fancy paying UK VAT on a boat that was in the EU on B day if we bring it in. So unfortunately this has restricted the boats available to us. However, I noticed your post about boats in ROI or NI Are deemed as EU or UK VAT paid. Do You mean that we could potentially buy a boat from Southern Ireland, bring it into England/Wales and there would be not UK VAT to pay again? Hope you don’t mind me asking but if this is so, it would widen our search potentially ! Many Thanks, Wendy
 
Hi Wendy,

That's my understanding of one of the bizarre outcomes of the NI protocol, but please Don"t act on it without checking it out with the tax authorities..

Peter.
 
Peter Wright said:
Hi Logan,

As others have said, there is a clear distinction between rules for the boat and rules for people who are not citizens or residents of an EU country. Your boat must satisfy the first ones and you will have to satisfy the second set, unless you choose to take up residence of an EU (preferably Schengen) country. Note that taking up residence may well incur liability to local income tax and health insurance contributions.

I do not believe that the country of registration of the vessel has any significance for the boat's VAT status. If the boat has documentary evidence of EU VAT pais (including paid in the UK prior to B day) and of being in the EU (not UK) at midnight on B day, my understanding is that it is deemed an EU VAT paid vessel, but not UK VAT paid. However the owner of the vessel on B-day will be permitted to repatriate such a boat to the UK without incurring further VAT liability. A subsequent owner purchasing that vessel after B day will incur a UK VAT liability if he repatriates the boat to he UK. A boat which has evidence of UK VAT paid and evidence of being in the UK at midnight on B-day is deemed to be UK VAT paid.

Boats which were the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland at midnight on B-day seem to have won out as it appears that they are deemed VAT paid in both the EU and the UK.

That is my understanding of the position for the boat, but please don't act on it without getting official confirmation. When buying, it's worth checking for evidence of VAT paid (the original VAT receipt on initial sale, not a photocopy) and where the boat was at midnight on B-day (a letter from the harbour where she was moored).

Peter
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Thanks for the reply. I'm flying up to Spain from NZ in about 3 weeks time to start looking for a Moody 38 or similar. I've use yachtworld for searches. Any other places to search that you can recommend?
 
Hi Logan,

Google Moody nnn for sale - sticking to Yachtworld will limit your choices.

Peter.
 
Peter Wright said:
Hi Wendy,

That's my understanding of one of the bizarre outcomes of the NI protocol, but please Don"t act on it without checking it out with the tax authorities..

Peter.
Click to expand...
Thanks Peter. Obviously if any beliefs are said we would check them out with HMRC to be sure. A boat dealer in Co Cork hadn’t heard that, so I’ll check it out. Anything interesting I’ll happily share as it really is a midfield, isn’t it! Anyway, thanks again x
 
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