How might this apply to a visiting G reg? mine was a private sale in the UK, originally ferried second hand from the USA but I don’t have any VAT receipts from the original import.
That would be the case anyway if the plane was not “VAT paid” at the point of importation, to anywhere.
Yes and no. In general once exported, merchandise is liable to VAT again if reimported. As an example, French aircraft VAT expires two years after you export it. If you reimport it you are VATed again (assuming it’s not reimported as household effects).
Does CH not have any kind of VAT?
It does, 7.7%, but it is irrelevant to an EU domiciled buyer (unless he wants to base the plane here).
dublinpilot wrote:
By that definition, importation is a matter of if the owner wishes to import it or not! I don’t believe that’s the case. Importation is a matter of fact. The aircraft is imported or it isn’t.
Importation of movable goods is only in very rare cases a matter of fact – especially not with aircraft. If you fly with your n-reg aircraft Into the EU customs area, you do not automatically import it – if that was the case, US airlines would have to pay tax/VAT for every flight into the EU. It is a question of whether you wish or not wish to import it.
Obviously if you do not import it, you are quite limited in what you are allowed to do with it from the EU (basically not much more than flying away again). And if you would do something that you are only allowed to do with an imported plane, you actually have to import it (even if you did not want to). But in no case it is automatically imported.
It’s not a case that the owner can choose to pay the tax, and then consider it imported.
No, but he can chose to import and then he has to pay the tax – and there is no way to import without paying the tax. It’s like in the supermarket: You can chose to buy a jar of marmalade you take from the shelf but then you have to pay at the register. There is no way to buy the glass of marmalade w/o paying.
privateflyer wrote:
I have bought last year a used aircraft, which was imported 2008 from the US via Denmark into the EU. I have the original custom declaration but there is no value inserted. Can you help me, finding out, if the taxation was properly done?
You have two options here:
- just wait and see if at any point in time some tax authority will ask you
- go to a really good tax advisor who is experienced with
If it was imported via Denmark, it is very likely been part of a complex tax avoiding scheme. It is actually not completely clear if it is legal, but it looks like that tax authorities typically do not win these cases (there are at least some cases publicly know that they lost). Therefore the good tax advisor.
In your specific case there seems to be another issue: Typically in this scheme you would have a tax receipt for “0% of xxx Value”. Obviously it doesn’t matter of what xxx is – but technically a tax authority could argue that if if no value is inserted you only paid the applicable VAT on 0 value and therefore now you have to pay for the remaining value. Again: Only a very experience tax advisor can help you.
Or, you just wait and most likely nobody will ever ask you. It’s only a question when you want to sell the plane again if you can advertise it as “EU VAT paid”.
I have bought last year a used aircraft, which was imported 2008 from the US via Denmark into the EU. I have the original custom declaration but there is no value inserted. Can you help me, finding out, if the taxation was properly done?
The Danish route produced a 100% valid EU Certificate of Free Circulation. Nothing at all illegal about it (unless the document itself is a forgery, but Mr Rungholm can quickly confirm it). Some countries did not like this – example of Germany – but AFAIK nobody has ever suceeded in busting anybody for this route.
Thousands of planes arrived in the EU via this route.
So I would not worry about it, provided you have the CofFC document. The value shown on it doesn’t matter. In fact very few people got the original C88 because it shows the price the dealer paid for it, so unsurprisingly very few dealers passed it on 
It is a question of whether you wish or not wish to import it.
That is highly country dependent.
For example, in the UK, you do not decide whether you are self employed trader, or just Joe Public selling some trivia. Only the HMRC is the final judge of that. And they make that judgement according to how it suits them. If you are claiming trading expenses but they reckon it is not a real trading activity, they can disregard those expenses, and vice versa (if say you buy and sell 30 cars a year).
There will be HMRC guidance on aircraft, boat, etc importation. It’s all online, out there somewhere. It is guidance to inspectors.
The airline case is a different thing, because ICAO protects a visiting aircraft from having undue taxes, duties, etc, levied on it. The 3rd World often ignores this; for example if you fly GA to Calcutta they will, according to reports, try to charge you import duty on the fuel in your tanks, unless you bribe some officials. But alo the airline business would never work if that was happening.
I do only have the T2L document. It was imported through Opmas company. Unfortunately no other certificate.
Airborne_Again wrote:
Peter wrote:My money would be on Norway and Switzerland being fully in the EU VAT system. After all, both are believed to be EU members in all but name, and both pay money to Brussels to get the privileges without the “domestic political” difficulty of joining.
Neither of them is. The only non-EU areas included in the EU VAT system are Monaco and the British military bases on Cyprus.Concrete evidence: Last year I bought a force feedback yoke from Brunner in Switzerland. The sale was without VAT but I had to pay VAT to customs in Sweden.
Yes, that is exactly how it normally works when ordering from an EU-based company for delivery to Switzerland, but in reverse.
Switzerland a) is not in the EU, b) is in Schengen, and c) is not in the customs union. VAT falls within customs regulations, and anytime we buy anything online in the EU for shipment to Switzerland, then we are charged VAT by the shipping company (who takes care of the customs paperwork and then adds circa $20 for their trouble).
Peter wrote:
With Switzerland, this must be well known. How does a Swiss owner ever sell his plane to a non Swiss buyer?See here for some info. @chflyer may know the answer.
I’ll tell you when I sell my plane outside of Switzerland I suspect, but haven’t checked, that if/when I sell it to an EU resident they will need to go through the following process in reverse as mentioned in your linked thread. My paid VAT in Switzerland is irrelevant when exporting the aircraft to an EU resident with an EU home base for it.
Peter wrote:
This happens if somebody in the EU gives you a VAT number (which enables a VAT-free sale) which turns out to be bogus. This happens occassionally, though rarely in the B2B sphere I am in.
To protect yourself against that, validate it on VIES; one gets a “certificate” that (I assume, never really tested) is a kind of digital signature and at least shows utter good faith and best due diligence on your part.
Malibuflyer wrote:
Importation of movable goods is only in very rare cases a matter of fact – especially not with aircraft. If you fly with your n-reg aircraft Into the EU customs area, you do not automatically import it – if that was the case, US airlines would have to pay tax/VAT for every flight into the EU. It is a question of whether you wish or not wish to import it.Obviously if you do not import it, you are quite limited in what you are allowed to do with it from the EU (basically not much more than flying away again). And if you would do something that you are only allowed to do with an imported plane, you actually have to import it (even if you did not want to). But in no case it is automatically imported.
Sorry Malibuflyer, but that simply isn’t correct. You’re working without knowledge in this area, and making assumptions based on what you see. Always a dangerous thing to do with tax!
Aircraft qualify for temporary admission, but there are particular conditions attached to it. An EU citizen can not temporary import an aircraft (with some very minor exceptions).
So while American Airlines can bring their aircraft into the EU on a temporary admission without paying VAT, Lufthansa can not.
If you want to learn at bit about this, rather than making assumptions, have a read of section 5 of this. It’s the Irish tax authorities manual on how they expect their officers to deal with Temporary Admission, and section 5 specifically deals with commercial and private aircraft.
Customs Manual
Malibuflyer wrote:
No, but he can chose to import and then he has to pay the tax – and there is no way to import without paying the tax.
As stated above, importation is a matter of fact. But you can import without paying the tax, as allowed by the temporary admission procedures. But you must export it again before your deadline is up.
There are other way to import without paying the tax too. If you permanently move your residence into the EU there are exemptions. Interestingly if you inherit goods, you can bring them in VAT free, provided you do so within 2 years of inheriting them.
What you can’t do is bring something in and then decide you are importing it or decide you are not importing it (as the guys in the Italian case are finding out).
to protect yourself against that, validate it on VIES
Indeed; this check is integrated into our online shop, but from time to time it doesn’t work.
Lufthansa can not.
Worth pointing out that Lufthansa could not care less, because they are a VAT registered company so they just claim any VAT back right away 
They probably also have an End User Certificate (or the German equivalent) so they claim back any import duty; I think that’s how that works. The UK has a weird exception that you can’t claim back the VAT on a company car and it is possible some other country has the same for aircraft.
It is perhaps worth discussing the following case:
Aircraft imported (either originally, or at the Nth import) by a VAT registered individual or corporate body.
VAT is (obviously) paid and claimed back immediately.
Scenario 1:
If that aircraft is later sold to a non VAT registered owner, it must be sold “plus VAT” and the new owner should now have a proof of VAT paid, which will be valid, but it will be just an invoice; it won’t ever be anything fancy like a C88.
Scenario 2:
If that VAT registered owner de-registers from the VAT scheme (there is a defined procedure for that, which involves paying to Customs the VAT reclaimed over past X [time]) while still owning the aircraft, it must be sold “without VAT” and the new owner will not have a proof of VAT paid, and can’t get one because the original owner has probably chucked away the paperwork The only easy way to get one will be to declare the aircraft (obviously, at the lowest possible value you can get away with, and if possible with some damage ) to Customs and pay the VAT; I know someone who did exactly that; it cost him about 5k GBP.
Scenario 1 must be common (even though non VAT registered buyers obviously avoid aircraft sold “plus VAT” because they cost ~20% more). Scenario 2 is less common.
The thing which very few people discuss openly is what “proof of VAT paid” document they have and have successfully used to demonstrate VAT paid to Customs. In view of Scenario 1 above, I reckon just an invoice must be sufficient (well, perhaps not in Italy ).
There is also the case of an EU made aircraft (e.g. Socata) which, if it never left the EU (and that also means never having been based in the Channel Islands!), will never need the Cert of Free Circulation. That may not stop a Customs officer with a low IQ asking to see it. I found this out from an aircraft VAT specialist, but I obtained the certificate anyway (he was ex Customs and was able to get me one of the last ones they printed off, for £200 )
