Gyrograham wrote:
Are there any problems reported yet of UK aircraft being hit by surprise taxes for flying into EU – like import tax or VAT?
I was told the following recently by a UK VAT specialist.
“now that the UK is no longer part of the EU, any aircraft [we were talking about an EU VAT status aircraft] arriving in the UK from the EU and other non UK countries are now treated as visiting aircraft and there is a Customs regime by the name of Temporary Admission (TA). The conditions for TA include two main points. Firstly the user is not resident in the UK, and secondly the aircraft must be registered outside of the UK.”
IANAL but the way I read this, on flying to the UK in a non-UK status plane (i.e. one parked outside the UK on Brexit night) VAT is due if it’s a G reg or the owner is a UK resident, and if you are entitled to Temporary Admission it can’t be sold Vat paid in the UK. I don’t know if this works in reverse for EASA reg planes parked outside the EU. If it applied to me I would check.
I am pretty certain about a non-resident owner with G reg returning to the UK from the EU but the rest is my speculation. This all seems pretty explosive if I have got it right so I am happy to be proven wrong.
nokicky wrote:
It would actually be great to talk to someone who knew about this area, it seems very complicated! Obviously happy be pay for professional advice. Any recommendations?
Contact your local AOPA . I am not saying they will be equipped to offer advice but they should be able to find a relevant legal expert.
A question: Hypothetically if you wanted to change the registration of your plane from G reg and you were non UK resident with a UK PPL what jurisdiction would you choose and why? N? T7? 2? EASA? Asking for a friend.
The last one is a huge topic and a smart person would choose firstly according to available maintenance arrangements. For example the 2-reg (Guernsey) can be a huge headache, as some found out too late.
I don’t think the above is correct, as far as G-reg owned by a UK resident out of the UK on Brexit night is concerned. But that’s my view and it’s only worth to you what you paid for it.
I am really surprised the aircraft reg comes into it. For all the years I know about, HMRC ignored the reg for VAT purposes. It didn’t matter if it was G or N or whatever and it didn’t matter whether it was in a trust.
If this is any help, when we moved home and legal residence from Switzerland to the UK about 10 years ago I was advised by my lawyer that if I drove my Swiss car to the UK (post change of official residence) and left it in the UK for more than a few days I would be obliged to pay UK VAT on the car.
Around the same time I recall there were supposedly incidents where say an Italian would come to Switzerland on holiday, rent a car from a Swiss firm, drive it to Italy as part of his holiday travels and get hit by Italian VAT on the car as he was deemed to have imported it into his country of residence.
That sounds like this Swiss case in Germany. The car rental angle seems to be sorted now; I guess the car rental firms got some sort of a blanket deal.
Buckerfan wrote:
Around the same time I recall there were supposedly incidents where say an Italian would come to Switzerland on holiday, rent a car from a Swiss firm, drive it to Italy as part of his holiday travels and get hit by Italian VAT on the car as he was deemed to have imported it into his country of residence.
Im very confused as to how the authorities would prove you had imported a car you dont own.
There seem to be alot of these “I heard of a guy that…” stories. I have seen a grand total of 2 actually documented instances of someone having Swiss-EU customs issues – the guy that didnt land at a customs approved aerodrome, and the guy with the farm on the border that drove back/forth every day without going through a border crossing point. Both in Germany, both where the crossing wasnt at a proper customs post – seems to me that you need to make sure you go through a proper customs entry/exit point.
Regards, SD..
skydriller wrote:
Im very confused as to how the authorities would prove you had imported a car you dont own.
The post from Buckerfan was a bit inaccurate in that point. It’s obviously not the driver who doesn’t own the car who has to pay the VAT but the rental firm that owns the car. And this is easy to prove as the car is physically in the EU and is rented out to a customer, so the rental firm does a business with that car in the EU.
It might, however, well be that the rental firm claims the VAT back from the customer as the contract clearly states that he must not drive into the EU…
skydriller wrote:
I have seen a grand total of 2 actually documented instances of someone having Swiss-EU customs issues
For planes there are actually only few documented cases (btw. on both sides of the border; there was also the case of the EU floatplane pilot that should pay tax in CH…). The reason is that you only hear of the extremes as reasonable pilots seem to find agreement with tax authorities “silently”. Only the ones that insist on rights they do not have become public…
For cars such cases are quite common. So common that they do not make it into news beyond local media.
denopa wrote:
I don’t think the above is correct, as far as G-reg owned by a UK resident out of the UK on Brexit night is concerned. But that’s my view and it’s only worth to you what you paid for it.
I hope you are right! The advice I quoted above was paid for but if you think I have misinterpreted it I would love to know about it. Can you give more details?
Peter wrote:
I am really surprised the aircraft reg comes into it. For all the years I know about, HMRC ignored the reg for VAT purposes. It didn’t matter if it was G or N or whatever and it didn’t matter whether it was in a trust.
Maybe we are talking about the difference between the letter of the Temporary Admissions rules and their interpretation. Do aviation lawyers have a history of scaring their clients in order to drum up business and can customs agents be relied on to interpret the rules the same way going forward? I don’t know. I am looking into this and I don’t like what I am hearing and I don’t think the past is a good guide to the future.
BTW anecdotally I can confirm that some EU customs agents are paying closer attention to some (more than one) of the G-reg planes parked on their apron than they have previously.
I am looking into this and I don’t like what I am hearing and I don’t think the past is a good guide to the future.
Importing from the EU should be no different to importing from the US, which is a well worn path.
Yes there is a certain amount of time before the aircraft is deemed to be imported and then you have to pay the import VAT. Lots of previous posts on this. Whether the owner holds a UK (previously EU) passport is one factor in how long you get, If no, it is 6 months IIRC. The “Threads possibly related to this one” below are worth a read. A search digs out lots, e.g. this.
Do aviation lawyers have a history of scaring their clients in order to drum up business
Of course 
He may have a point about the reg, but I have not heard that one before.
anecdotally I can confirm that some EU customs agents are paying closer attention to some (more than one) of the G-reg planes parked on their apron than they have previously.
Of course The speed of the UK vaccination programme is p1ssing off lots of people, for one thing. Most airport staff are wholly professional but they are only human and you are bound to get the odd one. Same as in the past, when police in [insert your favourite country; Italy and France featured most often] would raid an N-reg, spread the entire content on the concrete, harrass the occupants, and leave a load of EU-regs untouched.
I’d think that harrassment of G-regs over VAT would not be productive, since nearly all of them will be UK based and on a temporary visit to the EU. There used to be loads of G-regs based in the EU but they mostly moved to EU-reg. What else can they be looking for? Contraband?
