With the summer cruising season fast approaching, megayacht owners and charter guests are eager to return to Europe. It’s the first summer season some will be back since the pandemic began, due to previous travel restrictions. Many owners and their representatives who rely upon SOS Yachting to ensure they comply with VAT collection and payment have yet another company to depend upon. SOS Yachting is including FLYN Yachting’s automated tracking system as part of its services.
SOS Yachting provides fiscal and regulatory guidance for yachts operating in European Union waters. It additionally provides operational guidance for charter yachts (a.k.a. commercial yachts). Its representatives are strategically located near the primarily cruising grounds in Croatia, France, Monaco, Italy, and Spain, too, further in direct contact with local tax authorities.
SOS Yachting has chosen to work with FLYN Yachting because it uses precise localization technologies that greatly assist in calculating VAT. Specifically, it relies on AIS data, which tax authorities consider acceptable evidence of position. Despite cruising and chartering laws continually changing, three constants remain. Firstly, yachts need to provide irrefutable proof of their position in the waters of a country, the European Union, and even international waters. They must provide similar proof of time spent navigating. And finally, they need to provide indisputable data on the distances traveled. FLYN Yachting’s tracking system not only documents a yacht’s movements, but also calculates the time spent and distances covered in VAT-applicable territories. Likewise, the tracking system calculates time and distances outside those territories.
Ultimately, this means you and your representatives receive an automatic report at the end of each charter period. The report precisely outlines any applicable VAT due, along with a list of locations inside and outside of the European Union. Particularly for French tax authorities, the report will indicate the qualified trips relating to the French Commercial Exemption. This tax exemption applies if, for instance, 70 percent of the charter yacht’s trips took place outside of French waters.
Equally important, you can provide these reports to the tax authorities if they inspect your yacht or conduct an audit. SOS Yachting cautions that you should keep several years’ worth of records regarding VAT in case of an audit. In fact, French authorities can request documents dating back four years. Italian authorities, meanwhile, can request six years of records.
FLYN Yachting flyn-yachting.com
SOS Yachting sosyachting.com
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