VAT on your boat: what happens after three years outside the EU
If your boat leaves the EU and returns within three years, with the same owner and in the same state, you pay no VAT and no import duty. If you stay away longer, VAT on the boat may become due. Take a VAT statement with you and know in which port the clock starts running.
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If your boat leaves the EU and returns within three years, you pay no VAT and no import duty. The condition is that the same owner brings it back, and that the boat is in the same state. If you are away for three years or longer, VAT on your boat may become due. For anyone sailing around the world, that is a bill that is easily overlooked.
Three things to know in advance:
- The clock starts in the first port outside the EU customs territory. There are more of those than you think: Norway and the United Kingdom are among them.
- Prove that VAT has been paid on your boat, with a VAT statement from Dutch Customs or your purchase invoice.
- A boat under the Dutch flag cannot be temporarily imported after three years. That way out only exists for boats registered outside the EU.
Why is VAT an issue if you are just sailing around?
A boat on which VAT has been paid in the EU has the customs status of a "Union good". As long as it stays in the EU, you notice nothing. If you sail out of the EU customs territory, that counts as an export. You do not have to fill anything in: according to the European Commission, "the sole act of crossing the frontier" is already the declaration.
When you come back, that is an import. Your boat is exempt from VAT and import duty if it counts as a "returned good". If not, you pay on return. Your nationality, the flag and where the boat is registered make no difference to that rule.
What is the VAT statement, and how do you get one?
The VAT statement (btw-verklaring) is a document from Dutch Customs proving that VAT has been paid on your boat in the Netherlands and has not been refunded. The National Yacht Team (Landelijk Team Jachten) of Dutch Customs issues it on request.
- Applying: with the form "Aanvraag Btw-verklaring voor een pleziervaartuig". The conditions are in the form.
- Valid: indefinitely, from the day it is issued.
- New owner: the statement can be transferred to a new owner.
- On board: you may keep it on board, which is also where you need it.
Without a statement, the original purchase invoice with VAT is your proof. Customs officers in other countries often ask for it too. So take the original and a few copies with you.
When do you come back without VAT?
When you meet three conditions:
| Condition | Where it is set out |
|---|---|
| You are back in the EU customs territory within three years | Union Customs Code, article 203(1) |
| The boat is in the state in which it left | article 203(5) |
| The person who exported the boat also re-imports it | VAT Directive, article 143(1)(e) |
"In the same state" allows maintenance and repair. The Dutch Customs Handbook mentions treatments that "were necessary to repair, overhaul or keep them in good condition". A major refit outside the EU can put the exemption at risk.
The third condition means: do not sell your boat outside the EU, and do not put it in someone else's name there either, or in the name of your company. Then the new owner pays VAT when bringing the boat into the EU.
Record in your logbook the day you left the EU. That is the start of your three years.
Where does the clock start running?
Of the Netherlands, only the part in Europe belongs to the EU customs territory. A few areas belong to the customs territory but not to the EU VAT area.
| Outside the EU customs territory: the clock runs | In the customs territory, but outside the VAT area |
|---|---|
| Norway | Canary Islands |
| United Kingdom, with Gibraltar | Martinique and Guadeloupe |
| Morocco and Cape Verde | |
| Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius | |
| French Polynesia |
Norway is part of Schengen, so for you it is not an external border. For your boat it is. For the UK, the rest is in taking your own boat to the United Kingdom.
For VAT, the Canary Islands do count as leaving the EU. The European Commission gives the example of a boat that sails from Spain to the Canary Islands: if the same owner brings the boat back in the same state, no VAT is due.
What happens after three years?
Then your boat no longer counts as a returned good. The European Commission writes that there is then only one situation in which you pay no VAT and import duty: temporary admission. But that is "only [for] vessels with non-EU registration". A boat with a Dutch sea letter falls outside it.
If you come back to the EU with your Dutch boat after more than three years, VAT on the boat may be due, and possibly import duty. Dutch Customs writes this on the VAT statement itself: it applies "when the pleasure craft has been outside the customs territory of the Union for three years or longer." Ask Dutch Customs how they then determine the value.
A circumnavigation often takes longer than three years. Plan your route so that you are back in the EU in time, or include the VAT in your budget. If in doubt, ask Dutch Customs before you leave what applies to your boat.
What are special circumstances?
The law says the three-year period "may be exceeded in order to take account of special circumstances". The Dutch Customs Handbook gives as an example someone who, due to circumstances, has to sell a second home outside the EU and brings the contents back. There is no fixed list. The inspector decides case by case, at the declaration.
So you cannot count on it. Whether your reason counts, you only know once you put it forward. If something holds you up outside the EU, keep evidence of what held you up.
Does a stop in Martinique count?
We do not know. Martinique and Guadeloupe belong to the EU customs territory. Whether your three-year clock starts again if you sail in there and then leave again is not stated in any of the sources. Do not assume it does, and put the question in writing to the National Yacht Team of Dutch Customs before you leave.
Also note the local taxes there. French Customs mentions its own VAT of 8.5 percent and the octroi de mer, a local levy on imports. When you sail in and out of the French Antilles, you complete an online clearance. Do not sell your boat there without checking first.
What else you need on board is in sailing the world under the Dutch flag.
In Vertrekklaar this is phase 4 of 5 of the journey, step 4.7: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey for a life on the road or go straight to step 4.7 in the open plan.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.
- Dutch Customs — pleasure craft, the VAT statement from the National Yacht Team — douane.nl
- Dutch Customs — form DO 140, VAT statement for a pleasure craft, valid indefinitely — kennisbank.douane.nl
- Dutch Customs, Customs Handbook — returned goods, the state at export and the three-year period — kennisbank.douane.nl
- European Commission — guidance note for pleasure craft (30 April 2026), questions 8, 14 and 15 — taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu
- Union Customs Code (Regulation 952/2013), article 4 (the customs territory) and 203 (returned goods) — publications.europa.eu
- VAT Directive 2006/112/EC, article 6 (territories outside the VAT area) and 143 (re-import by the person who exported) — publications.europa.eu
- French Customs — sailing in the overseas departments, clearance, VAT and octroi de mer — douane.gouv.fr
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