Compounding the crisis caused by Covid 19 for now, nautical leasing in Italy is safe, but not forever. The European Commission requested in early 2020 that all Mediterranean states in the Union make urgent changes. Change the regulations that reduce the payment of VAT and tax burden, as it considers them to be non-compliant with tax regulations. The Italian government has taken time until November.
It is not only we Italians who have not yet implemented the European Commission’s ultimatum request, justifying the delay with the economic crisis caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.
Marine leasing in Italy save for now
France has suspended the introduction of the new rules-maintaining a reduced taxable amount, Croatia applies tourist VAT-always at 10 percent-and Greece has found a loophole to evade the new rules.
As far as Italian nautical leasing is concerned, the flaw in form originates in the idea of Massimo D’Alema, president of the Council in the early 2000s. To stem the exodus of boats from Italians using the reduced VAT of French leasing, Italian boat leasing was invented.
The ploy to reduce VAT in Italian leasing hinges on the assumption that the larger a boat is, the more, hypothetically, it resides outside European territorial waters. And therefore does not have to pay, for the period when it is not in EU waters, any value-added tax (VAT). It is not always possible to prove the period of stay in territorial waters. In these cases, leasing companies can proceed to apply the value-added tax in a flat rate manner. It goes up to a 70% VAT reduction, see table below:
VAT Table Nautical Leasing in Italy
| Propulsion | Length | Taxable VAT |
| Motor or sailing units | Greater than 24 meters | 30% |
| Sailing units | between 20.01 and 24 meters | 40% |
| Motor units | Between 16.01 and 24 meters | 40% |
| Sailing units | Between 10.01 and 20 meters | 50% |
| Motor units | between 12.01 and 16 meters | 50% |
| Sailing units | up to 10 meters | 60% |
| Motor units | between 7.51 and 12 meters | 60% |
| Motor units | up to 7.5 meters | 90% |
The fact that a boat resides for a predetermined period outside European territorial waters is a pure abstraction, an indemonstrable hypothesis. That is why the European Commission has enjoined the Italian government to review nautical leasing. Not only to us Italians, but also to all European countries that, with different solutions, reduce the value-added tax of nautical leasing.
The appetite for boat leasing grows in 2020
Meanwhile, in contrast to other economic sectors, Italian marine leasing is going strong, even in 2020. Assilea-the association of Italian leasing institutions-has just announced that boating in the first nine months of 2020 has already made all the volumes of 2019 (+30%). Only leasing sector growing, while the overall figure in 2020 is – 25%.
Proving that the Coronavirus crisis the propensity to buy boats has not been affected, on the contrary!
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