UK Yacht Registration

[Zozza 328]

Then again - I could be wrong.  I guess it comes down to the definition (in the UK) of what a 'Body Corporate' is, and if the newly passed directive allowing "Commonwealth Citizens" to apply for Part 1 of their register, trumps whatever that definition may be.....

[DrWatson 382]

Just for info. Had it confirmed by MCA that if you are not resident in the UK then you absolutely do need a nominated UK rep or a body corporate with a UK address.

Could be a sideline for you, buddy..

[Zozza 328]

Just for info. Had it confirmed by MCA that if you are not resident in the UK then you absolutely do need a nominated UK rep or a body corporate with a UK address.

 

Right, so you would hire sort of an 'agent'.  Might be cheaper to just open a UK based company, with yourself as sole director, which gives you a UK registered address automatically when you open a company (there are scores of UK based websites where you can open a UK company), and "sell" the boat to your company.  

[DrWatson 382]

For jersey registry we also need a representative person. We picked one at random from a list. Cost is £400 for 10 years.

[DrWatson 382]

brings up another point. Definitions. 

 

Foreign ship vs Foreign flagged ship vs NZ Ship vs NZ flagged vessel. 

 

What are the differences?

 

Recently there was a thread on the proposal to charge "foreign flagged vessels" greater than xx(?) meters in length a fairly high anchoring fee per day. Reasoning was to make sure "these foreigners" are paying their way. 

 

But there can be and are many NZ owned vessels that are foreign flagged. So, does that suddenly make them a foreign ship? Should they be paying the anchoring fee?

 

The reasoning for the anchoring fee, is to extract a tax from vessels that are not paying their way for the marine infrastructure, but all those NZ owned (and domiciled) craft are generally all paid up (except registration) and the operation of the vessel pushes money more or less exclusively into the local economy - the owners are paying the taxes that support the marine infrastructure.  

 

Let's say poor old Michael Fay registered the Beast in Cayman Islands, but he is resident in NZ, and the boat is resident in NZ and GST paid (just for the purposes of illustration let's assume he's paid GST) then that's a NZ vessel, no?

 

Just as any of your small craft, being registered in Jersey or UK, doesn't stop the boat being a NZ vessel, but just changes the flag state, and therefore the rules and protections you're afforded in international waters.

 

So when we drift on down to NZ in the Pogo, and import it. Does it become a NZ vessel but still flagged and registered in Jersey?

[Dtwo 157]

I think you are conflating 2 things - registration and tax.  You can have a foreign-flagged vessel in NZ but after a period of time (I believe 2 years is the maximum allowable) you would need to "import" it, as in pay the appropriate tax.  It is still a foreign flagged vessel but it now has a tax-paid status in NZ.  I believe that scenario is common around the world.

[Dtwo 157]

Are you obliged to pay gst on your labour content when you build your own boat in NZ?

 

 

Jeez I don't think things have got that bad yet

[marinheiro 362]

Thats an  anomaly that I can live with. Guess the same applies if you built your own offshore with your labour

The gst content demanded on import would be materials only. Maybe, or current international market price?

Ouch!

The GST & duty are based on the local market value.

However for people who have been out of NZ for longer than 21 mths there are some concessions and exemptions for used household items, cars, boats and planes. See customs site.

[DrWatson 382]

The GST & duty are based on the local market value.

However for people who have been out of NZ for longer than 21 mths there are some concessions and exemptions for used household items, cars, boats and planes. See customs site.

The concessions for those away greater than 21 months only cover boats. Boats are defined as "trailerable and less than 7.5m long).

 

For importing your yacht into NZ but the concession is only if you are moving to NZ for the first time and only if you've owned and used the boat for more than 1 year, and only so long as you don't sell it within the next 2 years.

[DrWatson 382]

I think you are conflating 2 things - registration and tax.  You can have a foreign-flagged vessel in NZ but after a period of time (I believe 2 years is the maximum allowable) you would need to "import" it, as in pay the appropriate tax.  It is still a foreign flagged vessel but it now has a tax-paid status in NZ.  I believe that scenario is common around the world.

 

Yeah I'm trying to determine the whole NZ ship thing.

 

I think it's more to do with ownership, and what qualifies as a New Zealand ship. AFAIK a vessel that's >= 33/64 shares owned by a NZ citizen, resident, or someone who holds a residency permit qualifies as a NZ ship, and I think that's regardless of flag state, tax status or global location.

 

So I don't know whether QUALIFYING as a NZ ship actually MAKES it a NZ ship.

[Yingtong1 0]

Has anyone registered their yacht in the Cook Islands to get around the extraordinarily complex Cat 1 requirements (instead of good seamanship and common sense as in most countries) ?  My yacht was registered in the UK but needs to be re-registered and that seems to require the owner to be domiciled in the UK for 186 days a year. Any ideas welcome 

[Black Panther 1,701]

Cook is, langkawi or Channel Is seem to be the winners ar present.

[Fogg 427]

16 hours ago, Yingtong1 said:

Has anyone registered their yacht in the Cook Islands to get around the extraordinarily complex Cat 1 requirements (instead of good seamanship and common sense as in most countries) ?  My yacht was registered in the UK but needs to be re-registered and that seems to require the owner to be domiciled in the UK for 186 days a year. Any ideas welcome 

If you want to explore options for Cook Is registration suggest you contact very helpful lady below (she’s a MCI rep based in NZ):

jennifer@maritimecookislands.com

 

[syohana 37]

We used Cook islands flag when we were doing commercial charter and passenger work. The big advantage is Cook islands accept the same commercial surveys as MaritimeNZ, whereas if you go with UK or Jersey flag then the commercial survey requirements are not compatible with MaritimeNZ and you'd need two different surveys by two different surveyors (NZ commercial and flag state commercial), with conflicting requirements!

Cook islands is very expensive though, lots of paperwork and a short renewal term, I would not recommend it unless you are commercial and operating in NZ waters.

When we stopped doing commercial work there's no requirement for a survey so we switched to Jersey. Found a surveyor who did the tonnage survey in the water for a very reasonable cost (Curly Hayter, probably retired now), just a matter of measuring the internal space, only took an hour or two. Very easy process registering there, it's cheap and it's valid for ten years so there's no more paperwork for a long while. For a local contact we used my sister in law's mother who lives in Jersey but they give you a list of randoms who you can pay to be your local contact.

Definitely recommend Jersey. Sounds like the UK is now adopting very similar rules to Jersey.

[Zozza 328]

7 hours ago, syohana said:

 

Definitely recommend Jersey. Sounds like the UK is now adopting very similar rules to Jersey.

Yeah, sounds like UK , part 1 register (not the Small Ships Register) is adopting almost identical rules to Jersey.  Very easy from what I have read, just need a tonnage survey, and get an agent to open a UK company - which gets around you having to live in UK

[DrWatson 382]

9 hours ago, syohana said:

We used Cook islands flag when we were doing commercial charter and passenger work. The big advantage is Cook islands accept the same commercial surveys as MaritimeNZ, whereas if you go with UK or Jersey flag then the commercial survey requirements are not compatible with MaritimeNZ and you'd need two different surveys by two different surveyors (NZ commercial and flag state commercial), with conflicting requirements!

Cook islands is very expensive though, lots of paperwork and a short renewal term, I would not recommend it unless you are commercial and operating in NZ waters.

When we stopped doing commercial work there's no requirement for a survey so we switched to Jersey. Found a surveyor who did the tonnage survey in the water for a very reasonable cost (Curly Hayter, probably retired now), just a matter of measuring the internal space, only took an hour or two. Very easy process registering there, it's cheap and it's valid for ten years so there's no more paperwork for a long while. For a local contact we used my sister in law's mother who lives in Jersey but they give you a list of randoms who you can pay to be your local contact.

Definitely recommend Jersey. Sounds like the UK is now adopting very similar rules to Jersey.

+1 for Jersey 

[darkside 64]

My boat won't pass the new rules. Nor would the one we circumnavigated in.

However I would be reluctant to go through any documentation process for the sole reason of avoiding a safety inspection or requirement. That would open a huge can of worms for any insurance claim or third party liability should something go wrong.

[mcp 34]

19 hours ago, darkside said:

My boat won't pass the new rules. Nor would the one we circumnavigated in.

However I would be reluctant to go through any documentation process for the sole reason of avoiding a safety inspection or requirement. That would open a huge can of worms for any insurance claim or third party liability should something go wrong.

Once offshore you can register your boat back to New Zealand?

[Black Panther 1,701]

19 minutes ago, mcp said:

Once offshore you can register your boat back to New Zealand?

Yes

[Dtwo 157]

On 4/10/2021 at 11:36 AM, darkside said:

My boat won't pass the new rules. Nor would the one we circumnavigated in.

 

Interested to hear why not