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What the guide contains
Twenty-three pages to decide, before buying and before every season, which regime a yacht is really under and what that regime costs. The guide sets out the three situations a boat can be in within EU waters, the VAT-paid yacht, the yacht operated as a commercial vessel and the yacht under temporary admission, and then details for each the access conditions, the documents that prove them and the cost of leaving them. It covers the four conditions of the VAT exemption and the count of 70% of voyages, the certificate the operator signs for its suppliers, zero-rated fuel since the Cour de cassation judgment of 16 September 2026, proof of VAT paid when buying second-hand, the eighteen-month period for non-EU vessels, ownership through a company and the 20% annual tax created by the 2026 Finance Act, flag and annual taxes, and finally audits, voluntary correction and litigation. It ends with a comparison table of the three statuses, a roadmap for the buyer and a glossary. It is written for yacht owners and prospective buyers, family offices, operating and management companies, captains, brokers, shipyards and chandlers, banks, insurers and advisers.
While you wait for the guide, the related analyses are freely available: Commercial yacht in France: VAT exemption, duty-free fuel and the conditions customs checks, on the four conditions of the commercial regime and the 70% count; Yacht without proof of VAT paid: buying, sailing and reselling in France, on the documents that count as proof when buying second-hand; Temporary admission of a non-EU yacht: eighteen months, not twenty-four, on the eighteen months, the resident on board and the customs debt; Holding a yacht through a company in France: structure, costs and risks, on what the structure protects, what it costs and the 20% tax of 2026; Illegal yacht charter in France: the risks for the owner and the broker, on what the authorities claw back when the boat is chartered without commercial status.
Frequently asked questions about yacht tax and customs
Which tax regime should I choose before buying a yacht?
You do not choose a regime; you choose a use, and the regime follows. A boat reserved for the family is a VAT-paid yacht: it bears VAT at the standard rate on the price, maintenance and fuel, plus the annual ownership tax. A boat genuinely operated for charter with crew may fall under the regime for commercial vessels used for navigation on the high seas, exempt from VAT on acquisition, maintenance and provisioning (article 262, II of the General Tax Code). A boat owned by a person established outside the Union may stay temporarily free of duty and tax. Each regime has its own evidential requirements and exit cost.
My broker advertises a boat as “VAT paid”: what should I ask for?
Three documents, and no others. The original purchase invoice showing the tax where the seller was a business identified in a Member State, the tax certificate issued by the tax office for an intra-Community acquisition, or the release for free circulation declaration with its receipt for an import. A French registration certificate, a foreign certificate of registry, an invoice between two companies without mention of tax or a broker’s letter prove nothing. You must also check that the vessel has not left the customs territory of the Union since, because export destroys the status.
Can I buy my yacht free of VAT and also use it with my family?
Not without consequences. The exemption requires four cumulative conditions, including a genuine commercial activity and at least 70% of voyages outside territorial waters, assessed every year (BOI-TVA-CHAMP-30-30-30-10). Family weeks and dockside hires weigh on the wrong side of the ratio. And when the vessel ceases to be used exclusively for the purpose that justified the exemption, VAT becomes due on its value (article 257, III, 2° of the General Tax Code). Commercial status is taken up in a day; it is left with an invoice.
Can I get duty-free fuel when I charter out my boat?
No, where the client uses it for pleasure. On 16 September 2026, the Cour de cassation held that the test for the excise exemption is the use made of the vessel by its end user, whether hirer or charterer, and that hiring a boat for pleasure purposes does not qualify (Cass. com., No. 24-19.047). It reserves only contracts providing a package of services comparable to that of a cruise ship to passengers who do not control the boat, and it requires the court to examine each contract. Fuel obtained at the zero rate for a pleasure charter is clawed back.
My yacht is held in a company: what does the 2026 Finance Act change?
It taxes the asset itself. Article 235 ter C of the General Tax Code, created by Law No. 2026-103 of 19 February 2026, imposes an annual tax of 20% of their market value on non-business assets held by a company subject to corporation tax whose assets reach five million euros, which is at least 50% controlled by an individual and whose passive income exceeds half of its income. Yachts and pleasure boats are expressly named, except in proportion to their use for a genuine commercial activity. The tax is due for financial years ending on or after 31 December 2026.
I live in France and my boat flies a foreign flag: what must I declare?
The annual tax on marine craft for personal use, which absorbed the former registration duty and the former passport duty. A craft under a foreign flag is linked to the taxation territory where its owner, or the person who has it at his disposal, is an individual resident in France, a company with its registered office in France or a company controlled by one of them (articles L. 423-5 and L. 423-11 of the Code of Taxes on Goods and Services). A flag chosen for discretion therefore attracts two checks instead of one: customs on the status of the vessel, and the tax on its user.
What does a yacht risk if it is checked without a tax or customs file?
Being treated as non-Union goods unlawfully present in the customs territory. The customs debt then arises through non-compliance (article 79 of the Union Customs Code), import VAT becomes due on the value of the boat, and the penalties of the Customs Code are added. The real risk is not the fine but detention: the vessel is not the vehicle of the fraud, it is its object, so protective measures bear on the asset itself, with what that means for a sailing season or a sale in progress.
Can I correct my boat’s position voluntarily?
Yes, and it is almost always the right decision. Release for free circulation, with payment of duties and tax on the current value of the vessel, ends the doubt and makes the boat saleable. For a vessel under temporary admission that has overstayed, voluntary disclosure to the customs authorities, before any notification of debt or announcement of an audit, allows the debt to be extinguished where the failure has no significant effect (article 124 of the Union Customs Code and article 103 of Delegated Regulation 2015/2446). That door closes at the authorities’ first request.
What changes on 1 January 2027 for contracts and certificates?
The references. Ordinance No. 2025-1247 of 17 December 2025 moves VAT from the General Tax Code to the Code of Taxes on Goods and Services, and Ordinance No. 2026-671 of 27 July 2026 postponed that switch to 1 January 2027. The recodification is made without substantive change and published guidelines remain binding, but the certificates given to suppliers, charter contracts and shipyards’ general terms almost all refer to article 262 of the General Tax Code: these documents will need to be updated.