Spanish VAT

[Maraprince]

I seen posts to the effect that in Australia they add a gratuity on to room service deliveries because tipping is not common in Australia. Normally, room service is free of any charge. It is left up to the passenger what amount and if they choose to tip when the food is delivered.

 

It is more of a cultural thing. In Europe the gratituity is usually included as part of the bill. Any small change is normally left for the server. In the USA, gratuities are separate charges left up to the customer. Only taxes are added to the bill for beverages from the bar.

 

Since the cruise lines in general are dealing with many nationalities on any sailing, the differences should be explained ahead of time by their travel agents or by the cruise line providing a written explanation of what passengers can expect to be charged for and what is included in the cruise pricing. This would help to clarify the situation. Tipping is always a hot topic. Now, add the VAT to it as well.

 

MARAPRINCE

[jwalk03]

How in the world is the VAT Carnival's fault?? VAT sucks! Thats why country;s should knock off all this free healthcare, social welfare, bull**** before we head up with a VAT too to pay for all this crap! Europe is broke from all of this stuff and the VAT is how they are trying to pay for it.

[John Bull]

Vat tax vehicle it's a euro thing

Social style gov taxing all products thru supply chain

So the farmer grow the wheat gets taxed , the baker making the bread gets taxed and the consumer buying the bread gets taxed

Again it's euro thing

What is truly a bit frightening its been proposed several times in this country

And many peeps don't know what it is

 

I'm no great fan of VAT, but it's nowhere near as frightening as you think. :)

 

Bread was a poor example, because there's no tax on foodstuffs.

 

For taxable goods, each person in the supply chain - suppliers of raw materials, manufacturers, wholesalers & retailers - charges VAT to their customer.

But they can all re-claim the VAT which they were charged by their suppliers - and this includes their materials suppliers, their landlord, the fuel in their trucks, their power, their office supplies & so on. So the tax paid by each person in the supply chain is the difference between the VAT that they've been charged in the course of their business & the VAT that they've charged to their customers. Hence the acronym VAT, Value-Added Tax.

The only person in the chain who can't reclaim any VAT is the consumer, and that's how the government makes its money.

The customer pays the tax, the supply chain shuffles the tax around but neither gains nor loses, the government gets the tax.

 

So to the consumer, VAT (or IVA, the Spanish-language acronym for VAT) is the same as a US state tax.

In fact, although it's different legislation, a shop or service provider which mainly sells to the consumer (rather than to other businesses) is obliged to include the tax in the ticket price.

So the price on the ticket is the price you pay, no tax is added at the till. Unlike the USA - the land of the add-on :p

 

VAT is no fun for those in business. Pretty horrendous for the newbie 'til they learn the ropes. You're an un-paid tax-collector and VAT-accounting is laborious although computers do the bulk of your work. And it's complicated in occasional out-of-the-ordinary circumstances.

But again, not as frightening as you're imagining.

 

That loaf of bread.

It's taxed at zero%.

As is the wheat & the flour & other ingredients.

But the farmer, the miller, the baker & anyone else in the production chain can re-claim the VAT that they've paid on their overheads. So each quarter day their VAT sales are zero, & they get a cheque for all the VAT that they paid on their overheads.:cool:

 

Stacks of exceptions & variations, including taxing goods on cruise ships - which I don't think even the euro-beaurocrats understand.

But that's the basic bones.

 

JB :)

Edited August 30, 2013 by John Bull

[PAPERBKWRITER]

Not quite sure what the poster is getting at. What's VAT tax?

 

I suspect on a few years every American will know what it is.

[Goldwolf]

Just got back from the Sunshine today, the VAT thing was new to me too but C'est la vie. I don't know if the numbers have been posted anywhere but there were a lot of Brits (mainly families) on the cruise, it seemed to me like their were more Brits than Americans (but maybe I just noticed them more). Order will be restored now though as the kids go back to school next week.

 

Much as it pained me, after cruise critic advised me that the Americans don't pay their staff I left all the tips on. ;) To be fair, the room and dinner staff were great.

 

I'll post a separate review when I've recovered but for the most part we had a positive experience with a few hiccups. Certainly we'd sail Carnival again. I did hear quite a few English moaners out and about, but we English do like a good moan. Can I just say that you can't undercook crispy American streaky bacon and pretend that it's back bacon (which obviously ran out half way through), it just doesn't work!

[jjh9]

Just got back from the Sunshine today, the VAT thing was new to me too but C'est la vie. I don't know if the numbers have been posted anywhere but there were a lot of Brits (mainly families) on the cruise, it seemed to me like their were more Brits than Americans (but maybe I just noticed them more). Order will be restored now though as the kids go back to school next week.

 

Much as it pained me, after cruise critic advised me that the Americans don't pay their staff I left all the tips on. ;) To be fair, the room and dinner staff were great.

 

I'll post a separate review when I've recovered but for the most part we had a positive experience with a few hiccups. Certainly we'd sail Carnival again. I did hear quite a few English moaners out and about, but we English do like a good moan. Can I just say that you can't undercook crispy American streaky bacon and pretend that it's back bacon (which obviously ran out half way through), it just doesn't work!

What all was taxed booze tips what.

[Goldwolf]

I don't think the gratuity was also taxed, you just paid 15% gratuity and 10% tax on the base price.

[Dead-metal]

Gratuities definitely weren't taxed. I have my S & S bill here and gratuities were charged at a straight $138 per person.

 

Pretty much everything else was taxed. We didn't really get it at first, as the receipt said "Spanish tax @ 10%", which we understood while we were in Spain, but not after we left Spain. I realised though that it would be too much hassle to reprogram the tills for each country, so it's just easier to leave it saying Spanish. Maybe printing "European Tax" on the receipts would make it clearer. Anyway, yes 10% was added on as well as the 15% tip. So my 95cent coffee ended up costing $1.19, which obviously for a cup of coffee is not a big deal, but if you scale that up, it works out to quite a lot over the course of a cruise. However, we are used to paying VAT at 20% in the UK so it's not that big a problem; it's just that here the prices include VAT.

 

When we are in Florida though, sales tax is added to the ticket price of everything, so I see the Spanish tax on the ship as the same thing. You just have to mentally add it on every time.

 

The other thing about leaving from Spain was some long convoluted reasoning behind why there was virtually no liquor available to purchase from the on-board shop. I think there was Grand Marnier, Sheridans and one other thing. I asked why this was and it was something to do with the Spanish laws, but I didn't really understand it.

Edited September 2, 2013 by Dead-metal

[clivep]

We didn't really get it at first, as the receipt said "Spanish tax @ 10%", which we understood while we were in Spain, but not after we left Spain. I realised though that it would be too much hassle to reprogram the tills for each country, so it's just easier to leave it saying Spanish. Maybe printing "European Tax" on the receipts would make it clearer.

 

It said Spanish tax as that's what it was.

 

Unless this has changed recently, it works this way:

For cruises embarking in Spain and not stopping in a port outside the EU there is SPANISH VAT charged for the whole cruise. If there is a visit to a port outside the EU during any part of the cruise then the Spanish VAT is only to be paid whilst in Spanish waters (which is also what happens if the departure port is not in Spain). Spain is the only EU country to do this.

[clivep]

Bear in mind that although the Spanish VAT for drinks is 8%, the rate for goods and services (spa, specialty dining & gift shop) is 21%.

[clivep]

Bear in mind that although the Spanish VAT for drinks is 8%, the rate for goods and services (spa, specialty dining & gift shop) is 21%.

 

Just to correct myself, the VAT on drinks has now risen to 10% as others have pointed out.

[podgeandrodge]

I received the following email from Royal Caribbean in relation to the Spanish VAT - my enquiry was in relation to the fact that the PREPAY ONLINE purchase of beverage packages seemed very dear.

 

So it appears that pre-purchasing online no longer avoids the VAT.

 

However I don't agree with their VAT rate as I think the beverage package should only attract 10% and have emailed them to clarify - but it is quite clear that the price I'm being charged when I try to purchase does have 21% added.

 

-----Original Message-----

From: InfoUK@rccl.com

Sent: Monday, March 03, 2014 2:21 PM

Subject: Re: Pre-Cruise Questions, Oasis of the Seas, 23/Sep/2014, 0528582

 

Many thanks for your email.

 

The reason that there is a higher charge for the drinks packages on this

sailing is due to Spanish VAT which is charged at 21%. On certain

sailings, due to EU VAT regulations, we are obliged to collect an

additional VAT charge for some EU member nations, such as Spain and Italy.

This charge is paid to the country of origin and is beyond our control as

it is a legal requirement.

 

Kind Regards

 

James

Info UK Email Team

Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises & Azamara Club Cruises