french taxes

[vistaman]

for the moment on symphony  cruise was departing from Toulon   20% taxes on special wines 

 

[TER777]

Yep, it’s your (Europe) law. Applies to shop purchases, spa etc too. 

[Texas Tillie]

Is this new? Just while they are in France or other European countries too?

 

Patty

[TER777]

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles/what-is-a-vat-tax-and-where-will-you-find-it-on-a-cruise

[travelberlin]

8 hours ago, TER777 said:

Yep, it’s your (Europe) law. Applies to shop purchases, spa etc too. 

Also to spa? I understood that services do not fall under this category. Just products.

[travelberlin]

6 hours ago, Texas Tillie said:

Is this new? Just while they are in France or other European countries too?

 

Patty

I other countries that belong to Europe also. My experience was that cruise lines apply  the VAT of the country in which the cruise started to sail (embarkation). It makes buying products on the ships more expensive.

 

Ivi

[TER777]

30 minutes ago, travelberlin said:

Also to spa? I understood that services do not fall under this category. Just products.

Spa products then not spa services.

[vistaman]

it seems only Portugal , France and Spain so far 

doubtful it is legal  as when a Dutch company is buying goods in Belgium it is without VAT  providing a valid VAT number is  given 

the Belgian supplier must provide a list with  the Vat numbers of the clients of the EU to the Belgian Taxes

and the other country can verify the purchases 

but paying french VAT in a italian port  ??? so far no single company had the courage to go to the european court 

and that is lasting for years it all started with Spain...

 

[vistaman]

9 hours ago, Texas Tillie said:

Is this new? Just while they are in France or other European countries too?

 

Patty

suppose they are going Morocco or Tunisia  the second day ; no more VAT 

it all started with Spain when they had budget problems 

[steamboats]

On 6/4/2024 at 10:37 AM, vistaman said:

it seems only Portugal , France and Spain so far 

doubtful it is legal 

 

Never heard of "problems" in Portugal. But sometimes it was charged in Italian ports. NCL was the first one which tried to charge it in France but soon quit (after sort of a passenger revolt). It´s an EU legislation from 2006 (RICHTLINIE 2006/112/EG DES RATES vom 28. November 2006 über das gemeinsame Mehrwertsteuersystem). The countries can make exemptions for ships. Spain has no such exemption and actually has some sort of deal with the cruise lines. The main problem is that this legislation is so complicated that even the experts don´t understand it.

 

steamboats

[vistaman]

9 minutes ago, steamboats said:

 

Never heard of "problems" in Portugal. But sometimes it was charged in Italian ports. NCL was the first one which tried to charge it in France but soon quit (after sort of a passenger revolt). It´s an EU legislation from 2006 (RICHTLINIE 2006/112/EG DES RATES vom 28. November 2006 über das gemeinsame Mehrwertsteuersystem). The countries can make exemptions for ships. Spain has no such exemption and actually has some sort of deal with the cruise lines. The main problem is that this legislation is so complicated that even the experts don´t understand it.

 

steamboats

it is indeed very complicated 

i will send an ample " paper "  to a new elected member of the EU parliament 

Portugal Spain and France are imposing its taxes when a ship crossed the international waters 

French VAT in Italy ?   Spanish VAT in France etc ... 

all the more those countries do tax items on goods delivered to the ships free on board FOB  so there is no source to VAT tax 

taxing items bought without tax ? 

there is the intracomm system as well 

it all started with  Spain 

also think if some cruise company is going to the European Court , they risk to be banned from the ports 

several cruise lines try to make a short  call in a non EU port ranging from Tangier, Channel Islands a terrible Uk port sometimes ...

unfortunately Monaco was forced to follow France 

[steamboats]

The main problem is that this legislation is very unprecise. Even the paper which was supposed to precise it caused even more confusion. You can read more here (in German - my DH tried to follow the "traces" of this legislation).

 

steamboats