The government on Tuesday said it plans to introduce a transit and residence tax for all privately owned leisure crafts (yachts, boats), irrespective of their flag, and underlines that there will be a trend for the return of craft of Greek waters and Greek marinas once it is introduced. According to an announcement from the finance ministry, the new measure aims to boost the economies of islands and coastal regions and create thousands of new jobs, as well as at the same time put an end to uncertainty over the taxation treatment of leisure crafts.
The ministry said that the new tax is to include a charge for docking at non-privately marinas, which are currently free. Parallel to this, the new tax will coincide with the abolition of 'luxury goods' taxes previously imposed on leisure boats that failed to generate the expected returns and actually caused public revenues to slump. It is going to be included in a draft bill on marine tourism that is due to be tabled in Parliament by the finance and shipping ministries in the near future.
The announcement notes that the previous tax on leisure boats led to a huge loss of jobs, VAT revenue and turnover for all related business activity, while the yield of the luxury tax on an annual basis was minute. It also had a disastrous effect on Greek companies importing leisure craft, whose sales literally collapsed since no Greek or foreign buyer imported to Greece due to the high VAT (23 percent) and the additional 10 percent 'luxury goods' tax that led to a cancellation of all planned imports.
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