Yacht Charter VAT by Country: Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, Greece

The country that counts is the one where the yacht is put at your disposal, usually the port where you embark, not your nationality or the yacht’s flag, and the tax is charged on the charter fee, not on the APA. The standard rate is not always the one you pay: Croatia applies a reduced 13% rate to accommodation on nautical tourism vessels, Greece has its own reduced regime for qualifying charters, and France and Italy let the proven time spent outside EU waters come out of the taxable base. Monaco follows French VAT, and outside the EU each country has its own rules.

This guide sets out what we could verify in official or primary sources, with the year of each piece of information. VAT on yachts changes often and depends on how each yacht is set up for tax, so treat this as orientation: the agency states the VAT in the contract, and you confirm it before signing.

How does VAT on a yacht charter work in the EU?

In the EU, charter VAT is charged in the country where the yacht is handed over to you, it applies to the charter fee and not to the APA, and some countries take the proven time spent outside EU waters out of the taxable base. Those three rules explain almost every case.

1. VAT is charged where the yacht is handed over to you. Under the EU rules for short-term hire of means of transport, the service is taxed in the country where the yacht is actually put at the customer’s disposal. Spanish VAT law, which transposes the EU directive, defines short-term hire of vessels as continuous possession or use for no more than 90 days. A one- or two-week charter is always short-term. So a charter that starts in Palma is taxed in Spain, one that starts in Antibes is taxed in France, and one that starts in Split is taxed in Croatia, whatever your nationality and whatever the flag of the yacht.

2. VAT is charged on the charter fee. The APA is an advance for running costs. IYC notes that the charter VAT is not charged on it; the fuel, food and berths paid from it carry their own VAT, like any purchase. Our APA guide explains how that works on the final account.

3. Some countries adjust the base for time outside EU waters. France and Italy let the part of the charter spent outside EU waters come out of the VAT base, but only with proof: France by a derogation based on Article 59a of the EU VAT Directive, to avoid double taxation, and Italy because it taxes the hire only when the boat is used within the EU. This is why some contracts are signed “with reduced VAT” and come with a route commitment.

Yacht charter VAT at a glance (2026)

Standard rates in the main charter countries run from 20% in France and Monaco to 25% in Croatia; the third column shows the rules that can lower the figure on your invoice.

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Standard rates: European Commission, Your Europe page, last checked July 2026. Treat everything in the third column as subject to confirmation for your specific charter.

What VAT do you pay on a yacht charter in Spain?

Standard rate: 21%. Article 90 of the Spanish VAT Act sets the general rate at 21%, and the rate that applies is the one in force when the tax falls due.

Where it is taxed. Article 70 of the same law says short-term hire of means of transport is taxed in Spain when the means of transport is actually put into the customer’s possession in Spain, and defines short-term for vessels as up to 90 days. A charter that starts in Ibiza, Mallorca or Barcelona is therefore subject to Spanish VAT.

What counts as Spain. For VAT purposes Spanish territory includes the adjacent islands and the territorial sea up to 12 nautical miles. The Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla are outside the territory where Spanish VAT applies: the Canaries have their own indirect tax system.

Time outside EU waters. The articles we checked set the place of supply and the rate. We did not find in them a reduction for time spent outside EU waters like the ones France and Italy apply. If a proposal for a charter starting in Spain shows a reduced VAT figure, ask the agency to explain the basis in writing.

What VAT do you pay on a yacht charter in France and Monaco?

Standard rate: 20%. This is the rate listed by the European Commission for France.

Monaco. Spanish VAT law, transposing the EU directive, states that transactions with the Principality of Monaco are treated as transactions with France. In practice, a charter starting in Monaco follows French VAT rules.

Time outside EU waters. A pleasure boat hire is subject to French VAT when the boat is made available to the customer in France. The French tax administration accepts that the share of the rent corresponding to the time the boat is used outside EU territorial waters is exempt, to avoid double taxation. As reported by WebLex in March 2021, the exemption runs from 1 November 2020 and was published in the administration’s documentation on 6 November 2020. The rule is in paragraph 40 of BOFiP BOI-TVA-CHAMP-20-50-30, and the transition dates in rescript BOI-RES-TVA-000080 of 9 March 2021:

• The person liable for the VAT, usually the lessor, estimates that share and is responsible for it. The estimate must be backed by evidence and can be audited.
• For boats fitted with AIS under SOLAS, the recorded AIS data is presumed valid.
• For other boats under 15 metres, the contract terms or the logbook can be used.
• For boats of 15 metres and over, any technical data showing the real time spent outside French or other EU waters can be used.
• The rule applies to contracts signed from 6 November 2020, the date it was published. Older contracts kept the previous rules, as did contracts signed by 30 November 2020 whose purchase order was already signed on 6 November.

What it means for you. If your charter starts in France or Monaco and cruises only the Riviera and Corsica, assume full French VAT on the fee. If your route genuinely spends time outside EU territorial waters, the agency may be able to apply a reduction, but it depends on the actual time and the evidence. The rule is still in the BOFiP version in force since 23 August 2023 (checked November 2026); confirm with the agency that it applies to your contract. See our French Riviera and Monaco page.

What VAT do you pay on a yacht charter in Italy?

Standard rate: 22%. This is the rate listed by the European Commission for Italy.

Time outside the EU. Italy taxes short-term hire of pleasure boats according to where the boat is actually used. The Agenzia delle Entrate set out the means of proof in provision 234483 of 15 June 2020, applying to contracts signed after that date. As summarised by Assolombarda, Milan’s business association:

• It covers short-term hire of pleasure boats of up to 90 days, for boats over 10 metres.
• For boats with satellite navigation, the voyage charts and the data from satellite or transponder systems prove the routes sailed.
• For boats without satellite navigation, the hire contract must be backed by at least two of: logbook data, digital photos of the yacht’s position (at least two per week of navigation), documents proving mooring in non-EU ports, and documents proving purchases from non-EU businesses.
• Both the supplier and the customer must keep the proof for several years.

What it means for you. A charter around Capri and the Amalfi Coast, or along the Costa Smeralda in Sardinia, stays almost entirely in EU waters, so plan for 22% on the fee. Any reduction depends on documented time outside the EU.

What VAT do you pay on a yacht charter in Croatia?

Standard rate: 25%. This is the rate listed by the European Commission for Croatia.

Reduced rate: 13%. In an opinion dated 27 November 2017, the Croatian Tax Administration stated that accommodation services on nautical tourism vessels are taxed at the reduced 13% rate under Article 38(1) of the Croatian VAT Act. The same opinion says that guest deposits the owner holds to pay the guests’ costs are not taxed by themselves when the owner pays the costs in the guests’ name and on their behalf, while the goods and services bought with them keep their own VAT rates. If the invoices are in the owner’s name and re-charged to the guests, they become part of the taxable charter fee.

What we could not confirm. The opinion is from 2017 and deals with accommodation. IYC (May 2026) gives 13% for qualifying multi-day charters with a Croatian charter licence, and Praxis (2023) for all charters starting in Croatia, without splitting the fee, but the official opinion refers only to accommodation services. Ask the agency how the invoice for your charter is split between rates, and whether anything has changed under the current law. See our Croatia page.

What VAT do you pay on a yacht charter in Greece?

Standard rate: 24%. This is the rate listed by the European Commission for Greece.

Reduced regime. Greece treats crewed charters on professional pleasure vessels under its own regime, with a reduced rate for charters that meet certain conditions. According to Stephenson Harwood, the current VAT structure dates from April 2024, and the specialist press and brokers do not all quote the same numbers. IYC’s tax summary (May 2026) gives an effective rate of 5.2% to 13% for eligible charters and 24% when the conditions are not met. Stephenson Harwood’s May 2025 briefing gives 5.2% (6.5% for domestic voyages) for foreign-flagged yachts over 35 m chartering under the e-Charter Permission. We have not found these figures in an official Greek text, so ask the agency which rate applies to your charter, on what basis, and get it written in the contract.

Greece also has its own charter permits and fees, separate from VAT. Our Greek islands page covers the cruising areas.

Is there VAT on a yacht charter in Montenegro or Turkey?

Both are outside the EU, so EU VAT rules do not apply when you charter there. Each has its own national tax rules for charters. For Montenegro, Ocean Independence (November 2025) and IYC (May 2026) both list 0% VAT on charters there; IYC adds that Croatian VAT may apply to time spent in Croatian waters. We have not confirmed this in an official Montenegrin source. For Turkey we could not verify the current treatment, so we do not give a rate. The agency includes any tax or fee that applies in the proposal.

One practical point: a charter that starts outside the EU and enters EU waters can still create a tax liability in the EU country it visits, depending on that country’s rules. If your route crosses borders, ask how the tax is handled for each part.

Is there VAT on a yacht charter in the Caribbean?

The Caribbean has no common VAT rule. It is a mix of independent states, British overseas territories, French territories and others, each with its own taxes, cruising permits and fees.

Even the French islands are outside the EU VAT system. EU rules, as transposed into Spanish law, exclude the French territories referred to in Articles 349 and 355(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU from the harmonised VAT area, and the European Commission lists Guadeloupe, Martinique and Saint-Martin among the territories where EU VAT rules do not apply. So a charter there does not follow French mainland VAT, although IYC notes that Martinique and Guadeloupe may apply local VAT treatment: ask for it in the proposal.

Some Caribbean destinations have changed their charter taxes in recent years. We have not verified each one, so the reliable source is the proposal from the agency, which should list every tax and fee for your itinerary. See our Caribbean page.

What does a reduced-VAT charter commit you to?

A contract signed with a reduced VAT percentage based on time outside EU waters commits you to a route that actually spends that time outside, with proof that it did. Three things follow:

1. The route is part of the deal. MYBA’s guidelines ask the broker to remind you before the charter, the charter manager to remind the captain, and the captain to remind you on embarkation that the yacht must head into international waters.
2. The proof has to exist. The captain produces the paperwork and proof the yacht’s fiscal agent needs; under the French and Italian rules that means AIS or satellite tracks, logbook or port documents.
3. Changing the route changes the tax. If the time outside EU waters does not happen, the reduction cannot be justified.

Ask yourself whether the route that makes the reduction possible is one you actually want. A long passage to international waters means more fuel (paid from your APA) and less time in the bays you came for.

Four common misunderstandings about charter VAT

“The flag of the yacht decides the VAT.” It does not, for a normal charter. What counts is where the yacht is put at your disposal. A yacht flagged outside the EU that starts your charter in Spain is taxed under the Spanish rules for that charter.

“As a non-EU resident I don’t pay VAT.” For a short-term charter, the place of supply is where you embark, not where you live. Your residence does not remove the VAT on a charter that starts in an EU port.

“The APA has VAT on top.” The charter VAT is charged on the charter fee. The purchases paid from the APA carry whatever VAT applies to each of them, which can be none: the Croatian tax opinion records harbour-master receipts without VAT, and MYBA refers to duty-free fuel regulations in some countries.

“A reduced VAT rate is a discount.” It is not a commercial discount that can be negotiated. It is a tax treatment that depends on the law of the country, the yacht’s set-up and, in France and Italy, on the route you actually sail and the proof that remains afterwards.

Who pays the VAT and how?

You pay it as part of the charter price, and the owner or the company that charters the yacht collects it and pays it to the tax authority. In France, for example, the lessor is usually the party liable for the tax and responsible for the estimate of time outside EU waters. In the contract it appears as a separate line, calculated on the charter fee; the contract sets when it is paid.

Questions to ask the agency before you sign

• Which country’s VAT applies, and why (port of embarkation, yacht’s set-up)?
• Which rate, and is any reduction applied? On what basis?
• If there is a reduction for time outside EU waters, what route does it require, and what happens if the weather prevents it?
• Are there other taxes or charter fees in the cruising area (permits, local fees), and are they in the proposal?
• Is the VAT line in the contract, separate from the charter fee?

How much VAT does a €200,000 charter pay?

On a €200,000 week at the standard rate, the VAT goes from €40,000 in France to €50,000 in Croatia, or €26,000 if Croatia’s reduced 13% applies to the whole fee. Illustrative round numbers, not a quote, starting in different places with no reduction for time outside EU waters:

The Croatian rows show why the invoice split matters. The difference between countries can be tens of thousands of euros on a large yacht, but it should not decide the destination on its own: distances, season and what you want to do matter more. Our guide to how much a yacht charter costs puts VAT in the context of the full budget.

Get the VAT clear before you commit

The VAT line depends on the port where you embark and on the route, so those are the details that matter most in your request: where you would like to start, your dates, how many guests you are and whether the route might leave EU waters. A charter specialist will reply with options that show the VAT for each one. The charter itself is contracted with the yacht’s owner through a licensed charter agency, normally under the MYBA contract, with the full price and the tax confirmed before you sign. Send us your plan.