Yacht owners in Europe – Martyn Fiddler have you covered

24 Oct 2023

Owning a yacht, whether commercial or pleasure, in the UK or the EU, can be a complex experience. Yacht ownership is intrinsically related to VAT and with tax rules and interpretations often subject to change, staying current and understanding your liabilities can be a challenging upheaval.

At Martyn Fiddler, our in-house experts use their vast knowledge and extensive experience to provide advice and support to our clients owning and operating such complex assets. We tackle the complexity, so you don’t have to, giving you the comfort of knowing you will always stay within the letter of the law.

Our specialist team relieves the pressure of handling complex assets from private and family offices. Special projects such as purchasing and owning a yacht often have their own timescales, creating workloads that can’t always be accommodated at a private office. Our team picks up the “heavy lifting” required for unusual and demanding projects, leaving the private office able to concentrate on business as usual. Whilst lawyers are experts in leading and completing transactions, the long-term management of the asset is cared for by us at Martyn Fiddler.

Your journey with us will always start with an initial discussion to fully understand your/the client’s situation, needs, desires and expectations. From there we provide in-depth VAT advice regarding the asset, the extent and scope of any liability and any mitigating factors. Having an in-house tax team means you don’t need to outsource specialist tax advice in addition to engaging with us (which is so often the case). By being able to cater for every scenario internally, we ultimately save you/your client time, stress and money. We work closely with yachting lawyers and brokers as well as the client on the initial purchase of the yacht to make the transaction as smooth as possible. From there we progress to implementing the ownership structure for the yacht and actively mitigating VAT, where possible.

Our ownership entities can be limited companies, trusts, LLCs or LPs. We provide all corporate officers to ensure management and control of the entity rests in the appropriate jurisdiction. We will arrange for the yacht’s arrival into the UK and/or the EU under temporary admission or import, as necessary. All required corporate filings and declarations will be made by us as company secretary or registered agent.

For the ongoing management of the yacht, you will be assigned an experienced and dedicated client company administrator to run the activity within the ownership entity. Our administrators develop long-lasting relationships with their clients and their private office to ensure seamless operations, especially important should the unexpected occur. Your administrator will also liaise with our in-house client accountants and bookkeepers, as well as the yacht management company and/or captain. They will be responsible for administering and reviewing the corporate structure with appropriate updates during its lifetime. They will keep you informed of the activity of the company and will always welcome the opportunity to meet clients in person or online.

If you would like to know about the yachting services we offer, please contact Martin Kennaugh at

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