Vintro Pro
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Vintro Pro
NL · FR · EN
Boats are named outright. And still this is the type where a second rule spoils it most often.
Second-hand boats fall under the margin scheme.
Second-hand means of transport fall under the margin scheme, boats included. Watch the European new-means-of-transport rule: a used vessel can fall under it too.
Belgium’s FPS Finance names boats literally among the second-hand means of transport the scheme applies to, together with cars, motorcycles, caravans, aircraft and helicopters.
What makes this type awkward is that boats are sold across borders more often than average. And then a second rule joins in that can push the margin scheme aside.
A vessel bought from a private individual, checked over and resold is second-hand goods usable again after repair. New sails, a serviced engine or a repainted hull change nothing.
Buy from a dealer with VAT on the invoice and it is an ordinary purchase with deduction. That choice is made at purchase.
Belgium’s FPS Finance defines second-hand goods as “tangible movable property that is suitable for further use as it is or after repair”. Excluded are, among others, new goods, precious metals, precious stones and pearls, renovated goods, goods that are consumed on first use, and goods that cannot be used again in the same state.
That is the whole test, and it is a test about the goods, not about your trade. Alongside second-hand goods, FPS Finance explicitly names works of art, collectors’ items, antiques and second-hand means of transport. The scheme sits in article 58, § 4 of the Belgian VAT Code and is worked out in Royal Decree no. 53 of 23 December 1994. This page describes the Belgian scheme; the four-country panel below shows where the Dutch, French and UK rules diverge.
The example is a second-hand sailing boat: bought for €11,000.00, sold for €15,500.00. Put your own figures in.
Sold at a loss: there is no margin, so no VAT is due. A negative margin does not give you anything back either.
The VAT is inside the margin, not on top of it. That is the mistake this calculator is built to prevent: 21% on a €400 margin is €84, while you owe €69.42. How to do this across a whole return period — and why France calculates piece by piece by law — is set out in How do you calculate margin VAT?
On a supply to a buyer in another member state the European new-means-of-transport rule joins in. For vessels it looks at age and hours under way. That is not a detail: it sits apart from the margin scheme and overrides it.
Beyond that the ordinary exclusions apply. A hull bought to be broken up falls under goods out of use, and a hull converted so heavily that it is a different vessel at the point of sale touches the exclusion of heavily processed goods.
Whether boats fall under the scheme is answered the same way in all four countries: it is European law. The rate and the calculation method are not.
Margin across the whole return period. Article 58, § 4 VAT Code and RD no. 53.
Globalisation scheme or individual method. Wet OB 1968, article 28b onwards.
Legally piece by piece. Globalisation is an option there, not the default. CGI art. 297 A.
HMRC’s own scheme, outside the EU. Below the registration threshold you pay nothing.
For vessels it looks at age and hours under way. It overrides the margin scheme.
The margin is selling price minus purchase price. With boats the refit often costs more than the vessel, but it does not lower your margin.
If you deducted VAT at purchase, the vessel is not margin goods.
A margin invoice carries no VAT amount. At these amounts that is an expensive mistake.
Written on 8 September 2026. The scheme, the definition of second-hand goods and the exclusions were measured on 8 September 2026 at Belgium’s FPS Finance, Regeling van belastingheffing over de marge, which names article 58, § 4 of the VAT Code and Royal Decree no. 53 of 23 December 1994 as its basis. Since 1 January 2026 the law of 19 December 2025 excludes goods bought at a reduced rate from the margin scheme — explained in circular 2026/C/14 of 13 January 2026, measured via eur-lex.europa.eu on 31 August 2026. FPS Finance has not yet updated its own page on that point — re-checked on 10 September 2026.
This is an explanation, not tax advice. Whether the margin scheme is the right choice in your case, and how to enter it in your return, is a question for your accountant.
Yes. Belgium's FPS Finance explicitly names boats among the second-hand means of transport the margin scheme applies to. The basis is article 58, § 4 of the Belgian VAT Code and Royal Decree no. 53 of 23 December 1994.
The European new-means-of-transport rule joins in; for vessels it looks at age and hours under way. It sits apart from the margin scheme and overrides it. Check it before you invoice.
No. The margin is the difference between your selling price and the purchase price you paid your supplier. Labour, materials and mooring sit outside it.
In Belgium, €780.99. The margin is €4,500, and €4,500 × 21/121 gives €780.99.
The same question, a different kind of piece. The answer differs more often than you would expect.
Every piece gets its own purchase price, selling price and scheme. Vintro Pro keeps margin goods separate from the rest and works out your margin per return period.
Free up to 10 pieces, no card number and no end date.