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Hi everyone! I've just joined Canal World and have been overwhelmed by how supportive and helpful everyone is on here! What was supposed to be a 5 minute peek yesterday ended up being a 4 hour marathon reading through a lot of really useful posts by everyone. There is however one area I'm struggling to get my head around and the more I read into it, the bigger my headache becomes! This is the dream, to leave land and live life on the water with our two dogs, to tear ourselves away from the ties of our house, pay back all the loans and enjoy life for once!! We run a business from home through social media, online training and offer live training to various venues around the UK that we would drive (or sail!) to, so a permanent residential mooring is not really necessary although the security of having a guaranteed place to moor is always handy without having to bear the anxiety of feeling the pressure to move every 2 weeks (and we would need to keep our car handy for work and leisure needs). So far, we have sold the house, been to 3 car boot sales ridding ourselves of much loved possessions, visited a couple marinas, researched online and found a widebeam canal boat which we hope to buy if we can get the money from our house in time to buy it!! It's a 60 x 12ft widebeam. It's brand spanking new but being offered at a great price as the original owner pulled out of the purchase half way into it's build. We also are planning to go to the Crick Boat show to have a look at other widebeam models. Ideally we would like a new one and would consider building one and have it ready by Autumn to move into (apparently the New and Used Boat Company have a great turn around time but we are aware of planning all this at the time of the Crick Boat show, so I'm aware that this may take longer with anticipated increased sales). So that's the plan, here's my question. Is anyone clued up on the HMRC issues? We will have no house so will have a liveaboard lifestyle. We hope to moor in and around the area of Berkshire due to family ties. Would this mean we would be able to buy our widebeam from a supplier/broker without VAT on top? It seems to be a very grey area with widebeams when it comes to tax exemption and qualifying ships with the HMRC. I know that barges and houseboats qualify and narrow boats don't. The two criteria that I'm aware of is that the boat should be above a gross tonnage of 15 which a 60x12ft widebeam seems to be the absolute minimum boat that does,and that it is to be used for a permanent liveaboard lifestyle with any leisure use being allowed as a secondary minor inclusion. I've read that if the engineering installed for any propulsion is the norm for this type of boat, then it should be accepted and we can maybe sign a declaration to the supplier that it will be used for liveaboard purposes. Does anyone know if or what proof of documentation I would need to present to a supplier/broker to prove this? The other issue is the difficulty in obtaining a permanent residential mooring and whether we would find one in time when we plan to move into a boat (hopefully end of summer/autumn - we would ideally like to avoid moving into a boat in the middle of winter!). Long term leisure moorings do appear more readily available and would help settle our anxiety of not having anywhere to moor in time and no need to pay any council tax!. BUT, if we take this route, we officially aren't liveaboards right? and we would have to buy our boat inclusive of the VAT. Ideally, like anyone, we would prefer to buy the boat exclusive of VAT!!! Which we surely should qualify with living permanently on a boat?! Family in Berkshire can offer a residential address for post etc if necessary. Does anyone have any advice on how we can avoid paying VAT but get an annual leisure mooring? I've heard many places may be 'ok' with keeping their heads down when it comes to having residential boaters in a leisure mooring....is this safe? Do people get in trouble doing this? Is there anything wrong with declaring permanent liveaboard use when purchasing the boat to avoid VAT but then, change our minds and go find a leisure mooring for a year until we can find a permanent residential mooring at a later stage? Would I put ourselves and the supplier at risk with the HMRC by doing this? I would REALLY appreciate any advice from anyone who knows anything about what is the best thing to do! Look forward to hearing about any ideas!! Best wishes, Bikervet
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Hi. A VAT, finance question. I'm a newbie currently researching a new build 57 foot liveaboard continuous cruiser trad to start construction in 2017, and wondered if anyone knows the answer to this: having read horror stories about builders going bust or even sadly dying mid way through construction, I fully intend to use the industry contract, a boat surveyor, staged payments etc for the boat shell, but what are the pros and cons of me purchasing major items for the fit out (engine, stoves, bathroom) direct, and arranging delivery to the outfitters, over just specifying what I want, and letting them source the stuff? Are there any VAT advantages/disadvantages? Presumably I have to pay VAT, but they don't? But I'm thinking that if I buy the stuff direct, in the event of calamity there should be no issues of ownership. Anyone got any thoughts on this? Thanks!