We received the following as a comment to another post. However, due to the amount of interest it has generated, we have decided to make it a free-standing post.
Expensive sailing in Norway, resulted in a fee of 201 000 Norwegian Krona, (23000 EUR). We sailed from Sweden, Gävle to Norway the summer 2008 and left our boat in Norway during the winter. Summer 2009 we continued the sailing further North. In July we trailed the boat from Narvik to Luleå. Back in home in Sweden letter from the customs, The claim that we shall pya a fee of 201 000 NK. Incredible!! Now we have to go to court! This summer we will sail to Denmark instead!! Cecilia Olsson
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
This is the story that every major boating magazine in Norway has covered in depth by now. A horror story to be sure, and one that will no doubt have repercussions.
The Customs authority has been exceedingly stubborn in this case, but to be fair, they have since come out and said “If only they had told us in advance that the boat was to stay, this would not have happened.”
We can definitely sympathize with your being upset about such a large Customs bill, Cecilia. However, the same thing would have happened, I can almost guarantee, if a foreign registered boat stayed over the winter in Canada (our home) without making arrangements with Canadian Customs.
It is to avoid this sort of nasty surprise that we encourage readers of the Norwegian Cruising Guide to contact Customs if planning to winter over in their boat.
Just a short comment to the information above on Norwegian Customs having reacted differently if they had been given advance notice on the boat’s whereabouts. I see that Ass. Director Berit Aas in Customs and Excise Dep gives this reply to VG Nett (internet version of Norway’s biggest circulation newspaper). I am afraid her comments do not reflect current practice. I have two recent examples where foreign yacht owners on approaching Norwegain Customs are told they can only leave the boat over winter if they stay with the boat for 10.5 months of the 12 month period. As has been previoulsy pointed out this is a Catch 22 situation as Norwegian Immigration routine is to allow foreigners 3 months stay in a 6-month period.
For all practical purposes the current regulations are a ban on wintering a foreign yacht in Norway. It is sad for small yards in outlying municipalities that would love the business, and it is sad for adventurous sailors that would like to spend two seasons cruising our coast. And it is hardly in keeping with Norway’s obligations under the EEZ/EU system.
And all because our bureaucracy can not or will not differentiate a car from a boat. This is embarrassing for a nation proud of its maritime heritage. It will be very interesting to follow the Olsson case in the court system!
PS: For those interested there are documents (mostly in Norwegian) on our correspondence with customs at http://www.annaoslo.com
I am somewhat uneasy in the position of defending our authorities as I have no vested interest and believe rules might well be relaxed. But briefly on Valderhaug’s message: I agree with your sentiment, and the facts quoted are good as far as they go. Criticism should however go to the Government and not Customs, because it is a silly Government decision that forces this issue: Norway is not a member of EU, and that is the crux of the matter – one cannot compare with conditions within EU. The vital difference is that all imports of boats is subject to a 25% VAT, and this is regardless of VAT paid previously in a EU country; there is no rebate given. Hence, imports of second-hand boats is hugely uncompetitive, and the temptation to smuggle correspondingly high. Customs have the unenviable task of tracking such imports. It is hardly surprising that they have a focus on boats left without their registered owner for a half-year at the time – how many loopholes would that create for entrepreneurial smugglers?
Exchanging anecdotes is hardly proof for one side or another, but on the subject: I have my boat in a marina where it spent last winter next to a huge luxury yacht of overseas registration. The yacht stayed from September last year till May. It was hardly inconspicuous, a yacht in the 15-30 million Euro class. I choose to believe Berit Aas that with the right approach one ought to get the approvals needed.
In short, the infamous VAT rule hurts Norwegian sailors way more than any foreigners, and we have to hope as Valderhaug suggests, that the nation rediscovers its maritime heritage. In the meantime, though, I believe the many German, French and Dutch sailors traversing the entire coast as well as Svalbard can vouch for the lack of formality generally greeting visiting sailors here. I can think of a number of countries that worry me more.
It’s nice to read and hear about all the support we are getting, especially from the people in Norway. As neighbours, we would love to come back to this beautiful country that we have already visited many times before, vale safaris, skiing, hiking etc.
If we loose in court in November, we have to sell our boat and why not in Norwav, we have then already paid the fee or perhaps better continoue to next court level.
I can recommened two interesting articles in the magazine Seilas nr 5 and båtliv nr 5.
I do not understand this. Is this a very new rule. I wintered my boat Sulasgeir in Norway in 2004/5 and 2005/6 in Porsgrunn and Tromso. In each case I had applied for and received written permission to do so from the Norwegian Customs.
Colin Whimster
Scotland
Hi, Colin; I don’t believe the written Customs regulations have changed (except for allowing boats to stay up to 2 years in Norway to get repairs done at a boatyard, see http://www.norwegiancruisingguide.com/news/2010/05/customs-regulation-clarification/) though it does seem that some authorities may be enforcing existing regulations somewhat more stringently than previously. However, that said, Customs suggest that the problem in this case was not contacting them prior to leaving the boat in Norway over the winter. Would they have approved an extension as they did in your case? Who knows!
I can provide a degree of reassurance. I have been sailing in the Baltic since 2006 for 6-10 weeks each summer, returning to the UK and leaving my yacht in Sweden and Finland (Åland) for the other 9-10 months.
In April this year, I wrote to Tromsø Customs asking for permission to over-winter during 2011/12. I made this early request because I wanted to winter for 2010/11 near Luleå and transport my yacht by road to Narvik next spring. I asked Customs to reply before the end of this July, because I would not finish this summer at the north of the Gulf of Bothnia if their decision was negative. I also told Customs that I wished to leave my yacht ashore at a specified boatyard in the Tromsø area and attached an email from the yard confirming that they would provide a place.
Tromsø Customs did exactly as I requested. They replied in July (by email and by letter to my home) giving me permission to leave my yacht in Norway from Aug/Sept 2011 to May/June 2012, with conditions that are easy to satisfy:
- my yacht must stand at the specified boatyard;
- it may not be used by a Norwegian during my absence from Norway;
- I must notify Customs that the yacht is at the yard by 30/09/11;
- I must notify them that it has left Norwegian waters by 31/10/12.
I believe that the rules are different for live-aboards and also if the owner wants to leave his boat afloat during his absence from Norway. In my particular circumstances, I received prompt and courteous attention, with a positive result.
So, my yacht is now ashore on Sweden’s northernmost coast at Båtskärsnäs and I look forward to meeting salt water, tides and friendly Norwegians next summer!
An addition to my earlier message: I have had contact with two other British yachts that are over-wintering in Norway this winter (2010/11) after requesting and receiving Customs permission. One is a wooden yacht, lying afloat in a harbour near Tromso. In this case, Customs required the yacht to be left in the care of a forwarding agent and for a deposit to be paid equivalent to the VAT that would be due, based on an agreed valuation for the boat. The money will be returned when the yacht leaves Norway. In the second case, the yacht is ashore near Bergen and no deposit was required. The owner of the boat at Bergen is now requesting an extension to his permit as he wishes to spend an extra year in Norway and to winter in the far north during 2011/12.
A foreign boat can stay in Norway for up to two years in its owner’s absence, if it is undergoing repairs or if it is left in a bonded store. In my own case, Tromso Customs decided that my boatyard (which builds fishing boats) is sufficiently secure for them to treat it as a bonded store. My yacht will be stored safely inside the workshops.
All three of us experienced prompt and friendly assistance from the officials with whom we dealt. Their attitude was to make it possible for our yachts to over-winter, not to drive us away or to collect taxes. Their job is to stop Norwegians cheating and so, provided they know about a foreign boat and are satisfied that it will be out of use during the owner’s absence, they are willing to find a way to give permission, using the existing regulations.
The real mistake is to stay without first getting permission. Norwegian Customs could reduce the risk of mistakes by adding a paragraph to their website that deals specifically with over-wintering foreign leisure boats – preferably in both Norwegian and in the English section (which presently is not a full translation of the Norwegian rules).
The Ohlssons are in a difficult position because they did not have permission and are therefore liable for the tax. Nevertheless I hope that the Court will set aside the demand for payment. In past years, Customs have often turned a blind eye to the rules, especially in the west and north. Also, there was no intention to defraud and, had permission been requested it is clear that it would have been given, so the Norwegian economy has lost nothing.
Hi, Michael; Thank you very much for your comprehensive and informative comments.
We agree completely that Customs should be contacted ahead of time and that, in most situations, Customs officials are open to working with foreign sailors. However, do note that there are some Customs offices, like Tromso and Bergen, that are more open to working with foreign sailors and some, like Narvik and Trondheim, that may not be as open. See http://www.norwegiancruisingguide.com/news/2010/09/leaving-boat-in-norway-over-the-winter/ for more on this.
We laid up our boat ashore in the Trondheim area this winter 2010 to 2011 and have been following the Olsson case and other correspondence. Our sympathy to Cecilia and Kjell. We originally applied to Bergen customs on arrival in Norway without knowing at that point where we would overwinter. Having decided on Trondheim and found a secure place, we applied again to the customs there and eventually received permission. However the final letter of permission came from Bergen. There was no question of bonded storage.
Our experience confirms the view of others that the Norwegian customs do cooperate with bona fide visiting yachtmen but it is absolutely necessary to apply to them in good time if you wish to winter your boat in Norway.
Could someone please advise the address of Norwegian Customs so that I might write them and ask for permission to winter over 2011/12. I’ll be sailing over from Canada and would like to leave the boat in Norway or Ireland.
Thanks in advance.
Noel
In reply to Noel: go to the Customs website http://www.toll.no and select the English version. Then click ‘About Norwegian Customs’ and then click ‘Contact’, after which you will find a list of all the Customs regions. You should apply to the region in which you expect to leave your yacht.
At the moment, Customs rules are in a state of flux following the Olssons court case in November and I do not think I would get the result I described earlier, if I applied now. The current rule seems to be that you must hire a forwarding agent to take responsibility for your boat and pay him a deposit equivalent to the 25% tax that could be due, which will be refunded when you and your boat leave Norway.
It is likely that Customs will develop new (and hopefully more sensible) rules for over-wintering leisure craft but it may take time. Possibly, you may decide that Ireland is a better choice for the immediate future. I think that I would do so.
For the latest information we have on this topic, see http://www.norwegiancruisingguide.com/news/2011/02/wintering-your-boat-in-norway-update/
As Michael says, Customs are clamping down across the board now while waiting for potential changes in legislation. We have high hopes that all will be settled soon and in a way that encourages foreign cruisers to sail in Norway.
Thanks. I am now researching Ireland. I can just fly over from there to Norway on one of the cheap? airlines for a visit and will save all the hassels!