Tax on drinks in port in Southampton

[ExpatBride]

 

Where was your cruise from Barcelona going . did it dock at any port outside of the EU. What was the ships final destination.

 

It was a garden variety Barcelona to Barcelona Western Med. itinerary with stops in Italy and Spain.

[hawkeyetlse]

Majorca is like the canaries and not part of the Spanish VAT regime

That is not correct: the Balearic Islands have no special VAT status (unlike the Canary Islands).

[bmwman]

That is not correct: the Balearic Islands have no special VAT status (unlike the Canary Islands).

 

Agreed - but there are differences in the cruise ships and certain other international rules.

Edited April 17, 2017 by bmwman

[bmwman]

It was a garden variety Barcelona to Barcelona Western Med. itinerary with stops in Italy and Spain.

 

Not sure what Garden variety means but there is clearly a lot of confusion and I agree its odd.

 

I think ( and I am delighted we are out of the EC VAT regime shortly) is that international VAT has become so complicated with different EC countries doing different things this type of inconsistency will continue.

[Blondie008]

I am sorry but I do not understand the issue. T & C do not affect VAT. T&C can never override lawful taxes. If you are in business you will know that VAT is a governmental charge and the T & C are absolutely irrelevant. Let me be precise if have an UBP there is no tax payable in Europe full stop. This is a specialist area I advise on.

 

It make no difference about prior cruises these are not relevant. Thereare so many factors to consider and there have been many changes to VAT over the years.

 

It is simple as you say NCL seem to have got it wrong

 

Okay - my knowledge of VAT is I pay it, and receive it accordingly - within my business.. I understand UK VAT to an extent - but yes, am confused..

In the NCL TCc it states that your fare excludes government taxes - so my "understanding" was that this was the tax we were charged on drinks.

Our regular cruises are transatlantic - So would include ports in Europe and the USA -

Are you saying if they again charge me the tax, I should again question it?

I will see if I still have the email they sent me about the taxes - out of curiousity :)

 

 

Okay - just checked and you are 100% correct - The reason I was charged was that our cruise went outwith eu waters : Here was their reply to me:

 

I am sorry to hear about the issue you described regarding the taxes that you were charged on your on-board account. I can appreciate you were not expecting this charges and as a gesture of goodwill I will be refunding them this time.

 

But, I would like to explain to you that local taxes might apply to beverages even if they are covered on the Ultimate Drinks Package. There are some ports (Miami, Barcelona, New Orleans, Orland and Texan ones) that apply a tax to this sails up to 14 miles from them. I can’t answer for other companies and their regulations, but for us, this taxes are set by the port authority. Now, this applies to some sailings, specially repositioning ones or transatlantic ones.

For example, on the Norwegian Jade, while the sip is doing its normal Intra EU Route from May to October, the port authority wont charge you when you visit Barcelona, but when the Jade sails back to the US they will, since that would be not an Intra EU route anymore.

On the Beverage Package Terms & Conditions we explain that local taxes are not included, please visit this link https://www.ncl.com/uk/en/terms/ultimate-beverage-package.

Edited April 17, 2017 by Blondie008

[bmwman]

Thank you for you reply.

 

VAT was introduced in 1973 by the the then government and with the fanfare of "it will be a simple tax" Well it is not and the number of cases going before the UK tribunal (a tax court) is increasing all the time. So it is hardly surprising that anyone get confused. This is a particularly complex EU issue and whilst not UK it affects.

 

i have just looked at the link you sent and now I understand the confusion. This was I believe to cover UBP bought on the ship. Also in the email they refer to the Jade calling at BCN throughout the summer. That was not and has not been the case. It was based in Venice doing the Greek Islands!!!

 

VAT is NOT set by the port authorities and I think NCL seem to be perplexed themselves.

 

There is a further anomaly in EU. If ship embarks from BCN VAT is charged intra EU but if you just visit BCN port on part of a cruise from say Venice to Venice no VAT will be charged. Of course if the ship calls at a non EU port that changes things again!!!

 

I wonder how many cruises will start from UK once we leave the EU assuming UK do not decide to operate VAT on cruise purchases. Political yes but one I hope the industry lobbies for.

 

Thanks for you comments.

Edited April 17, 2017 by bmwman
typo

[ExpatBride]

Not sure what Garden variety means

 

It's American for "nothing special or exotic."

[bmwman]

It's American for "nothing special or exotic."

 

Thank you - I have learnt something new :)