Thanks ! “New” is relative but I know what you mean 
Good luck with the sale !
Hi,
I recommend to check if VAT really applies in your case.
As you have brought the plane with you to Europe as part of your household, you were tax-exempt back then.
If you continued to use the plane privately, the chance are good that you can sell it tax-exempt within the EU now. In Germany for example, the rule is that it only applies for new aircraft bought from a non-commercial owner. Other non-commercial sellers do not need to levy the VAT.
Any competent Spanish tax adviser should be able to answer that question with some research.
The good thing is that VAT is most synchronize within the EU, which the UK is still part of as of today. So, if you are looking for an UK seller you might want to do this in the near future as the uncertainty what happens after Brexit is still high.
But then again, maybe the UK will leave immediately after a female pope announced the end of the celibacy :-).
You cannot add VAT to the selling price unless you are a VAT registered individual or a company.
So if you paid VAT on the purchase, you have lost that money for ever.
This is why there are basically two markets in planes:
Once a plane has passed through a non VAT registered owner, the VAT is lost for ever, and the most likely buyer will be another non VAT registered one.
OliverB wrote:
Any competent Spanish tax adviser should be able to answer that question with some research.
Mmmmmmm…….suggest give that a wide nerth in my experience. 
The most important thing will be the documentation of the import of the aircraft into the EU. If it was officially imported as part of a move of your hosehold int the EU, that piece of paper will be worth 20 percent of the aircraft price.
Cobalt wrote:
The most important thing will be the documentation of the import of the aircraft into the EU. If it was officially imported as part of a move of your hosehold int the EU, that piece of paper will be worth 20 percent of the aircraft price.
100% agreed. A full audit trail. up to speed logs, and certification is key when conducting these sales. So many deals fall when one piece of paper does not fit..in fact it may well be worth before any false starts to have all the paperwork ’’checked’’ to make it a tick box scenario in the sale process.
I think you need a certificate of import VAT paid, or a certificate of free circulation. Many previous threads; search for “vat”. Lots of people don’t have this bit of paper and prefer to not worry about it. For a US made aircraft this is an issue which has no easy solution. The UK HMRC stopped issuing these c. 2005 and I got mine just in time, only to find out many years later that a French made (Socata) doesn’t need one anyway, unless it was re-exported out of the EU (which includes the channel islands!!) but that’s a different matter. For a Mooney, US made, with no documents, the only sure solution is to declare it for VAT, declare the smallest market value you can get away with, and pay the VAT on it. I know somebody who did that. Or sell it to somebody who doesn’t know about this, who usually turns up the following day
BeechBaby wrote:
OliverB wrote: Any competent Spanish tax adviser should be able to answer that question with some research.Mmmmmmm…….suggest give that a wide nerth in my experience.
Absolutely agree !!!
This plane ticks about all my boxes, save for: 1. N-reg, 2. the VAT situation.
If it was imported as part of household goods it will be documented.
