mancival wrote:
I wouldn’t come to Italy with an N-Reg. This seems the final decision of the Highest Court in Italy: https://www.milanotoday.it/cronaca/sequestro-aerei-finanza-asti.htmlProbably you’ll get away if you are non-Italian or, better, non-European, but you’ll get checked anyway
A cursory read of the translation of this looks to me like it might be a valid investigation of customs avoidance. Of course, anyone with illegal intentions doesn’t really have any excuse. But nothing in the quoted article leads me to believe that anything has changed since the beginning of 2022. The sensitivity of the subject has been raised in the public mind though since Feb 24.
Generally, avoiding Italy due to a report like this is just FUD. When it comes to customs, the principle is that the owner needs to pay customs in the country where he resides and especially so if the aircraft is based there too. Then just carry a copy of the customs paid receipt with the other aircraft documents. That should answer any question posed. I have flown my N-reg to Italy dozens of times over the past 20 years without issues in this regard.
The question(s) about first landing at a customs airfield is a different discussion, just to avoid misunderstanding.
This is devoid of useful detail but reading between the lines it sounds like a bust of an import VAT evasion scheme. Nothing new then. But it could be something like this. Not related to N-reg but to not having paid Italian VAT, and using a trust to hide the beneficial owner’s identity.
My suggestion, when going to Italy with an N-reg from now on, is to be able to prove to the Italian authorities: 1) the residence Country of the beneficial owner of the N-reg (and where the N-reg is hangared mostly) and 2) if the answer to the previous point is EU, if VAT has been paid in the EU, with a big question mark if the answer should be “Denmark” at the time of the “zero VAT route” (which is what many N-reg used).
I agree most people will be fine, but you will still be checked a lot, and you still need to solidly proof the 2 points above.
which is what many N-reg used
I would say the probability of an N-reg using the Danish route is no different to any other reg using that route. It is basically on any import where import VAT applies. I was introduced to Mr Rungholm of OPMAS in 2002 when I was buying my TB20, and that was F-reg at the time (going onto G-reg immediately).
Of course the cultivated perception in certain countries is that N-reg owners are dodging tax 
A German pilot friend told me that N-reg had this perception in Germany which was why he went on D. Italy has been known for this for years, according to sporadic ramp check reports.
This should not affect UK based pilots – here.
First of all, I’m new to the forum. Hello everybody!!
And sorry to bring to this old topic once again, but I just heard from a friend of mine in Italy, that the ENAC (Italian Civil Authority), are grounding N-reg planes in Italy.
I don’t know if it’s because of the BASA agreement due in June 2022, unpaid VATs and/or that these planes are flown with only FAA licenses. But from what I’ve been told, in some cases, planes are grounded even if the pilot has a dual EASA/FAA license.
From my understanding, if you hold a dual FAA/EASA license, you can fly an N-reg throughout Europe (as long as all documents are to date and VAT paid).
Is there a document/link from EASA or similar where it clearly says that?
My fear is that what’s happending in Italy, may eventually spread to other EU countries.
Thanks for your input!
Welcome to EuroGA, @coopersjcw.
Your post moved to existing thread on this topic.
I don’t know if it’s because of the BASA agreement due in June 2022, unpaid VATs and/or that these planes are flown with only FAA licenses.
Very little data but prob99 it is over VAT; this has been the traditional target of Italian “airport police”.
From my understanding, if you hold a dual FAA/EASA license, you can fly an N-reg throughout Europe (as long as all documents are to date and VAT paid).
Yes.
Is there a document/link from EASA or similar where it clearly says that?
The main thread is here. The long stream of derogations, started c. 2011, finally ended in the UK Dec 2021 and is “set to end” for the EU in June 2022.
My fear is that what’s happending in Italy, may eventually spread to other EU countries.
IF this is over unpaid import VAT then anyone without proof of import VAT paid is vulnerable. N-reg or other reg. Accordingly, if buying a plane without the doc, discount by ~20% (the seller will prob99 tell you to f- off because the next person to contact him will not care). For an existing plane you own, without the doc, read the link
IF this is over something else, well, any country can implement a long term parking ban but only those few have done so. Things are getting much harder for “amateur built”/etc aircraft. IMHO even if this is true, it is unlikely to spread because Italy’s certified community has already been decimated, like Spain’s, by economic factors and various hassles, with a wholesale migration to ultralights / operating below the radar between “strips”. But this is not the case in countries like Germany, UK and France.
Thank you for the clarifications Peter, and apologies for opening a new thread. My bad.
No probs I am often moving posts around…
As I said I think the real story behind this report above is not yet known. Mancival (I know him, btw) is I am sure reporting accurately what he heard, but his source may not have told the whole story. If, say, someone is getting busted for unpaid VAT, that person may not be advertising it 
The whole business of evidence of import VAT paid is a big sleeping dog in Europe, because for decades nobody cared, planes came in from the US freely, bypassing the system, and when it started to blow up, most people found it was too late to get the docs – other than via the ridiculous route of declaring the plane for VAT and paying ~20% of the market value (very very expensive).
It is interesting that coverage of import VAT paid or not paid is still of such interest after all these years. It just takes a media report on enforcement action against VAT avoidance schemes and the discussion starts all over. With so much “news” available and the effect of social media where everyone adds their two-bits of fake news, it quickly becomes a national CAA grounding N-reg aircraft, which is as a generality is false.
Mancival sums it up well in post 315511. If the owner doesn’t reside in the EU, then his point 2 still applies as it concerns VAT payment in the country of residence (e.g. UK, CH). It is recommended travelling anywhere, even outside Europe, and not just Italy. Usually, the required insurance coverage statement lists both the operator name & address (policy owner) and trust name as added beneficiary. That should meet the requirement of point 2, at least for an aircraft being flown by the owner/operator.
As an aside, aircraft are just a special case of general customs regulations. Technically, anytime one takes articles of relatively high value outside the country of residence, the purchase receipt should also be taken. Customs has the right to require presentation on re-entry. Switzerland used to check computers, cameras, and all sorts of other equipment and articles of value and request proof of paid VAT if one claimed that it had been taken when leaving home. They still might if one enters with $20’000 worth of camera gear or an obviously new electrical bicycle.
Indeed We suffer from incomplete reporting; the person actually busted is normally keeping quiet.
There are some differences though:
)The case of personal effects is a tricky one. Pre-EU, when I went on my windsurfing holidays to Lanzarote I carried invoices for all my gear. Nowadays, one rarely does that unless it is very expensive and brand new. Most people don’t do it at all. But in theory you still need to do that for everything exceeding your personal allowances! These aren’t big. I get met by the UK police (2; 1 is sometimes Customs) on 99% of landings from abroad and they have a “quick look around” but never actually do anything. My allowances are now only about £350.
