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Customs targets boat owners
Customs goes after non-paying yacht owners
BY AL EDWARDS
Friday, February 19, 2010
COMMISSIONER of Customs Danville Walker has given boat and yacht owners until April 1 to get their vessels properly valued and pay the required duties, a move that will earn the cash-starved Government millions of dollars.
Walker, in a letter to the commodore of the Royal Jamaica Yacht Club, Roger Morecroft, said that the Customs Department was embarking on an initiative to regularise the boating industry.
"As we have discussed with yourself and the Royal Yacht Club in Montego Bay, we are of the view that it is in the interest of all persons who find themselves outside of the Customs regulations to come to us and schedule an appointment to have their boats valued and the duties collected," Walker said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Observer.
"As these boats have never been entered but rather they have been supposedly 'in transit', Jamaica Customs is of the view that it is reasonable that the current value should be used for the calculation of duty," he added. "I am also willing to assist the payment of duties by supporting requests for a payment plan where we feel it is justified.
"As of April 1, 2010, the Customs Department will begin to enforce the law as it relates to this issue."
Last night, a member of Kingston's Royal Yacht Club who has made the appropriate payments, told the Observer that Walker is cracking down because for years many boat owners have simply not bothered to make the appropriate payments.
"Some of these guys are well-respected in the business community and appear regularly on your pages and ought to know better," said the boat owner who opted not to be named. "The Government recently raised the duties on boats and this perhaps is proving prohibitive.
"It is particularly galling for those of us who comply with the law and see others getting away with murder," he said. "It is my understanding that Walker could reap a few million US dollars from this exercise. The thing is, many people bring in the boats as commercial fishing boats and pay nothing on them."
The Common External Tariff on yachts, other pleasure boats and jet skis moved from 20 to 40 per cent in the revised tax package tabled by the Government late last year.
Customs' action comes as the Government is insisting on greater compliance as it attempts to close the gap on a revenue shortfall.
But the move has not gone down well with at least one prominent yacht owner who told the Observer last night, "If you start taking punitive measures against yacht owners in Jamaica by insisting that they pay exorbitant fees you'll never have a viable boating industry."
Added the yacht owner: "You only have to take a look at the quality of the yachts in the Bahamas and the number of them docked there. If you really want to know, you have mainly junk boats in Jamaica because boat owners are, for want of a better word, punished for owning quality boats. The Government cannot see this as an opportunity to milk money from the more affluent. You can tell just how successful a country is by the quality of cars on the road and the boats that are moored in the marina."
A number of pleasure boats and yachts at Morgan's Harbour in Port Royal on Wednesday.
Customs targets boat owners
Customs goes after non-paying yacht owners
BY AL EDWARDS
Friday, February 19, 2010
COMMISSIONER of Customs Danville Walker has given boat and yacht owners until April 1 to get their vessels properly valued and pay the required duties, a move that will earn the cash-starved Government millions of dollars.
Walker, in a letter to the commodore of the Royal Jamaica Yacht Club, Roger Morecroft, said that the Customs Department was embarking on an initiative to regularise the boating industry.
"As we have discussed with yourself and the Royal Yacht Club in Montego Bay, we are of the view that it is in the interest of all persons who find themselves outside of the Customs regulations to come to us and schedule an appointment to have their boats valued and the duties collected," Walker said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Observer.
"As these boats have never been entered but rather they have been supposedly 'in transit', Jamaica Customs is of the view that it is reasonable that the current value should be used for the calculation of duty," he added. "I am also willing to assist the payment of duties by supporting requests for a payment plan where we feel it is justified.
"As of April 1, 2010, the Customs Department will begin to enforce the law as it relates to this issue."
Last night, a member of Kingston's Royal Yacht Club who has made the appropriate payments, told the Observer that Walker is cracking down because for years many boat owners have simply not bothered to make the appropriate payments.
"Some of these guys are well-respected in the business community and appear regularly on your pages and ought to know better," said the boat owner who opted not to be named. "The Government recently raised the duties on boats and this perhaps is proving prohibitive.
"It is particularly galling for those of us who comply with the law and see others getting away with murder," he said. "It is my understanding that Walker could reap a few million US dollars from this exercise. The thing is, many people bring in the boats as commercial fishing boats and pay nothing on them."
The Common External Tariff on yachts, other pleasure boats and jet skis moved from 20 to 40 per cent in the revised tax package tabled by the Government late last year.
Customs' action comes as the Government is insisting on greater compliance as it attempts to close the gap on a revenue shortfall.
But the move has not gone down well with at least one prominent yacht owner who told the Observer last night, "If you start taking punitive measures against yacht owners in Jamaica by insisting that they pay exorbitant fees you'll never have a viable boating industry."
Added the yacht owner: "You only have to take a look at the quality of the yachts in the Bahamas and the number of them docked there. If you really want to know, you have mainly junk boats in Jamaica because boat owners are, for want of a better word, punished for owning quality boats. The Government cannot see this as an opportunity to milk money from the more affluent. You can tell just how successful a country is by the quality of cars on the road and the boats that are moored in the marina."
A number of pleasure boats and yachts at Morgan's Harbour in Port Royal on Wednesday.
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