VAT When re-importing a previously UK registered car - help!

[jeansanspeur]

I'm looking to import a second hand car from France that was once registered in the UK.

It still has UK plates on it and was never registered in France because to do so would have required an engine conversion which the current French owner is not willing to do (thus the reason for sale).

According to the DVLA the car has been officially exported so to re-register it in the UK I will have to send a form off to NOVA who assess the vehicle for whether any VAT payment is due on the car.

For a car to be exempt from any VAT charge I have to pass two tests:

That it is second hand (i.e., over 6 months old and over 6000KMs)

That I have paid VAT on its purchase in the Member State of supply

The first point is passed (dates from 2006); the second point, apparently means that I must be able to prove that the car has had VAT paid on at some point in its life. That obviously happened when the car was originally purchased from the manufacturer by the original owner. We don't have the original receipt so we can't prove this.

However, the DVLA has a record of this car being registered in the UK (also the car is manufactured exclusively in the UK.) We also have 4 MOT's dating back to 2009.

I wanted to know if anyone has any experience of dealing with NOVA and/or thoughts on whether I'm going to have to pay the 20% VAT charge (gulp) on this vehicle.

All help really very much appreciated.

Cheers

[XplusYplusZ]

I think the purpose of proving when the vehicle first entered service is to confirm the vehicle has had VAT paid on it within the EU.
Reading this: http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/ch...
I don't see any additional requirement to confirm the proof of VAT payment . The fact it was originally UK registered is an additional bonus.

[cptsideways]

I don't think you will need to prove anything, just mot it & re-reg it on its previous info.

[Davel]

If it's UK registered still, aren't you just a new keeper?

Just bring it home and send off the V5 surely with you as the new owner.

It wouldn't seem to have been truly exported.

[Slidingpillar]

Er, read the original post again

Quote: According to the DVLA the car has been officially exported

[Davel]

OOps, so where is it registered now then?

It's been exported but never imported anywhere and is still on UK plates?

Surely UK VAT will have been paid when first registered then.

[Ozzie Osmond]

Davel said:

Surely UK VAT will have been paid when first registered then.

Yes, but the question is how to "prove" that. The original invoice would be the best way. Presumably available through the main dealer network.

[cptsideways]

To have been registered in the first place VAT would have needed to have been paid. Unless its an exempt car, eg military staff import or non vat qualifying commercial etc though I doubt that applies.

[HootersGsy]

Does the seller have a copy of the original V5? That would surely help to prove it was previously uk registered and thus VAT paid?

[smifffymoto]

I know a bloke who regularly buys UK reg cars from France,give him a ring.Mike Bowden at Owl Trading.

[CoolHands]

I did it with one exported to & from the isle of mann. It was straightforward. You need to get an mot on it and insursance. Then take them to the dvla office where you would fill out a form (forgot the number now) and they re-issued a registration. In my case they re-issued the original registration mark. That was it, no import duty or vat to pay.

edit, found my old thread: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=123...

Edited by CoolHands on Sunday 3rd November 13:29

[Thehandshake]

jeansanspeur said:

I'm looking to import a second hand car from France that was once registered in the UK.

It still has UK plates on it and was never registered in France because to do so would have required an engine conversion which the current French owner is not willing to do (thus the reason for sale).

So did he drive it in France on UK plates after it was exported?

[TooMany2cvs]

If it was never French-registered, then it should still be UK registered. You just need to persuade Swansea to remove the export flag on the record.

The NOVA form's required for any used import now - it should be straightforward to fill in, and come back with a zero VAT liability, but you do need to do it before you go to DVLA.

[jeansanspeur]

Thanks all for the advice so far.

To answer some of the queries: the car is a Caterham 7.

The car still has UK registration plates on because the current French owner is not willing to have it registered in France as it will require c. GBP3,000 worth of conversion to do so (he didn't know this when he bought it), so it's never been driven on French roads but has been used on the race track.

We have the V5 and the MOT's I mentioned - but the V5 only goes as far back as 2009.

Although the car was never registered in France, it had been declared and is currently marked as 'Exported' by the DVLA. To have the car re registered (and I'm not sure I could ring up Swansea and persuade them) I have to go through the NOVA system.

I have the chassis number so I'm going to contact Caterham tomorrow and see if they can supply some form of proof of purchase.

My thinking on it is that if the car was registered once in the UK, then they can't possibly charge me VAT on it again as, to have been originally registered, a VAT payment must have been made in the first instance.

But, I'm worried about it and I want to get it right as it's a GBP2,700 fee if I get it wrong. Gulp.

As well as calling Caterham I'm also going to give that Mike Bowden a call.

Any more good ideas, please let me know.

Cheers

[sjr-997]

this sounds like my old dark grey R300 superlight i sold to a french guy in 2009....have you still got it ?

does it have an alcantara quick release momo ?

ironically i was searching for info about VAT on exported/re-imported cars and came across this !