Sardinia Now Taxing Yachts Weekly
The Triton, an excellent monthly newspaper written primarily for yacht crew, reported this week that the Italian island of Sardinia has changed the structure under which it is taxing yachts that dock at its ports. This affects charter clients as much as the yachts themselves, because when you book a charter, you pay for expenses such as taxes in addition to your yacht’s base rate.
According to The Triton’s article, Sardinia’s luxury tax will now be charged on a weekly instead of an annual basis. In many cases, this means the government will be able to collect more money from visiting yachts over the course of the June 1-September 30 summer cruising season.
For a charter yacht between about 100 and 200 feet long, the new weekly tax rate is 2,500 euro, or the equivalent of $3,872 at today’s exchange rate. It is not pro-rated, meaning you will be asked to pay the full amount if you stay for only two or three days of a seven-day Mediterranean charter.
Sardinia began imposing its luxury tax in 2006, and many charter yachts have avoided paying it by anchoring out instead of docking at the local marinas. If you’re planning a charter to Sardinia this summer, keep that in mind as an option. Simply cruising ashore in your charter yacht’s dinghy, instead of stepping ashore from a marina slip, can literally save you thousands of dollars.