Buying a boat in France as a non-resident: the legal and tax steps
Buying a boat in France as a non-resident: VAT status, maritime mortgages, francisation, escrow of the price, conditions precedent and signing remotely.
The short answer
- VAT status: in the European Union the VAT position attaches to the boat and follows it to each new owner, so a buyer who cannot document that VAT was accounted for on the hull carries that exposure himself.
- New means of transport: under article 298 sexies of the French Tax Code a boat over 7.5 metres counts as new where it is delivered within three months of first entry into service or has sailed fewer than one hundred hours, and VAT is then due in the acquirer's member state, even between private individuals.
- Temporary admission: articles 250 and following of the Union Customs Code allow a non-EU flagged boat, owned and used privately by a person established outside the EU, to stay in EU waters for no more than eighteen months without import VAT, and chartering falls outside the relief.
- Maritime mortgages: since 1 January 2022 the French maritime mortgage registers are kept by commercial court registries and no longer by customs, so the search must be run with the registry competent for the port of registry.
- French flag: French registration, called francisation, is in principle reserved to nationals of an EU or EEA state and to companies established there, and an owner living in France less than six months a year must elect domicile in France for administrative and judicial matters relating to the vessel (article 219 of the French Customs Code).
- Physical presence: no rule of French law requires a foreign buyer to come to France: the deed can be signed remotely or under a written power of attorney, and the formalities are filed online.
Many of the boats lying between La Rochelle, Hyères, Cannes and Ajaccio are bought by people who do not live in France. The transaction looks simple: a boat, a price, a broker and a form. What makes it unfamiliar is that the hull carries its own legal and tax history, and that history transfers with the boat.
A buyer established in Zurich, London, Dubai or New York is not buying the same thing as a French buyer. His residence changes the VAT analysis, may prevent him from keeping the French flag, and determines which formalities can be completed from abroad. None of that is addressed by the short standard forms still in use.
Three things must be checked separately, and buyers routinely merge them: ownership, flag and tax status. A boat can be lawfully owned, correctly registered and still carry an unresolved VAT position. The capacity of the seller matters as much, since a private seller is not bound by the rules binding a professional, and a broker acts as agent under a mandate while owing his own duty to advise. This article takes the steps in order and explains the French vocabulary that has no English equivalent. It is general information rather than advice on a particular boat. Our work in this field is described on our page on French yacht and pleasure boat law.
Step one: establish the VAT status of the boat
Why the status attaches to the hull
The question is whether VAT has been accounted for on the boat and never reclaimed, so that it circulates freely in the European Union. That is proved by documents: the first invoice from the builder or first professional seller, import and customs documents where the boat entered the EU from outside, and the chain of later invoices or deeds. Where a company owned the boat, evidence about the treatment of input VAT may be required. There is no European register of VAT paid boats, so the buyer reconstructs the position before signature, because afterwards he answers to the authority that stops the boat.
A second-hand boat that is new for tax purposes
Under article 298 sexies of the French Tax Code, a vessel of more than 7.5 metres is a new means of transport where delivery takes place within three months of first entry into service, or where it has sailed fewer than one hundred hours. VAT is then due in the member state of destination and payable by the acquirer, including a private individual not registered for VAT. Buyers who move an almost unused boat to another member state are regularly caught by this rule.
Buyers established outside the European Union
Such a buyer has two routes. He can import the boat and pay French import VAT, which places it in free circulation and settles the question. Or he can rely on temporary admission, which permits a non-EU flagged boat, owned and used privately by a person established outside the EU, to remain in EU waters for no more than eighteen months, the clock being reset by an effective exit from the customs territory. The relief is fragile: it depends on the establishment of the owner and principal user, on genuinely private use, and on the absence of commercial operation from an EU port. A sale to a buyer who exports the boat can instead qualify for the export exemption in article 262 of the French Tax Code, on strict evidence of export. Which route fits depends on where the boat will be kept and used, and that must be settled before the contract is drafted.
What we see in practice
In the files we handle, the weakest document in a second-hand purchase is almost always the tax one. A listing states that the boat is VAT paid, the file contains a photocopy of an invoice addressed to a company that no longer exists, and nothing explains the two sales since. We regularly see buyers accept a scan of a builder's invoice with no customs evidence for a hull that spent years outside the European Union. We also see contracts in which the seller warrants the VAT position in strong terms while the seller is a foreign holding company with no traceable assets, so the warranty is worth what enforcement against that entity is worth. The warning sign is a seller who resists any contact with the yard or the previous owner. Rebuilding a tax history after completion is far harder than obtaining it before signature.
Step two: verify title and encumbrances
Maritime mortgages, and where the register now sits
A French maritime mortgage, the hypotheque maritime, is a registered security governed by articles L. 5114-1 and following of the Transport Code. It follows the boat, so a buyer who pays without obtaining discharge acquires a boat the lender can still pursue. Until the end of 2021 these mortgages were registered with customs. Since 1 January 2022, following the decree of 29 December 2021, the registers for boats outside the French International Register are kept by commercial court registries allocated by port of registry, with a national search facility run by their national council. A search made against the wrong body produces a clean answer that means nothing.
Maritime liens and the risk of arrest
French law also recognises maritime liens, privileged claims attached to the vessel by operation of law rather than by registration. They cover crew wages and certain port and salvage claims, appear on no register, and although in principle extinguished within one year, can be asserted against a new owner in the meantime. Unpaid yard and marina invoices carry a related exposure: a creditor with a maritime claim can obtain the conservatory arrest of a vessel under articles L. 5114-20 and following of the Transport Code and the Brussels Convention of 10 May 1952. Arrest is granted quickly, on an ex parte application, and immobilises the boat until security is provided, so written confirmation that those accounts are settled belongs in the closing file.
These are families of checks, not a substitute for the verification itself: what an answer means depends on the age of the boat, its flag history and the successive owners.
Step three: flag and registration, and what francisation means
Francisation explained
Francisation is the act by which a vessel acquires French nationality and the right to fly the French flag. It is neither a purchase tax nor a licence to navigate: it is entry on a French register, which produces the documentation the boat carries. It historically gave rise to an acte de francisation issued by customs, alongside a separate carte de circulation, and since 1 January 2022 those two documents have been replaced by a single registration certificate issued by the maritime administration. That certificate is not a land registry title: ownership is proved by the deeds.
Can a non-resident keep the French flag
Often not, and this is the point on which foreign buyers are most frequently misinformed. Article 219 of the French Customs Code sets conditions of nationality and establishment: registration is in principle available where the boat belongs, for at least half, to nationals of an EU or EEA state or to companies with their seat or main establishment there, with special authorisation possible only in limited circumstances defined by decree. An owner residing in France for less than six months a year must elect domicile in France for all administrative and judicial matters concerning ownership and status of the vessel.
A buyer who does not satisfy those conditions must take the boat off the French register on completion and enter it elsewhere, in step with payment and with discharge of any mortgage, because a boat between two registers is awkward to insure and cannot receive a new mortgage. A flag chosen in isolation is a poor decision: it interacts with the VAT position, with whether charter is possible, with crew and safety requirements above certain lengths and with what a lender will accept.
Step four: the contract, the conditions and the money
Conditions precedent that actually protect the buyer
The conditions that matter usually include a satisfactory survey and sea trial, discharge of any registered mortgage, delivery of a complete documentary file including the tax evidence, confirmation that yard and marina accounts are settled, availability of finance and, where re-flagging is required, confirmation that the new register will accept the boat. Two drafting points decide whether they are worth anything: each condition needs a date and a stated consequence when that date passes, and each needs a standard of satisfaction, since a clause requiring merely a satisfactory survey invites an argument about whether the objection is legitimate.
Where the price should sit
The single most important protection for a foreign buyer is that the price is not released until the agreed conditions are met. In France, client funds may be held through the CARPA account attached to a French lawyer, through a notaire, or by a broker holding the financial guarantee required to handle client money. The release instruction should be written and agreed before any money moves. An international transfer of a substantial sum also triggers checks on the origin of funds, and completion dates fixed without regard to that reality are where deposits are forfeited.
What we see in practice
We regularly see the money move before the legal work is done. A buyer abroad is asked to wire ten per cent on signature of a short reservation form, sometimes to a personal account in a third country, and discovers afterwards that the document he signed was a binding sale rather than an option. In the files we handle, the word escrow is used loosely: an intermediary describes an ordinary business account as an escrow account, with no segregation and no written release mechanism. We also see conditions precedent drafted with no deadline and no definition of what a satisfactory survey means, which turns a protective clause into an argument. And we see payment instructions changed by a late email, the classic fraud pattern in this market. Where the price sits deserves as much attention as the boat itself.
Step five: closing and the transfer formalities
Nothing requires the buyer to be in France. A deed of sale can be signed remotely, and a representative can sign under a written power of attorney whose scope should be drafted narrowly. Documents originating abroad may need translation and, in some cases, legalisation or an apostille, and a corporate buyer must evidence its existence and signing authority in a recognised form. These ordinary steps delay completion when left to the final week.
For a French registered boat, the transfer is declared online through the maritime single window, and the buyer then has a short window, in principle one month, to complete registration in his own name. Where the boat leaves the register, a deletion certificate is issued, which the new register will require, and any mortgage discharge must be filed with the competent registry. The same day should settle insurance taking effect on transfer of risk and the berth, which is not automatically transferable.
What the purchase costs beyond the price
There is no French purchase tax on a second-hand pleasure boat comparable to stamp duty on real estate. What arises is the tax treatment of the transaction, the registration formalities and the recurring charges of ownership. The table below is a map rather than an assessment.
Professional costs sit alongside these: the surveyor, any broker commission and the legal work. Where the client is established outside the European Union, French VAT is generally not charged on legal fees under the place of supply rules in articles 259 and 259 B of the French Tax Code.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to travel to France to buy a boat there?
No. French law does not require the buyer of a pleasure boat to be present. The deed of sale can be signed remotely, or by a representative under a written power of attorney, and the formalities are filed online. The survey and the sea trial can be attended by a surveyor you instruct. The real constraints are identity evidence, translation of foreign documents and the banking checks run on an incoming transfer.
Can I keep the boat under the French flag after I buy it?
Not automatically. French registration is in principle open to nationals of an EU or EEA state and to companies established there, with special authorisation available only in limited cases set by decree. A buyer established in Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the Gulf or the United States who does not meet those conditions will normally have to delete the boat from the French register and enter it on another one, in step with payment.
How do I check that VAT has been paid on a second-hand boat?
By documents, not by assurances. The starting point is the first invoice from the builder or first professional seller, the import documents where the boat entered the European Union from outside, and the chain of invoices or deeds since. Where a company owned the boat, evidence about the treatment of input VAT may be needed. A statement in a listing that a boat is VAT paid has no probative value.
Who should hold the price until the transfer is complete?
A regulated third party, not the seller and not an unregulated intermediary. In France, funds may be held through the CARPA account attached to a French lawyer, through a notaire, or by a broker holding the financial guarantee required to handle client money. The price is then released only when the agreed conditions are met, typically discharge of any mortgage, delivery of the documents and a signed deed.
What annual French tax applies if I keep the boat in France?
A boat on the French register is subject to the annual tax on maritime craft for personal use, under articles L. 423-1 and following of the French Code on levies on goods and services. It is due by the owner as at 1 January of the year of taxation and applies to hulls of seven metres or more, and to shorter hulls with an engine of twenty-two administrative horsepower or more.
What can I do if a serious defect appears after delivery?
A buyer may rely on the guarantee against hidden defects in article 1641 of the French Civil Code, which requires a defect existing at the time of sale, not apparent, and serious enough that the buyer would not have bought or would have paid less. The action must be brought within two years of discovery of the defect under article 1648. Other routes may exist, and which one is open depends on who sold and on the contract.
Conclusion
Buying a boat in France from abroad is manageable, and manageable remotely, provided the steps are taken in order. Establish the tax and customs status of the hull first, because it transfers with the boat. Verify title and encumbrances against the register that is actually competent, which since 2022 is no longer customs. Settle the flag question early, since a buyer outside the EU or EEA will often have to re-flag. Then write a contract whose conditions carry dates and standards, and hold the price with a regulated third party until they are met. Each of the usual errors is avoidable with a review of the real documents before signature.
About the author
Guillaume Leclerc is an avocat admitted to the Paris Bar, practising through SELARL Victoris, 34 Avenue des Champs-Élysées, Paris. His practice covers yacht and pleasure boat transactions, financing, tax and disputes, acting for buyers, sellers, owners and intermediaries. He works in French and English and handles files remotely by video conference for clients in France, Switzerland and abroad. Further detail is available on French yacht and pleasure boat law, or you can contact the firm about a specific purchase.
Last reviewed: September 2026.
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