With the summer season approaching, a frequently recurring issue of great interest to yacht owners who intend to occasionally charter their yacht comes up.

Italian law provides in certain cases for a special tax regime for persons tax resident in Italy who work abroad. One such case is the income tax regime for seafarers who are tax resident in Italy and embarked on vessels flying a foreign flag. 

It certainly represents a tax news of great relevance for non-EU subjects represented for VAT purposes in Italy pursuant to Article 17, paragraph 3, of Presidential Decree No. 633/1972, the provision of the obligation to issue a guarantee in the hypothesis that they request to be included in the VIES for the performance of intra-Community transactions.

With the Ruling No. 1 of 2025, the Italian Revenue Agency clarifies the conditions for the application of the VAT non-taxable regime provided for by Article 8-bis of Presidential Decree No. 633/1972 to the purchase of goods and services intended for extraordinary structural transformation works, so-called major refit, through which a vessel initially used for private use is then, by the new shipowner, used for commercial charter purposes.

Cases in which yacht owners decide to purchase yachts for their own and their family's personal use through a simple partnership are not unusual. The simple partnership is one of the partnerships provided for in the Civil Code, characterised by the fact that it is not allowed to engage in commercial or business activities.

The current tax reform and, in particular, the reform of the administrative penalty regime, has introduced a new provision that has a substantial impact on VAT both in terms of the application of the tax and, even more so, in the procedures implemented by Italian companies with reference to the intra-Community supply of goods.