Driving to Cyprus

[lirff]

Originally Posted by avington

Thanks for the info, I managed to put my case forward to a contact of mine in the EU, confirmed verbally that any form of taxes is illegal and most probably I am correct the taxes are certainly not directed to the government coffers!

I have raised the query and the following reply confirms they are taking it seriously ....

Case_ID: 0297123 / 402889] - DRIVING TO CYPRUS
Friday, 30 July, 2010 14:09

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With kind regards,

In the meantime I will keep you all posted, I plan to arrive +/- 16th August at the port of Limassol, I have no intention of paying taxes ... bookmark this thread !

regards ..... avington

ps: If they think ... having been a veteran of the 1974 conflict, customs can line their coffers with my hard earned cash ..... they can think again

Same from my side, Royal Signals 1974, not much radio work, but help them we did ....

I'm in a similar situation, returning back from Qatar, living in Tala and shipping on Export plates - intending to leave before the 6 months is up and probably drive to and register in the UK

[avington]

Originally Posted by lirff

Same from my side, Royal Signals 1974, not much radio work, but help them we did ....

I'm in a similar situation, returning back from Qatar, living in Tala and shipping on Export plates - intending to leave before the 6 months is up and probably drive to and register in the UK

Hi .. are you in Cyprus at the moment, if so maybe we can meet up sometime reminisce on old times over a beer or two, will arrive in about 10 days time, I have a place over in Aya Napa with my kids and wife.

[lirff]

Originally Posted by avington

Hi .. are you in Cyprus at the moment, if so maybe we can meet up sometime reminisce on old times over a beer or two, will arrive in about 10 days time, I have a place over in Aya Napa with my kids and wife.

Sorry Avington, just been for 4 weeks and not back until jolly retirement in March next year. Let's chat closer to then

[car&stef]

Hi we arrived at limassol port on the grimaldi ferry last july and we were charged 500 euros but refused to pay until we got them down so ended up paying 300 . When you are paying you are aware that it is a back hander and nobody denies that but they say its double time for staff if you land on a sat, which no doubt you will bcoz the captain of the grimaldi ferry is in on it as well!!!

[avington]

Originally Posted by car&stef

Hi we arrived at limassol port on the grimaldi ferry last july and we were charged 500 euros but refused to pay until we got them down so ended up paying 300 . When you are paying you are aware that it is a back hander and nobody denies that but they say its double time for staff if you land on a sat, which no doubt you will bcoz the captain of the grimaldi ferry is in on it as well!!!

Well I arrived in Cyprus via the Grimaldi Lines - they refused me entry to Cyprus unless I pay landing charges, dock storage fees, shipping agency fees and local agency fee, despite me travelling with my vehicle on the Cargo freighter

In total I paid 124.70 Euros, this was only after a three hour standoff which I was getting nowhere. The outside temp was 46C, whatever sweets chocolates I bought for the kids melted to a pulp.

As you said the Captain of the Grimaldi was on the take I guess, when the arguments started on board with the shipping agent, customs and the Police, he looked very sheepish when I challenged the costs. Not forgetting I had just paid 1,000 Euros to bring me and my car from Salerno to Cyprus.

The directive I got from the EU, no costs should be levied towards travellers entering Cyprus - Well clearly something is wrong somewhere, they disguise the charges as landing fees, Port Authority costs plus agency fees. In reality it's a tax, which the EU should investigate.

Cyprus is supposedly in the European Union, but we might as well be on a different planet when it comes to open borders and freedom of movement, because none of that exist when entering Cyprus.

I started this thread with the intention of showing how corrupt Cyprus Immigration Policy has become, I can now remind Veronica “ Moderator “ about her reply Quote “As long as you don't intend to use your car on Cypriot roads of more than six months a year Cyprus has never taxed. Anyone who lives here for 6 months and returns to the UK for 6 months normally puts the car into a bonded warehouse when they are not here. This has always been the case. So if you are coming over for a stay of 6 months or less you will not be taxed. When importing a car permanently you have 6 months to register it and get a Cypriot plate” Unquote

Sorry but I have to disagree … whatever form the charges comes under, in my opinion they are taxes and by all accounts should never be levied in the first place.

Oh I forgot to mention, when I also chalenged the Port Authority on the freedom of movement and open borders in the European Union, their excuse was ... because the Grimaldi Freighter had travelled to ports outside of the European Union, these charges are levied. Strange answer when the only format in entering Cyprus is via the sea, and given the vessel is registered in Palorma Italy makes nonsense of their excuses.

Someone (or a select few) is making a lot of money in levying these charges, and I don’t intend to take this laying down.

Tomorrow I shall be contacting the EU to formally make a complaint, let’s see how this pans out.

[Veronica]

If you do a google search you will find that such fees are also payable when you import a vehicle into the UK from Europe via ports.
I said that TAX should not be charged.

Some charges that you can expect when importing to the Uk are
LO-LO (Load-On, Load-Off) and THC (Terminal Handling Charge)

These are just two charges which I know that UK ports will levy, there are probably others.

I did not say you will not pay any port charges, just that you SHOULD NOT be charged any TAX.

[avington]

Originally Posted by Veronica

If you do a google search you will find that such fees are also payable when you import a vehicle into the UK from Europe via ports.
I said that TAX should not be charged.

Some charges that you can expect when importing to the Uk are
LO-LO (Load-On, Load-Off) and THC (Terminal Handling Charge)

These are just two charges which I know that UK ports will levy, there are probably others.

I did not say you will not pay any port charges, just that you SHOULD NOT be charged any TAX.

I would agree with your statement if I was IMPORTING my car to Cyprus but given I was only visiting with my car and the mode of transport to get me to Cyprus was the Cargo Freighter as a paying passenger then the fees that I had already paid covers all landing costs.

By the way I have just spoken with my EU contact, he agrees with me 100% ... currently ongoing there are several investigations for similar charges.

You only have to ask the question, when the french drive off the ferry to Dover do they pay landing charges ... the answer is a big NO ... all is required is to show your passport .... Could be Cyprus utilises all the benefits of been a member of the European Community ... but in reality they still operate outside European Directives ... and Laws

[lotuseater]

Hi Avington,
Are you still around? What ever happened about the "taxes" on your car in the end?

I'm interested to know because I'm considering driving down to Cyprus myself.

[Vegaanders]

Originally Posted by avington

I would agree with your statement if I was IMPORTING my car to Cyprus but given I was only visiting with my car and the mode of transport to get me to Cyprus was the Cargo Freighter as a paying passenger then the fees that I had already paid covers all landing costs.

By the way I have just spoken with my EU contact, he agrees with me 100% ... currently ongoing there are several investigations for similar charges.

You only have to ask the question, when the french drive off the ferry to Dover do they pay landing charges ... the answer is a big NO ... all is required is to show your passport .... Could be Cyprus utilises all the benefits of been a member of the European Community ... but in reality they still operate outside European Directives ... and Laws

We use a lot of Ferry transports when we go around in Europe. In all major ports in Italy, Greece and so on we pay landing fee. Also in Cyprus. For us its normal and probably a way to get money to run the port. We dont pay in Dover or Calais but we dont know if that is incliuded in the ticket.

[lotuseater]

Still on the theme of moving to Cyprus and driving the car down - does anyone have an idea what would happen if I took the car ferry to Limassol (the Greek side) and then drove it across the border into the Turkish side, where we intend to settle. Would the Greeks still view it as an import even though we wouldn't be residing on their side? And what would happen at the TRNC border?