After three years of changes and postponement the Greek Cruising Tax known as TEPAH was finally implemented in mid-November… and the announcement gave boat owners of all nationalities just a few days to make the first payment.
Thanks to immediate CA intervention, however, boat owners now have until April 2, 2019 to pay the tax. Owners are required to register via a website which is currently only in Greek, but the delay should give time to make payment facilities available in other languages
The tax is payable by all vessels, including pleasure vessels, over 7 meters in length, whether they are Greek-flagged or non-Greek.
The CA made urgent contact with the Ministries responsible and had rapid and complete cooperation. The Ministerial pronouncement on the postponement of the deadline issue was made within a couple of days. This will be followed by a consultation to ensure that the tax implementation will work.
The Ministry has asked that the CA provide details of all the issues related to this tax to help them with the implementation, and the CA will be working with its members to get together as much information as possible and provide up to date information on how the tax works.
Notes
- In January 2018 a cruising tax known as TE.P.A.H (in Greek Τέλος Πλοίων Αναψυχής και Ημερόπλοιων) was passed into law. It was officially implemented on November 26, 2018, but implementation has now been delayed until 2 April 2019. An earlier law had been passed and then repealed.
- The tax is payable by all vessels over 7m that cruise in Greek waters, with higher rates for vessels more than 12m long. However, at least one of the underlying laws does not mention privately-owned non-Greek boats, so the CA believes the authorities had not prepared for this.
- The TEPAH tax is different from the permit to cruise (DEKPA or Transit Log, from its Greek initials ΔΕΚΠΑ) which is already in force and must still be renewed or re-stamped each year.
The Cruising Tax (TE.P.A.H) section of the Greek Regulations page has been updated with the full details known to date, including tax rates.