Positional VAT compliance · Yacht charter & leasing
The 2018–2020 EU reforms ended flat-rate VAT reductions. Effective use in EU waters must now be proven, period by period. WakeProofs turns AIS/GPS positions — and now paper documents, via AI + OCR — into the evidence file behind the return.
For fiscal firms and managers — not owners.
INPUT
GPX · CSV · NMEA · logs · paper (OCR)
BOUNDARY
12 NM territorial — not the EEZ
OUTPUT
Sealed PDF · SHA-256 · sign-off
JURISDICTIONS
MT · FR · IT (+ GR · CY · HR)
01 — The problem
Until the 2018–2020 reforms, the EU-waters reduction was a flat percentage — set once, defended never. Today the reduction only exists if effective use outside EU waters is demonstrated, and the burden of proof sits with the operator.
BEFORE · UNTIL 2018–2020
=B4*0.30 · flat reduction
A flat-rate assumption, no evidence. Accepted by habit.
NOW · PERIOD BY PERIOD
hours_outside_12NM / hours_total
Computed on real positions, documented, reproducible and defensible years later.
Each charter, each lease instalment, each return period needs its own positional record. A yearly estimate no longer survives an audit.
The relevant line is the 12-nautical-mile territorial boundary. Treating the EEZ as “outside EU waters” is one of the most common — and costly — errors.
AIS/GPS evidence must exist, be complete, and be reproducible when the authority asks — not when the trip happened.
02 — How it works
1
GPX, CSV, NMEA, plotter exports — and paper logbooks or contracts, digitised with AI + OCR. No paid AIS subscription required to start.
2
Classifies every fix in or out of EU 12 NM waters, interpolates boundary crossings, and attributes hours per zone with stated tolerances.
3
Versioned rules per jurisdiction and date apply the correct mechanism to the hours — producing VAT due and the adjustment for the return.
4
A sealed PDF: track map, segment table, ratio, calculation explained line by line, SHA-256 hashes of the inputs, and a sign-off sheet.
03 — AI + OCR
Much of the evidence is still born on paper: logbooks, charter contracts, port receipts, signed declarations. Our AI + OCR engine digitises them and extracts the relevant fields — dates, times, positions, amounts — straight into the file.
No more hours of manual data entry — and no more human transcription errors to defend in front of an auditor.
EXTRACTED FIELDS
original: sha-256 e3a1…9c44 · attached to the file
04 — The output
Every file is reproducible: same inputs, same rules version, same geodata version — same result, byte for byte. Inputs are hashed; nothing is recalculated silently.
When a rate or mechanism changes, the rules engine gets a new version. Your archive of past files stays valid against the version that produced it — a regulation change is an update, not a migration.
PERIOD
2026-Q2 · Malta
EU-WATERS RATIO
35.0 %
VAT DUE
€ 8,505.00
ADJUSTMENT → NEXT RETURN
€ 15,795.00
RULES VERSION
MT-2026.02
BOUNDARY GEODATA
EU12NM-2025.11
SHA-256 · INPUT TRACK
9f2c 44a1 be07 d3e8 5c61 0b9a f47d 218e a0c3 7f5b d9e2 1648 3ab0 c57f 92d4 6e01
05 — Jurisdiction coverage
Malta, France and Italy fully covered at launch; adjacent jurisdictions follow the same rules-version model.
| COUNTRY | BASE RATE | MECHANISM | REQUIRED PROOF |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malta | 18 % (12 % short charter) | Effective use & enjoyment in EU waters, per period | Positional log per charter / lease instalment |
| France | 20 % | Actual time outside EU territorial waters (post-2020; flat 50 % allowance abolished) | AIS/GPS records supporting the exclusion, per charter |
| Italy | 22 % | Actual use outside EU waters (post-2020; flat-rate presumptions ended) | Positional evidence + supporting declarations |
| Greece | 24 % → 12 % | Reduced rate for qualifying charters, conditions apply | Itinerary & territorial-presence records |
| Cyprus | 19 % | Leasing taxed on effective EU-waters use | Positional evidence per lease period |
| Croatia | 13 % | Reduced rate on charter services | Charter records incl. territorial presence |
Rates indicative per the current rules version; each file cites the version applied.
06 — Who it's for
Run the calculation across a portfolio of vessels, keep every file reproducible, and hand the authority a sealed dossier — not a spreadsheet.
Deliver the positional file your fiscal advisor needs at the end of every charter — from data the vessel already records.
Standardise the evidence behind every representation mandate, with jurisdiction-correct mechanisms applied and cited per file.
Not for: owners, charterers, or brokers.
07 — Trust & confidentiality
All data processed and stored within the European Union.
Each firm's vessels, tracks and files are segregated at tenant level.
WakeProofs computes and documents; review and sign-off remain with the professional — including AI-extracted data.
Developed with a fiscal design partner against golden test cases per jurisdiction.
08 — Get started
A 30-minute session with a real track, a scanned document and your jurisdiction's rules version.