Exporting and Importing a Sailing Yacht into Australia
Jan 2024
Anthony@Berglas.org
These are personal notes for the paperwork of leaving Australia on a
private yacht and then returning. The important part is the
examples of the filled in forms, particularly the mighty N10 aka B650 when returning. Please let me know of any errors.
If you own the yacht when leaving, you should not pay any duty or GST,
otherwise this will cost 15% of the assessed value of the boat.
If you are just visiting Australia, then no duty should be payable unless the owner of the boat has an Australian passport.
If you get this wrong countries are quite happy to charge you duty
multiple times for the same boat, so if in doubt consult a
broker. But these notes should suffice to leave and then reenter
Australia on the same boat within a few years.
Leaving
In the beginning, there is the B319. You need to fill this out and send it to mandexqld@abf.gov.au to be given a client identification number. Then the B597.
Then comes the B333. It says it is the "Small Craft Arrival
Report" but do not be deceived, it is also for departure. You
list here what you are taking out so that you do not have to pay duty
when you bring it back in. In practice, they do not seem to worry
about minor discrepancies.
Then contact brisshipping@abf.gov.au to arrange departure (if leaving
from Brisbane or Gold Coast). They will want to see you actually
leave directly once they check you out so that you do not pick up extra
goods or people.
Finally, a day or so before leaving, fill up with fuel. You can
claim the duty back which was a painless process. There is a form. When you email it they tell you that you can do this via the web somehow, but actually they accept the form.
Returning
Long before you think about coming to Australia, contact
yachtreport@homeaffairs.gov.au. Big trouble if less than 96 hours
notice.
When you arrive, they want you to go straight to a quarantine dock, and
woe behold you if anyone steps off the boat other than to tie
off. That said, I know of one boat that hit bad weather on
passage and spent a night recovering off Tangalooma. Border force
was OK about that, but I would not push it.
Upon entry you will be met by immigration and biosecurity.
Biosecurity will charge over $500 to inspect your boat if everything is
in order. Have all hatches openable for inspection, any vaguely
suspect food displayed on the table, boat clean. No fresh food,
meat, no cooked food. Fish caught on passage is OK. No Rice
or any grain that can hold bugs like whole spices, ground spice is
OK. You will have to pay at least $50 for secure rubbish disposal
even if your rubbish is spotless. That is for 5kg, then about
$10/kg, so toss out that heavy rice before you arrive.
BTW do not throw uncooked prawn scraps overboard anywhere near Australia. They can carry nasty prawn diseases.
This process is fairly quick, and you are now free to roam The
Port. For Brisbane that includes the Gold Coast. For
Bundaberg just the river, but you can generally get special permission
to go to Brisbane, say.
Customs Broker
You are now supposed to employ a customs broker to "import" the boat
for a several hundred dollars, but you can insist on doing it yourself
for the simple case of no duty payable. Up until now, the
officials are forgiving, but you will only get a couple of attempts at
the N10 aka B650 before they
refuse. It is full of obscure codes, I got mine from another
yachtie, all I can say is that they seemed to work for the common case
of returning an Australian boat to Australia.
On the form, the "Invoice Total" = "Free On Board" + "Transport".
I think "Free On Board" needs to match the B333. (I put something for Transport just
because that was on the form I copied from, probably
unnecessary.) Beware that if you value the yacht too low, they
might possibly say that it is worth more now and charge you the
difference in duty. These forms must match the B333 you filled in
when leaving.
Once this is complete you need to ask for the Import number, which is
called the Declaration ID on the top right of the form (they give you
this number, leave it blank when submitting). It generally
starts with an "A", might be in the title of an email. (There are
a number of numbers each with a number of names to avoid
confusion.) You then need to contact imports@aff.co.au for them
to "process" it, and you will eventually be given an "Authority to
Deal" which I think means you are finished.
Crew
Beware of taking casual crew into any other country, as skipper you can
be totally responsible for them, like you were sailing a super yacht
with employees.
Entering Australia, I had a French crew whose passport had fallen
apart. Was perfectly valid, but there were a few tense minutes
while Australia phoned superiors to decide whether to accept it.
If not, I do not know what happens, maybe mandatory detention and then
I would have to pay an airfare back to France? Also contact
yachtreport@homeaffairs.gov.au with visa details before you sail so
they can confirm all is good.
In Fiji, my neighbour had a crew that just ran off their boat without
signing off properly. Fiji kept their boat for weeks and issued a
huge fine. In Fiji, always check your crew off the boat upon
entry, important to make them take their gear and spend a night
somewhere else. They can then come back on later.
Other countries may vary. Beware.
End