Tax credit: what it is and how to take advantage of it to pay less for a new boat

Tax credit: also for 2025 the recreational boating sector in ZES (Special Economic Zones) areas will be eligible for significant tax deductions for the ‘purchase of new boats and infrastructure. Let’s see how the tax credit works, what the requirements are and how much you can save by buying a new boat.

TAX CREDIT: WHAT IT IS

Tax credit is a tax deduction, which facilitates the purchase of goods or services that meet certain requirements. Boats and catamarans, for rental companies, leases, nautical schools, and dive centers, are an example of an asset that can be purchased with tax credit.

The Budget Law 2025, with a planned allocation of 2.2 billion euros, provides for a tax credit in favor of investments in SEZs (Special Economic Zones) made by economic operators based in the regions of Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Puglia, Sardinia and Sicily. starting on 1/01/2025 and ending on 11/15/2025.

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It should be mentioned that since this is a depleted fund, the credit is apportioned according to the number of applicants: if there are a lot of applications, the ‘slice’ of tax credit percentage may decrease.

HOW MUCH YOU CAN SAVE BY BUYING BOAT WITH TAX CREDIT

Let’s take an example: the acquiring company that buys a boat that has a cost of 500 thousand euros, and meets all the criteria stipulated in the rule, will get a tax credit equal to 50 percent of the purchase price and, therefore, will be able to deduct the sum of 250 thousand euros from the taxes due.

The credits acquired, are recovered as a credit offset of F24 payments for any type of tax e.g. VAT, IRPEF, INPS contributions, INAIL, Chamber of Commerce fees, IRAP, regional and municipal surtaxes etc…

WHAT REQUIREMENTS TO QUALIFY FOR THE TAX CREDIT

Monohulls, catamarans or dinghies for mooring assistance, meet the category regulatory requirements by being equivalent to “plant equipment and machinery and assets that remain in the enterprise for several years, which are used in the production process of the enterprise.”

WHICH BOATS ARE ELIGIBLE FOR THE TAX CREDIT

The agency points out that recreational boating is that defined by the Boating Code as ” exercised, for exclusively lusory or even commercial purposes” and enterprises of any legal form and size are eligible for the tax credit for:

• vessels subject to charter or lease contracts
• Vessels used for the professional teaching of recreational boating
• the units for scuba diving centers
• the mooring assistance units.
• vessels used for itinerant food and beverage serving

Also included in the tax incentive is the purchase of the boat using leasing/leasing.

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CREDIT RATES IN 2025

Credit for SEZ areas comes in different measures, which vary depending on the region where the company making the investment is based. Here is an updated table.

HOW TO BUY BOAT WITH TAX CREDIT

To qualify for the tax credit on the purchase of a new boat in 2025, the investment must meet certain requirements:

• Minimum investment of 200,000 euros, documented in the period from January 1 to November 15, 2025
• Investment for activities in SEZ area: Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Apulia, Sardinia Sicily
• Charter and rental boats, must be part of an organization rooted in the eligible territory.
• Online application to be submitted from March 31 to May 30, 2025
• By December 2, 2025: Submission of documentation certifying the implementation of investments.
• Expenditures must be certified by a certified public accountant or auditing firm.
• Also eligible are capital real estate and vessels intended for productive activities, with the constraint that their value does not exceed 50 percent of the total investment.

ADVANTAGES FOR THE SHIPOWNER (AND RESPONSIBILITIES)

Thus, with the 2025 tax credit in the ZES areas, it is possible to obtain important benefits for recreational boating by getting tax deductions for the purchase of boats and attached real estate.

For more information, related to the role of the shipowner and the advantages in the various nuances of chartering/leasing/management contracting for boats purchased with tax credit, please refer to Internal Revenue Service Circular 32 and subsequent clarifications on the role of the shipowner in Circular 33, and refer to a specialized dealer/advisor.

In any case, simplifying, with the chartering/leasing contract the shipowner makes the vessel (the purchase of which falls under the tax credit) available to a different party (the user). In this case, since the chartering/leasing of the vessel falls between within the “normal” scope of a shipowner’s business activity, even if – in fact – it is not the shipowner who uses the vessel, but a different party (the user, precisely) this does not break the functional link (in other words, the vessel still remains subservient to the productive activity for which it was purchased) and, therefore, the shipowner can also benefit from the tax credit, if all the other requirements are also met.

In principle, any contract for the provision of the property by the owner to the user of the vessel is permissible; what makes the difference are the contractual provisions governing the risks and responsibilities of navigation.

If the risks and responsibilities remain with the shipowner, the “functional bond” does not disappear and the shipowner is entitled to the bonus.

Conversely, if the contract entered into is such that risks and responsibilities are transferred to the user, who, in fact, assumes the role of shipowner, the Agency believes that the subservience of the vessel to the commercial activity is lost and, therefore, the right to the tax credit, which is transferred to the user, is also lost, since the user has assumed the role of shipowner.