This is according to Commissioner of Customs Wade Smith who was speaking on radio station, ZBVI recently.

Smith said his department has been conducting several inspections at various marinas to ensure all vessels present have the legal right to operate in the territory.

He said the boats discovered did not meet the required criteria by Customs.

“To have status in the Virgin Islands, a vessel must be fully imported (duty paid), temporarily imported ($200) per year, or in possession of a commercial recreational vessel license,” Smith explained.

“These vessels [that were inspected in December] had neither, which resulted in substantial revenue loss. Customs has the responsibility for border control, and we are responsible for the movement of vessels entering and leaving the territory. In layman’s terms, it equates to the police seizing a vehicle or scooter for operating on the public roads unlicensed and uninsured,” the commissioner added.

“We have also fined a number of companies who were operating without licenses, even after they have been written to and told not to charter specific vessels, our instructions were totally disregarded. We have recently fined a charter company ($20,000) for smuggling in a replacement engine for a vessel in their fleet,” he further said.

Smith noted other charter companies have been fined for smuggling various equipment into the territory. He said this happens when charter vessels go directly to the marinas before clearing Customs and Immigration.

“This very same company was fined 95,000 a couple of years ago for chartering 19 unlicensed vessels. These charter companies have been issuing cruising permits in contravention of the legislation and through our post-audit functions we have recovered thousands of dollars,” Smith continued.

The Commissioner also revealed that through surveillance at the marinas, his officers have uncovered that many boat captains lie about charters to avoid paying cruising permit taxes. However, Smith said, when guests arrive, they present the charter contracts. He described it as a blatant attempt to evade taxes.

Smith said the deceit did not stop at evading cruising permit taxes. He said operations have discovered that yachts are being sold without Custom’s knowledge.

“Only as a result of these operations were we able to identify a number of sales in which the bill of sale reflected a nominal figure of $1 as a transfer fee. A figure which is not acceptable as a transaction value for Customs purposes for evaluation and revenue collection,” Smith said.

“Our compliance operations at the marinas have resulted in over $100,000 in fines, approximately $40,000 in the recovery of duty and that is dating back for the last six weeks. In addition, it is important to note that two violators were fined $20,000 each for obstructing the officers in the execution of their duties,” the Commissioner added.

Smith said during the peak season, several charter boats, specifically water taxis were grounded until they received commercial recreational vessel licenses.