Calculating the amount of TAEMUP – Annual tax on maritime craft for personal use (formerly DAFN – Annual registration and navigation duty)

If you are the owner or co-owner of a pleasure boat intended for maritime navigation, you must, in certain cases, pay the annual tax on maritime craft for personal use. It has replaced the DAFN and the Passport Duty since 1 January 2022, a year of administrative revolution for boat registration. Bateau-immatriculation.com explains how this tax is calculated and offers you an automatic calculation system.

Do you live in France more than 6 months a year? Regardless of your vessel's country of registration or the area where you sail (except inland waters), you are liable for the annual registration and navigation duty

Introducing the new annual tax on maritime craft, or TAEMUP

Until 31 December 2021, boaters in the maritime zone flying the French flag paid the DAFN (Annual Registration and Navigation Duty). Those flying a foreign flag paid a Passport Duty of strictly the same amount. Introduced under the 2016 Blue Economy Act, the Passport Duty was intended in particular to compel French nationals who chose another flag to contribute to this tax.

On 1 January 2022, these two systems merged into one: the annual tax on maritime craft for personal use. The amount and the calculation system remain unchanged, as do the pleasure boats concerned.

Like the former duties, the new tax is used to fund the State and various maritime services:

• SNSM (National Sea Rescue Society)
• CELRL (Coastal and Lakeshore Conservancy)
• Collectivity of Corsica (tax on boats attached to Corsican territory with at least one berthing the previous year)

eco-organisations responsible for vessel recycling.n boat in Italy is comparable to the purchase of a vessel in a member country of the European Community, buying a boat registered in the territories of Livigno, Campione d'Italia, or in the Italian waters of Lake Lugano is not subject to the same formalities. In these specific cases, the purchase is considered an import of a boat from a country outside the European Community. If this is your case, I invite you to get in touch with our team before finalising your purchase.

Who pays the annual tax on maritime craft for personal use?

This tax, payable each year, only concerns pleasure craft in the maritime zone, depending on their means of propulsion, hull length and engine power.

Thus, the following owners and co-owners are concerned:

• motor boats and sailing boats with a hull length of more than 7 metres
• motor boats under 7 metres fitted with an engine with an administrative power rating above 22 CV
• personal watercraft (jet-skis, sea scooters, etc.) fitted with an engine with an actual power of 90 kW or more.

On the other hand, craft propelled solely by human power, belonging to an approved sports association or listed (historic monument or vessel of heritage interest) are exempt.

The introduction of the passport duty for foreign boats

In France, the Annual Registration and Navigation Duty (DAFN) is a tax that applies to a pleasure boat flying the French flag if:

• its hull length reaches or exceeds 7 metres, regardless of its engine power
• its hull length is under 7 metres but it is fitted with an engine of at least 22 administrative CV
• its actual power reaches or exceeds 90 kW for a personal watercraft (PWC).

In order to prevent the choice of a flag of convenience to escape this annual tax, as was long the case with the Belgian flag, the French State first introduced a Passport Duty for all other boat nationalities. Its amount was strictly identical to the DAFN! Since 1 January 2022, owners of vessels registered in France or abroad must pay the TAEMUP in the same way. The amount of the tax simply varies according to the hull length and the age of the pleasure vessel..

Where and when to pay the annual tax on maritime craft for personal use?

Like the former DAFN and Passport Duty, the annual tax on maritime craft for personal use, or TAEMUP, must be paid each year by 31 March at the latest. If you have just bought your boat new, you have two months after the registration date to pay the tax.

It is collected from boaters by the Directorate of Maritime Affairs (and no longer by the Customs Office as before).

From 2022, payment is made directly online and spontaneously. To log in, use the document received by post and your new e-payment number.

If you miss the deadline for paying the tax, a 5% surcharge will be applied and you will receive a collection notice, sent by the Directorate of Public Finances.

How is the DAFN or Annual registration and navigation duty on maritime craft for personal use calculated?

The tax is calculated in two parts because it takes into account the hull length and the engine power. The two are added together to obtain the total annual amount.

Calculation based on the hull length of the pleasure boat (sailing boat or motor boat)

Unlike the French flag and the Polish flag, which are valid for life, the Belgian flag is only valid for 5 years. You will therefore have to apply regularly for renewal for your boat or PWC.

Calculation based on the fiscal/administrative power of the pleasure boat engine

Calculate the fiscal/administrative power of my engine

Learn more about maritime districts

Calculation for personal watercraft (PWC) / jet ski

The age-based tax allowance: a benefit in decline

Until 2018, an age allowance was applied from 11 years after the manufacture of the pleasure boat, for boats built before 1 January 2008, on the two combined amounts (hull length and engine power). It was frozen on 1 January 2019. In short, if you benefit from it, your allowance band will never change.

The special case of Corsica: a specific allowance

A pleasure vessel registered in a Corsican port may benefit from an allowance, ranging from 10 to 50% of the tax, determined by the Collectivity of Corsica. However, it is subject to two criteria that you must absolutely meet together:

• the boat must be registered in a Corsican port on 1 January
• you must be able to provide proof of berthing in a Corsican port during the previous year, to be uploaded on the website when paying the tax.

To help you calculate the amount of your Annual tax on maritime craft for personal use, or TAEMUP, Bateau-immatriculation.com provides you with its simulation calculator. Simply enter the details of your pleasure craft to immediately obtain the annual total to be paid. You can then pay online on the dedicated government website.