Where a new means of transport (car, boat, etc.) is purchased in another Member State, VAT must be paid in the Member State of registration of the means of transport, at the rate of VAT applied there.

A means of transport will be considered new where one of the following conditions is met:

• vessels and aircrafts were supplied less than 3 months from the date of first entry into service and motor land vehicles less than 6 months from the date of first entry into service;
• motor land vehicles have not travelled more than 6000 kilometres; vessels have not sailed more than 100 hours and aircrafts have not flown more than 40 hours.

This means that a car, for example 2 years old, but has only travelled for 4000 km is still a new car for VAT purposes. Similarly, a 4 months old car which has travelled 60000 km is still new for VAT purposes.