The reform of a tax on recreational boats (TAEMUP) included in the French parliament’s 2026 Finance Bill fails to achieve its objectives and will be detrimental for both small boaters and the marine industry.
That’s the warning from the French Nautical and Boating Confederation (CNP) and the French Federation of Nautical Industries (FIN).
The organisations state that the principles of the reform were simplification and environmental sustainability, but neither of these are met with the reform in its current state.
The reform is scheduled to come into effect on January 1 2027 with the organisations stating it will instead be more complex for boaters than the previous system and will destabilise the boat sales market.
This is an unfair, opaque, and detrimental reform for both small boaters and the nautical economy.
Yves Lyon Caen and Jean-Paul Chapeleau
In addition, the environmental sustainability it purports to achieve by encouraging the adoption of alternative engines is meaningless, since the alternative engines do not exist.
“This is an unfair, opaque, and detrimental reform for both small boaters and the nautical economy, and it must be rewritten through consultation before its planned implementation in 2027,” stated Yves Lyon Caen, president of the CNP, and Jean-Paul Chapeleau, president of the FIN.
This tax is intended to benefit the environmental transition of the industry, which currently relies on 2% of its revenue to finance a small portion of the eco-organisation responsible for dismantling end-of-life vessels.
Negative impact on the marine industry
The new reforms will broaden the tax base by bringing categories of boats that were previously exempt into the tax system, targeting the most modest users such as family boating, recreational fishing and first-time boaters.
The burden on small boats will have a negative impact on these nautical activities, as well as on the economic activity of businesses in the nautical sector.
In addition, the reform introduces an engine scale indexed to the engine’s power in kW, with four tiers.
The Federation had proposed a scale with two engine categories and an exemption for the first 60kW in order to moderate the amount for new entrants and limit threshold effects.
Negative effects can be avoided
CNP and the FIN are now calling for genuine consultation to take place before the reform comes into effect.
The organisations point out that the National Assembly had rejected the bill in its first reading, before it was subsequently adopted by the Senate and that the negative effects can be avoided.
The tax system has not been revised for more than ten years.
TAEMUP applies to all owners of vessels or pleasure craft meeting certain criteria. The tax is partly based on engine power: expressed in kilowatts for personal watercraft (PWC) such as jet-skis, and in fiscal horsepower for registered vessels.
