Which points to these not being well-considered deeply researched purchases. So I can see instagram playing a pretty big role.
I don't know any details but always wonder about this... an easy-to-move super-expensive asset, physically in Cannes but legally in the Bahamas... there must be many schemes.
But....if you keep buying loads of cars from Lamborghini, eventually you will end up on a list of people who get to put a deposit for brand new cars that haven't even been announced yet. And if you get an opportunity to do that, then you do that. Because then you get to buy cars like the Centenario, like the Reventon, like the Veneno - and you can be 100% certain that those will go only up in price regardless of what their sticker price is.
Come to think of it I recall there being a (gender neutral!) quote that provides sound financial advice regarding all three...
So you can dream of being able to drop X million to own a dream of being on a yacht all the time. Then you realize you're not on it all the time, because you have a life, and whether you're on it or not you're dropping close to X million a year to keep the crew on hand and keep the yacht ready, and if you want to offset that, you're now running a yacht charter business.
No.
I suppose it's possible to claim yacht expenses as business expenses for things like entertaining clients, etc, and in some cases that might be quite legitimate. But I don't think people get away with nearly as much tax avoidance shenanigans as most people think - The tax man isn't that stupid and trying to claim that sort of use for luxury products is just asking for an audit.
It might be different for super-yachts with really high yearly costs, but for the under 100 ft category of pleasure yachts that cost 10-30k per year upkeep I don't think the net benefit would be worth the complexity. At least for those _trying_ to play honestly. I'm pretty sure every lawyer/dentist/doctor etc that owns one asks their accountant the same type of question, but I don't believe most bother setting it up like that.
source: I own a pleasure craft/yacht big enough to charter regularly to offset the ownership costs, but don't do it on the advice of my accountant.
It all depends on how tangled a web you weave.
For example, this case only came to light due to a leak via Paradise Papers: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-lewis-hamilton-avoided-p...
IIRC it was drag racers or something similar.
IE: the IRS is probably into such schemes and taxes are generally lower.
Not so in a lot of EU countries.
I doubt yachts are given much thought by the German or Austrian tax authorities.
I have lived in Florida around boats all of my life. There are quite a few yachts 55' and longer that have a legal entity registered on Sunbiz (http://search.sunbiz.org/Inquiry/CorporationSearch/ByName) and a sign that says they are available for charter. This sign never comes out of storage.