Costs buying out of state boat?

J

johnrmarshall22

New member
Long time wannabe here wanting to know what costs are involved when buying a boat out of state and bringing to CA. Which state's sale tax do I pay? Any tips for reducing these costs? Thank in advance and hope to be joining, at least in spirit, the next Delta Cruise as room allows and if deal happens! :)
 
johnrmarshall22":2r7ci7np said:
Long time wannabe here wanting to know what costs are involved when buying a boat out of state and bringing to CA. Which state's sale tax do I pay? Any tips for reducing these costs? Thank in advance and hope to be joining, at least in spirit, the next Delta Cruise as room allows and if deal happens! :)
Click to expand...

Welcome!
You'll have to pay sales tax in the state you plan to use and thus register the boat. No legal way around this and may as well avoid potential headache.

I purchased my boat in NY, paid MA sales tax where I live and boat.

What buggy?
 
Well, we bought Journey On in Washington and registered it in California. If you have some proof of out of state residence, say a drivers license, you do not have to pay any fees to Washington. A dealer would know this, a private party doesn't collect sales tax.

Ah, now you want to register the boat in California? Calif collects a use tax, based on the bill of sale you must present to them. Whatever it says on that price of paper is on what you pay sales/use tax.

How about Oregon? No sales tax? Well you have to prove residence: drivers license or other piece of paper. I didn't want to go through the trouble.

Now, about property tax. You have it registered in some state that doesn't collect property tax on boats? Or you keep the out of state registration and hope you can duck Calif property tax? If you keep your boat in a marina, tax officials troll marinas for out of state boats in Calif marinas. So store it on a trailer at home.

And if it gets on any county tax roll, if you move it out of county make sure the tax collector/assessor knows that. They'll keep sending you a tax bill and if you don't pay it, they'll put a lien on your boat. Took Judy a couple of years (I kid you not) to get LA county to admit we left LA (and the USA.) They are determined and put deniability at the top of the list. Judy dealt with a different person each time, and they never got the papers we sent (registered, FAXed, etc.) Be careful.

All the above said, just buy the best boat you can, wherever it is, and deal with Calif when you move it here.

Good luck, Boris
 
What Boris says is pretty much how it is. My old boat was registered in Calif. and eventhough it was parked at our Washington house still had to pay the county until it was sold or liscensed in Washington and the state sent the county proof it was no longer registered in the state. It took many letters to the county and then proof of sale finally before they would take it off their tax rolls. Our county cruises the storage lots for this very thing.. It is added to your property taxes as a supplimental, it comes out to a couple hundred a year above and beyond your license fee.

My Washington tagged boat occasioally comes to Calif. and parked in a very discreet location
 
As a former CA resident, I had several tax hassles with LA county and then Orange county. When I purchased my C-Dory I lived in LA county and paid their property tax based on the purchase price.

I moved the boat to a marina in Orange county and come Jan Orange county taxed the boat. I also received a tax bill from LA county! I sent them paperwork to prove the removal from LA to Orange county. They will only accept the paid tax bill from another county to prove removal. It took several letters and multiple copies.

Then I moved to Ventura county. Same drill, only now both LA and Orange counties were sending tax bills. Multiple copies of the paid Ventura tax bill were sent to LA and Orange.

I finally moved to WA and paid tax to WA. In WA the tax is paid yearly with the registration to the state. Again I had to send multiple copies to all three CA counties.

California taxes boats on their location on Jan 1. If you have an out of state boat in CA on Jan 1, they will tax you! Do not have your boat in a marina and do not pay rent on a marina or storage location in CA on Jan 1 or you WILL get a tax bill from the county.

Note that in CA the taxing county is not where you live, it is where you keep the boat! Some CA counties are very aggressive in assessing and billing, forever! Keep all tax bills, and canceled checks. Be sure that your check has the tax bill number and the boat registration number on the check.
 
Washington State is changing it's tax laws a bit- and not all out of state residensts are exempt from Washington Sales Tax. California still is, but Idaho is not. Beginning July 1, 2011 Candian residents will be forced to pay Washington State Sales Tax on vehilce purchased here.

The Stae of Washington is very good at discouraging commerce, and lately a lot of our sales are to Candian buyers. I expect that to go away once they have to pay anywhere from 8 to 10 per cent tax.
 
Well, I also bought a truck in Washington and re-registered it in Calif. That was a scene. However the sales tax I paid in Wash was credited in Calif against the use tax. I assume other states work the same way.

Boris
 
Don't know, but if you by a boat and it is on a trailer, the combined price would be more than if you just bought the boat. So price out the boat and trailer separate, and maybe the trailer is a real dandy and the boat, not so much. Just sayin'......

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
I also bought out of state and brought to California. There is a cost calculator on the dmv website to register an out of state boat in california. Just make sure you have a clear title.
 
For what it is worth, Rhode Island permits the registration of boats by non-Residents and there is no sales tax. You must also pay a one-time outboard motor registration fee of $20. We bought our C-Dory in New York but registered it in RI since it (and we) spend more than 6 months there (and the rest in northern NY).
Presumably, the non-resident spends some time (90 days) in RI with the boat.
A lot of folks with trailers, particularly heavy duty trailers, register their trailers in the state of Maine through a broker. Maine is less expensive than most states. I have not tried that (even though we have 8 trailers) but there is plenty of info on it if you Google it (it is popular with the race car and snowmobile crowd).
 
I have owned boats in Calif. most of my life. There is a way if you are not a California resident, and keep the boat out of state for 6 months (when I last checked) to avoid sales tax. For example a friend whose residence is in Arizona, purchased a boat in Florida, and had it shipped to Enseneda Mexico, where it has stayed for 6 months. He took delivary out of Calif. and kept the boat out of the state for 6 months. When he brings the boat into San Diego County he will have to pay personal Property tax on that boat according to what the county appraiser says it is worth. The appeals process is to the county appraiser--and you have a bias against you.

I got caught a few years ago--had purchased the C Dory 25, in New Jersey (from a private party) and kept it out of the state, I thought for the 6 months--however, it was a couple of days shy, because of the change of the law from a year to 6 months out of the state. So I paid the 8% calif. Sales tax based on the bill of sale. However Orange County CA, wanted personal property tax (the boat was in a storage yard) based on their value, not what I paid for it. There was a minor compromise, but I paid 90% of what they wanted--and their value was twice what I paid for the boat.

I had a Cal 46, which I had paid sales tax on in Calif. In a slip in Sequim. At that time I was a Florida Resident, and had to prove to the state of Washington that I had paid California Sales tax. If the boat was in Washington more than 3 months, I had to pay a tax to the state of Washington of about $300--no matter that I was not a resident. Things seem a bit different currently; See:
http://dor.wa.gov/docs/Pubs/WatercraftVesselTax/BoatBroc.pdf

This seems to mostly involve boats more than 30 feet in length where an exemption from use tax is given.

If you take a boat out of Calif, be sure that you document where it is by registration of the boat in another state or country. If it remains home ported or registered in Calif. They will come after you for yearly personal property taxes.
 
Montana has some unique boat licensing requirements. - one-time registration fee for all motorboats, motorized pontoons, and sailboats at least 19 feet in length or longer - cost is $295.50. That and a $10 registration fee. No yearly fees after that at all. The boater must get a validation sticker every three years, but that is free.

Canoes are not licensed, but if you run a motor, then it is assessed the one time fee, which in the case of a 19' Grumman canoe is $295.50, which makes no sense whatsoever. Boats registered in other states are exempt as long as the boat is not kept for more than 90 days in Montana.
John
 
If you fish commercially in Calif then your vessel is not subject to sales tax. Same rules apply to the commercial fishing gear. We need commercial boats as soon as the harbor gets fixed.

What about the cost of bringing it home! I have some friends who have their 22 c dory for sale and are buying a parker off the east coast. Having it shipped out west is one hugh bill. Towing it home will take days. Gas prices are just about all time high. I see no inexpensive way to get it home. My friends are saying that the deal is sweet enough to justify the cost.
 
And watch out for the online shipping quotes you see on yachtworld and other sites. They are wildly inaccurate, sometimes being half of what it will actually cost to get the boat cross country.

We removed that function from our yachtworld site because the information was so misleading.
 
Back
Top