PIERFECT

I was told by a dealer recently that if I document our new 33' Outlaw and pick it up from the dealer that there would be no sales tax. The state and county, MN and Florida, tell me they still want it registered and they want their money - 6% if registered in Florida and on top of that Mn. wants the other 1/2% to equal out to the 6.5% Mn. tax. Does anyone really know the score out there? I'm surprised that I don't here boaters talk more about sales tax since it is quite a large number on a big ticket boat.

Bill and Bev

Allan4

IF you put numbers on a boat, you need to pay sales tax. Just like buying a used car. The BMV collects the sales tax. Only way around it is to go un registered. NOt such a hot idea, but you may be able to get by for a while. I assume most states work on a similiar level as Ohio, not an expert though. I.E., Kentucky does it all goofy-like...imagine that

Playn

You pay the tax in the location it is registered in.

A little OT here but I purchased a vehicle, registered it (payed tax) and then just wanted to transfer title to one of my businesses but the state forces me to pay tax on the fair market value again because there is no exemtions for corporations only between spouses. So the state gets double the tax (yet still has no money) Oh well, live and learn

CigDaze

Playn,
Couldn't you just sell it to your corporation for like 10 bucks? Just asking, because I did that with my dad one time. He wanted to give me a vehicle but we found out about the tax issue. So I had him sell it to me for $1.00

A month after retitling and registering it we received an affidavit to fill out indicating that the vehicle did, indeed, sell for only $1.00. We filled it out and that's it!(I found out that you automatically receive one of those affadavits if the selling price is off by more than 25% of fair market value).

No problem, we filled out the form and paid %0.07 tax.

Dock Holiday

Here in North Carolina there is a 3%, max $1500.00 sales tax on boats. I just paid it.

I am documenting my boat, but by law you are still suppose to pay personal property taxes. There are people hiding their boats to get around this, but if you get caught they can back charge you plus interest.

It is deductable, so you might as well stay within the law in my opinion.

cobra marty

I like that max. tax idea. There is no way around it unless you live and boat in a no tax state. A guy on the chesapeake has a 40' skater, lives and works in DE where there is no tax but the boat is on a lift on the chesapeake in MD and MD watched his boat and saw it there for some time and told him he had to regist. it in that state b/c the boat was there even though he lived in DE. the tax bill and penilties was $30,000!!! He paid it instead of having them confiscate it. Now he is legit and has numbers on it.

seanclong

I figure if you're gonna' spend the big $$$ on a boat you might as well expect to add the tax in to the total cost and just eat it. There are so many other expenses that add up, there's no reason not to be legit. As shown in the previous post, it could come back and bite you in the butt -- BIG TIME!!!! Now quit worrying and get out there and have fun!!!!

CigDaze

Ya, but it kind of sucks when the tax man legally steals your new whipple upgrade!

hp500efi

If only we didn't have to pay the tax man, we would all have 50' Outerlimits

Playn

I was wondering that too. They did mention the "fair market value" thing though..but I agree with you..maybe the company just got one heluva deal