NY CT Documentation vs registration
 

Anyone from NY or CT know if there is any tax benefit in documenting a boat with the CG. I've read the posts re. this issue in other state. I'm looking at a sales tax bill of around $10K if I go the regular route as usual of just going to dmv and getting reg. stickers. At $4.00 p/gal. 10K would help alot next summer. The boat qualifies as it is 36ft and over 8K lbs. Ive also looked into NH registration (no sales tax) as I have a summer house there and could probably prove the boat spends 50% of its time up there.

Re: NY CT Documentation vs registration
 

I am a NY resident with CG documentation. Sales tax is due DMV to get sticker. Numbers on boat not required by name and calling port are.

Someone correct me if I am off.

Re: NY CT Documentation vs registration
 

X-Cited is right. If you document, you must obtain a documentation "sticker" from the DMV if the boat is going to be in CT waters more than 30 or 60 days. I'm not sure about the amount of days, it might be as much as 90. I know of two local yachts which are in tax disputes with the state & they can't come back to CT waters until taxes are paid.

Re: NY CT Documentation vs registration
 

Bottom line with documentation is this. It is legal but you have to prove it first. So a marine patrol unit will stop you just because he does not see any numbers on a boat. Or at least the sticker for the tax. If the bill is only $10k it is insurance not to get stopped when you are doing something wrong. In my opinion.....

Re: NY CT Documentation vs registration
 

CT likes to send school kids in day sail programs out to write down all the names and berth numbers of boats that don't have CT on the stern. Then CT nails the boaters for sales tax. My friend could not believe his kid was used as a tax inspector and really blasted the town that did it. Don't know if anything has changed. Can you say big brother?

Re: NY CT Documentation vs registration
 

I have gone that route.

Been stopped in VT, NY, FL & Canada and only the CG Documentation Certificate was needed in all instance. I will add that I had the boat State registered in NH for the first year but let it laps. State registration was never brought up any time I was inspected once they saw the CG Documentation Certificate

Re: NY CT Documentation vs registration
 

Even if you document with the CG, you still need a registration sticker in NY if the boat is used there for a certain amount of time. You will have to pay the sales tax to get that sticker. You do not have to display the registration number, but you do have to display that sticker. The only way to legitimately get out of NY sales tax would be to have the boat registered in a different state and claim to only use it in NY for less than the specified amount of time. How thoroughly the local police or coastguard verify that the boat is registered elsewhere or used less than a certain amount of time in NY would determine your ability to lie about it. You know you will be stopped more often if you are not displaying reg. sticker/ numbers, so I'm sure you would know the answer to that pretty quick. Best thing would probably be to have a legit address in a state that doesn't require sales tax and really register the boat there. My boat came from Nevada and still had a current nevada reg and sticker for the first year it was here. I had some casual talks with the locals while on the water and they never even questioned the out of state registration. May have been different if the "stopped " me.