I was recently looking into this, and it is a little more complicated than that to keep everything legal. You need to show intent to use and store the boat out of state and you also need to take transfer of title and have the first use of the boat out of state.

Down the road, if you "change your mind" about keeping the boat out of state and decide to bring the boat to CA, you can apply for a sales tax exemption if you can prove your intent to use and store the boat out of state. This is done by using and storing the boat out of state for more than half of the first 180 days after delivery.

If you take delivery in Az you may need to pay Az sales tax, but I'm not sure about that..

We have a house in Havasu, so I will use that address for the delivery. I was told that a state has no claim as far as tax is concerned because when you document the vessel it technically becomes part of the Unites States Fleet. I hope this is right.:confused:

In Maryland you pay sales tax either way. You also have to pay a fee to run you documented vessel on the bay. Pretty much equal to normal registration. The numbers on the boat I bought were on the base of the bench seat in vinyl. They are gone as is the documentation. I turned it in. Did not need a secured ships mortgage due to good credit and saw no reason to encumber future buyers of this boat with all that. And there is a lot to documenting a boat properly if you do it yourself. I learned how to do it myself then chose not to.
Did you know the original purpose of this documentation process was to provider tax relief to those who would allow their boat to be taken for milatary purposes during times of war (WWII)? Now a days there is no tax relief and the goverment has every right to remove your boat from your front yard if they deem necessary. Not that they couldn't anyway but ****.... I not gonna give them that right with no tax relief. If you don't need the documentation for a ships morgage then it is not wise to have one, in my .02.

Did I sound opinionated on this?.............


BT :cool:

Who has the right answer? I have been told no sales tax, and now it sounds like maybe it won't be exempt. I have a place that will do it for $450.

Nort , I think I am in the same situation as you, I live in California, but it will be documented with a home port of Lake Havasu, AZ. Did you have to pay sales tax?

it does become part of the united states AND they can come get it if they want in times of war.

hmmmm , a cat with twin 50 calibers mounted on it would look pretty cool!!!!!!

http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/vdoc/faq.htm


heres the coast guard link that should answer all your questions.

in my opinion the is only one reason wether to document your boat or not.

MONEY!!

it was alot cheaper for me to document my boat then pay the sales tax.

in missouri the tax on a $50,000.00 boat comes to around $3750.00.

all you have to do is fill out a few forms , buy some vinyl lettering , and your done.

Yep, loto is right.. that is where I learned. But make sure you add in your states DNR (or whatever). They are the ones wanting the cash in MD, not the USCG. Grab your ankles and bark like a dog.... they get you either way!!!

BT :cool:

This is fun stuff, isn't it?? Nort answered a lot of questions for me when I was looking into this. The understanding that I have is that having your boat documented does not give you a sales tax exemption. However, if you have not paid sales tax, it is easier to have the boat documented instead of having it registered because a state will typically want to see proof that sales tax was paid in order to register the boat. When you have the boat documented I don't think that you need to show any payment of state sales tax.

Also, I'm not an expert but I would double check about Az sales tax. Have you considered an offshore delivery??

you can contact this lady and she will make you one out of wood for 35.00, helga botkin 513 542 4349, document it in kentucky or delaware

Phantom when we did my fathers blow boat we just made a plaque and bolted it in there. That was an acceptable way to do it.

Jon