I live in Illinois and have purchased boats in Wisconsin. Don't have to pay any sales tax in Wisconsin, but have to pay Illinois sales tax when you go to get boat registered in Illinois at Dept. of Conservation. Conservaation will ask for proof of sales tax paid before you can get sticker for boat. I had to go to Secy of State office to pay sales tax on boat and trailer before I could get plates for trailer and sticker for boat. Sorry...

Clean Sweep has it right for Illinois. In some states if the boat is Documented, state registration is not required. In Illinois if the boat is Federally Documented you do not have to display the registration numbers but you do have to show the registration sticker.

YOu have to pay tax

Tennessee requires proof of paying TN sales tax at the time of registration. You don't pay it in the state in which it was purchased.

There are some states that do not require sales tax to be paid in order to register a boat (Delaware comes to mind). I see big ticket boats with Delaware registrations all the time. Supposedly it is easy to create a LLC in Delaware and let the LLC own the boat and register it there. I know several who have done this.

All of my Tennessee boats are registered in Tennessee and sales tax was paid on them. It's usually better to play by the rules.

In the right State, playing by the rules means paying no sales tax. You just need to make sure you understand the rules. Tax evasion is not a nice thing to deal with.