Quote:
Originally Posted by guyver
Thanks for your reply. I live on Lake Erie and was hoping to spend 2 or 3 months every summer coming home and sailing the Great Lakes. I guess the Canadian HST pretty much takes that option off of the table.
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We met a lot of sailors from
Quebec who live in the province, but keep their boats on lake Champlain in
New York. They just drive down and sail there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by guyver
Can you explain the option of registering the boat in a different country? Does this not cause issues when travelling with a Canadian passport? Would you still fly a Canadian flag? Sorry about all of the questions but I really have no idea on how this works.
Guy
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It would be a "flag of convenience". The boat would be registered in a place that does not levy boat taxes or duty.
If a boat is not registered in Canada, the stay of the boat is limited to, if I remember correctly, 6 months [or longer if undergoing
repairs in an approved facility]. You can always call Transport Canada to find out the maximum tax- and duty-free stay for a foreign pleasure boat.
As long as the boat's papers are in order, including
insurance and a paper showing that you're the
captain, there should be no problems at the border.
More detail on a country of convenience
registration: for a British ensign (e.g. Caymans,
BVI,
Bermuda, Isle of Man, etc.) you would have to setup a company . The boat would be registered to this company. The boat would fly the flag of the country (and have the home port) of company
registration. Then the co. authorises you to be the
captain of your boat. (N.B. If you have a British (or Commonwealth) or European passport, you can skip the company formation and register personally).
Similar for Delaware,
Seychelles, or
Panama registration.
In other jurisdictions, such as Sierra Leone, or Marshall Island the requirements are diffirent and in all cases it would be best for you to refer to the registration body of the actual jurisdiction for info.
Expenses:
One time: company setup (including some lawer fees) - varies A LOT from country to country. In the BVIs expect about $2500.
Yearly:
Company
maintenance fees around $500-$1000.
Most popular countries of registration for pleasure yachts that we've seen (not statistical and in no particular order):
*
Bermuda
*
Cayman Islands
*
BVI
* Sheyshelles
*
Panama
* Marshall Island
*
Gibraltar
* Delaware, US
* Luxemburg - must be over 63'
* Guernsey or Jersey (for bigger yachts)
*
Malta - beware, they have a weird
ownership scheme to avoid the taxes
If you do decide to register in one of british territories, your boat would be entitled to British protection, including help of British
navy, embassies, etc.
There is really to much info to convey but if you decide to go this
route a
Google search 'yacht registration XXX' is a good place to continue.
P.S. Just a note of experience: we're flying a Canadian flag. We found that in a new place people behave friendlier towards us and boats with British ensign than other
flags. But maybe it was our ego
Canadian flag is fairly rare... in the middle of cruising season: "did you hear? there was another Canadian boat here two weeks ago!"