Ideal state for documentation

[ssanzone]

it does make you head spin a bit.

the person who said 'your hailing port makes a difference' had no idea why it made a difference just relaying something he had heard.

it took this thread to refine my googling to get the info i have which is, clearly, very incomplete!

while there is no residential residency requirement for USCG registration, it isnt clear to me if the tax burden can be applied by both the hailing port state and home state.

there is a precedence regarding revenue... which is that my business is incorporated in MA but when doing project work in another state and recognizing revenue from that state, the tax burden is shared. it is tax lay originally intended for professional athletes... if they get paid a million per game and that game is in cali, cali levies the tax on the 1M regardless of where the athlete lives / files taxes.

**shrugs** who can keep track of all this stuff?

-steve

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by MarkSF

California doesn't see to agree with you :

California Use Tax Information - State Board of Equalization

when you actually call them on telephone and converse with a reallive human being, that real live human being will explain to you in english, spopanish, or whatever language you wish exactly what that tax is. it was splained to me as a SALES TAX ONLY exactly as you pay on your car title when you first title a new car in kali, you paay a helathy sales tax. is what EQUALIZATION is. SALES tax. call em and find out for yourself..i did.

hailng port makes no difference. you dont even have to live there. ypou dono thave to receive mail there. you decide where ypour hailing port iss and it doesnt matter. you change it when you wish to do so. for 85 usd...

[hellosailor]

zeehag, dmv and tax department folks on the phone have no real legal authority or standing when they give you their opinion. As opposed to an official ruling from their department. A lot of folks have gotten into trouble this way and the response they hear is "Well, they shouldn't have told you that they were wrong now pay this." We could debate that endlessly but that's the way it happens, all over the world.
That's also why state traffic codes are usually sold with a big "Certified" stamp inside them, and why you may need to actually bring a such certified copy to a traffic court if you are wrongfully issued a ticket. The bozo/magistrate/hearing officer doesn't care what who says, it has to be provided in writing, certified official and correct, or they won't listen to it. And unlike Judge Judy, they won't go look it up on their own, either.

Steve-
The one thing you do not want to touch is a Delaware hailing port, unless you've good professional counsel. Anyplace in the northeast, the taxmen walk the docks and if they see "Delaware" you'll get a letter telling you to prove it, or pay up. That scam got way too popular way too long ago.

[Arthur Garfield]

I recall recent story about the current US Sec of State,John Kerry.
He bought a $ 5 mil yacht and keeps it in Rhode Island because he could legally avoid taxes in ALL ways even as he's a Ma. resident.R.I has special law for this.Only state in union that does this.

[ssanzone]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Steve-
The one thing you do not want to touch is a Delaware hailing port, unless you've good professional counsel. Anyplace in the northeast, the taxmen walk the docks and if they see "Delaware" you'll get a letter telling you to prove it, or pay up. That scam got way too popular way too long ago.

are you suggesting i buy another property in delaware? lol.

i have decided on boston as my hailing port and owner address as my primary residence (vermont) where i pay my personal taxes from.

eventually, by which i mean not soon enough, i will sail from san fran to boston.

AND there is that whole 'where your heart is' which is certainly boston.

with boston only .25% higher than vermont, and my tax attorney telling me 'this is one of those times you play it safe' the decision has kinda been made for me.

-steve

[Randyonr3]

growing up in California I was and am aware of most of the loop-holes avalable in the state when it comes to boat ownership and the hows and whys.
We purchased our and had it delivered to Coos Bay Oergon .. took out a PO box in the marina and kept it there for "4" months befor entering California thus avoiding the sales tax..
Property tax is figured on the first day of the first month of the year based on the marina reports of where you keep the boat. if your boat is NOT in the marina on the "1st" of january, you pay NO property tax but your marina needs to know you are out of the area. Around here its called a "tax dance" by many cruisers...
You can leave around Christmas and return in mid January and avoid the property tax.
The property tax is based on 1% of the boats value.. some like alameda county will charge a property tax for the county and another tax for the city you are in.. I hear that Berkeley is one of those that charge double.. one for the county property tax and another for the city ground under your boat.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by ssanzone

are you suggesting i buy another property in delaware? lol.

i have decided on boston as my hailing port and owner address as my primary residence (vermont) where i pay my personal taxes from.

eventually, by which i mean not soon enough, i will sail from san fran to boston.

AND there is that whole 'where your heart is' which is certainly boston.

with boston only .25% higher than vermont, and my tax attorney telling me 'this is one of those times you play it safe' the decision has kinda been made for me.

-steve

The issue with Deleware is that far too many people buy a $500 "corporation" and then skip the taxes even if they really owe them. Especially in the nearby states, the tax authorities caught on a long time ago and when they see Deleware on the transom they take the time to verify if you've paid taxes and are likely to send you a bill and make you prove that you don't owe it. Unless this is a multimillion dollar boat where you are going to save tens of thousands of dollars, for the average cruiser it won't save you much if you set it up legitimately and pay someone to do all the paperwork.

Assuming you do everything legitimately, it's kind of like painting a sports car red with flames going down the side. In principal you've done nothing wrong but you can expect to get pulled over more often than if you went with a nondescript gray paintjob.

[ssanzone]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

Assuming you do everything legitimately, it's kind of like painting a sports car red with flames going down the side.

NOW you put this idea in my head? i just finished spraying her flag blue.

[GinoDelG]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

not required to register a documented boat in MA

Where did you get this information?

[hellosailor]

"if your boat is NOT in the marina on the "1st" of january, you pay NO property tax but your marina needs to know you are out of the area. "
That might be working, but be warned that some east coast tax authorities are wise to those games. IIRC someone mentioned a couple of years ago that the tax authorities in DC or NC were using marina contracts as a tax basis. If you contracted for the annual rate at a marina, the marina reported the annual contract and the tax men deemed that proof of tax basis. If you wanted to avoid the tax--you'd have to pay for eleven months at the monthly rate, so similar repeated higher short term rates.
So they may sometimes be slow, but they ain't stupid. And then, if they pick up on a basis like that and go back over older records...penalties, fines, interest all get added in.
"Tax dance" sounds like what happens when the elephants dance: Both the mice and the natives get nervous, for good reason.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by GinoDelG

Where did you get this information?

off the MA website

http://www.mass.gov/eea/grants-and-t...otorboats.html