North Carolina Personal Property Tax

[cmpizza]

Be advised that you may be charged a personal property tax if your boat is in North Carolina during the month of January. The marina where I wintered my boat last year did the required January inventory and informed the state that I was renting a slip - the state sent me a bill with a 10% penalty for not declaring. The boat was in a slip in Carolina Beach and the tax was over $300 on a boat valued at $38K. This could add up to real money on a higher end boat.


You can get the details on the tax at the New Hanover County Tax Office web page.



Ouch!!!

[Pelican_38]

I think more specifically, if your boat is there on 1 January.

I am having work done in NC and they may not be done by 1 Jan. I called the tax office and they confirmed what the poster above said.

[Shrew]

I suspect you were sent a bill because you've signed a seasonal or long-term slip contract. It is my understanding that you are transient unless you are in the state of NC for more than 90 days.

Is your slip contract for greater than 90 days? If so, you owe the use tax. There is no indication that this has anything to do with January 1 specifically.

[Pelican_38]

The person I spoke to in the tax assessors office said all marina's and storage facilities are required to provide a list of boats in their yard on 1 Jan. A yard manager told me his interpretation was "any boat regularly stored and used" in the county, but the folks in the tax office didn't mention that specifically.

Bills are sent out in the summer based on the NC taxable property as of 1 Jan - which she called the assessment date. She said there was a penalty if you did not declare your personal property. I was also told each county has the authority to determine how personal property tax is managed, but most counties follow a similar process.

I live in Virginia in Northumberland County, and all that seemed to be similar to my experience here (if you buy a boat on 2 Jan 2020, you don't owe the county's personal property tax that year). Since those rules sound similar I assumed I was getting the correct info.

[Sam8989]

Almost every state taxes boats either with a one time sales tax or with an annual personal property tax. NC is no different and they are not singling you out. Also, it's more likely that the state sent representatives to the marina to see what boats are there permanently or long term than the marina sending them information.

Before you get too excited, check with the NC law.

[Miguelj1957]

I purchased a boat 7 years ago in FL that is a USCG documented vessel, registered in FL and currently docked in FL. It’s never been in NC. I’ve been a resident of NC for the last 3 years and recently received a letter requesting property tax on my boat that is still in FL. They must have gotten my vessel documentation information from the USCG through the NC-FWC. I don’t think this a valid tax request any thoughts?

[SailingHarmonie]

Originally Posted by Miguelj1957

I purchased a boat 7 years ago in FL that is a USCG documented vessel, registered in FL and currently docked in FL. It’s never been in NC. I’ve been a resident of NC for the last 3 years and recently received a letter requesting property tax on my boat that is still in FL. They must have gotten my vessel documentation information from the USCG through the NC-FWC. I don’t think this a valid tax request any thoughts?

You are correct. State tax officials routinely troll USCG documentation data for boats that MIGHT owe taxes.

If your boat has never been in NC they can not tax it. A state can not tax property that is not in that state, no matter WHAT the address of the owner.

You can dispute it and show documentation of where the boat is kept. We have to do this every few years when California tries to shakes us down for taxes we do not owe simply because our hailing port is in California but the boat has never been there.

If Florida had a personnel property tax (which they do not) they could collect from you legally.