Buy a Boat in One State - Having it Delivered from Another ?

[jwashmon]

Is it legal to have 2 parties in one state sell/buy a boat, while the boat is phyiscally in another? This all to avoid the tax rate in the state where the boat is.

[Kettlewell]

The answer is sort of no. My understanding is that the transaction is considered made where the boat is located, not where the people are located, though it is usually the same thing. Some states provide a window of time when you can move the boat out of state to avoid paying sales tax, while most states make an allowance for the tax paid in other states. Much depends on which states you are talking about as these rules vary hugely in all 50 of them, unfortunately.

[callmecrazy]

In my experience, when registering a boat, the physical location of the boat is irrelevant. The boat does not need to be present to sign over a title and go into the DMV for registration. For other situations I wouldn't know, but standard titling and reg, shouldn't be an issue at all.

The sales tax issue... you'll pay tax to the state where you do the registration. The "use" tax that most states require IF you keep your boat there too long is a different matter alltogether. If you don't move you're boat occasionally, the state it is located in will eventually want some money. But, that has nothing to do with getting it titled and registered.

[s/v Breakaway]

My experience has been different. When I bought my Cal 34, I lived in Northern Virginia, kept the boat in Maryland on the Chesapeake, and registered the boat in MD. That avoided the annual personal property tax in VA, but I paid the one-time tax in MD. I recently bought a boat located in ST THomas, USVI. I was advised that registration for a US citizen was easier in USVI, although I moved the boat to Tortola, BVI to moor it. All of this was done with the full knowledge of the appropriate govt agencies.

[Unicorn Dreams]

You can buy a boat in Fla. take boat to say Tx and register pay tax there, or you can pay the tax in Fl.

[MarkSF]

The California law is that the boat should be registered in the state where it's going to be principally operated.

[sck5]

I live in NY, bought a boat in Tennessee from a guy who lived in Virginia and had it delivered to Maryland. I only paid tax in MD because that is where the boat is kept. NY only gets tax if I bring the boat to NY and then they give credit for the tax paid in Maryland. Neither Tennessee nor Virginia ever knew about the transaction and nobody thought it was a good idea to tell them.