Florida Taxes

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by pistarckle

I do not assume that everyone wants to commit a tax crime , I assume that you might like to pay less sales tax . There are over 1,300 exemptions to Florida sales tax . Personal property between individuals is exempt .

If you are a FL resident and buy a boat in FL and register and keep it in FL then there is no legal way to pay less sales tax. Boats are not exempt unless removed from the state, owned by a non citizen and similar, special circumstances. The tax is 6% (more or less if there are local option taxes added) on the sale price of the boat.

I'm not sure what you mean by personal property between individuals but in the case of a boat (or car or trailer for that matter) it doesn't matter if you bought from an individual or dealer, new or used. You have to pay the sales tax or show evidence that it was paid before you can get the registration.

Of course I may be wrong and if you can show me the Florida statute that has some exemption for a boat for personal use by a FL resident I would be most interested.

[zboss]

I think the reason this topic keeps coming up is because it is genuinely confusing.

For example...is it really necessary to have a Florida tax rule that you cannot "have planned to use the boat in florida before the purchase?" That's like maybe .2% of the total boats in Florida and is highly inefficient for the Florida jurisdictions to enforce... so why bother?

Any why is the limit that you need to have owned the boat for 6 months? Why not two, or seven?

Personally, I never really thought about spending more than 6 months a year in Florida but now that I am here, its kinda nice!

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by zboss

Personally, I never really thought about spending more than 6 months a year in Florida but now that I am here, its kinda nice!

Used to work for a company based in CT. Now work for a company based in MN. Pretty sure I don't want to go to either at the moment.

Maybe around July I'll head back north.

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by zboss

I think the reason this topic keeps coming up is because it is genuinely confusing.

For example...is it really necessary to have a Florida tax rule that you cannot "have planned to use the boat in florida before the purchase?" That's like maybe .2% of the total boats in Florida and is highly inefficient for the Florida jurisdictions to enforce... so why bother?

Any why is the limit that you need to have owned the boat for 6 months? Why not two, or seven?

Personally, I never really thought about spending more than 6 months a year in Florida but now that I am here, its kinda nice!

Not really that confusing. They want you to pay the tax in Florida if you buy the boat in Florida, or buy it with the intent to keep and use it there. Kind of like when you buy a car, and register it somewhere. You kind of know where you intend to keep it and use it.

[sailpower]

Originally Posted by Jerry Woodward

Just to make sure I understand correctly. If I buy a boat in Florida and intend to keep it in Florida, I will owe about 6% sales tax depending on the county. Since the boat will be USCG documented, I will not owe anything else, correct? So, if I buy a $100,000 boat, I will pay the state of FL $6,000 and be done with it? Will I owe them anything else on a yearly basis?

Jerry, I understand your question.

The FL sales tax is a one time 6%. Some counties also have an additional Discretionary Sales Surtax. The last information I have for St. Lucie (2010) was .5%

Also, even though USCG documented there will be annual small FL registration fees.

That's it.

The Use tax that you mentioned is also a one time only tax but won't be applicable to you. It is not an annual tax. It is a way for FL collect from those who bring their boat to FL and have not paid the one time sales tax somewhere else or the one time sales tax was less than Florida's so FL wants the difference.

Enjoy.

[zboss]

Originally Posted by letsgetsailing3

Not really that confusing. They want you to pay the tax in Florida if you buy the boat in Florida, or buy it with the intent to keep and use it there. Kind of like when you buy a car, and register it somewhere. You kind of know where you intend to keep it and use it.

No necessarily true. If you satisfy certain requirements (such as the previously mentioned 6 month rule), you don't have to pay any additional sales tax.

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by zboss

No necessarily true. If you satisfy certain requirements (such as the previously mentioned 6 month rule), you don't have to pay any additional sales tax.

Like I said, not that confusing. The six month thing is to avoid people registering their boat in another state simply to avoid the tax.

[sailpower]

He is buying the boat in FL so the six month exclusion for non FL residents doesn't apply here.

[sailpower]

Also should add that the FL Sales Tax and Discretionary Sales Surtax combined are capped at $18,000.

Essentially a $300,000 boat and a $300,000,000 boat pay the same $18,000 FL tax.

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by sailpower

He is buying the boat in FL so the six month exclusion for non FL residents doesn't apply here.

We sidetracked the conversation to cover the law in a general sense. The original question was fairly straightforward.

[savoir]

Florida boat taxes are one of the better deals going around especially for the bigger boats. It is only paid once per owner. Plenty of states have sales tax plus an annual use tax.

[sailpower]

Originally Posted by letsgetsailing3

The original question was fairly straightforward.

You wouldn't have thought so with some of the answers he was getting.

[Rhapsody-NS27]

Originally Posted by savoir

Florida boat taxes are one of the better deals going around especially for the bigger boats. It is only paid once per owner. Plenty of states have sales tax plus an annual use tax.

That's what CA tried doing to me just because the hailing port on the boat is Dana Point, CA. I had to send them papers to show that it was bought and stored/used outside of the state. Haven't heard anything since.

[savoir]

Originally Posted by Rhapsody-NS27

That's what CA tried doing to me just because the hailing port on the boat is Dana Point, CA. I had to send them papers to show that it was bought and stored/used outside of the state. Haven't heard anything since.

Don't let the hailing port thing confuse you. What is important is where the boat sits. Go over their time limit and the CA tax man will slug you for property tax. I'm not in CA anymore so I'm out of touch with current time rules and not interested in looking it up.

The tax guys really do walk the docks. I've seen them.

[Rhapsody-NS27]

Originally Posted by savoir

Don't let the hailing port thing confuse you. What is important is where the boat sits. Go over their time limit and the CA tax man will slug you for property tax. I'm not in CA anymore so I'm out of touch with current time rules and not interested in looking it up.

The tax guys really do walk the docks. I've seen them.

Where the boat sits now in KY, the county sheriff, (I think) comes by water to look around for getting USCG Doc'd boats to pay KY Property taxes. I'm hoping to move the boat to MD and will probably change the hailing port while I'm at it.