Bringing a foreign flagged vessel into Canada

[Explorer64]

Hi Guys.

We have a yacht in Florida on a cruising permit that is flagged in Cayman and owned by a foreign LLC. I want to bring the boat into Canada to cruise for 3 months before returning to the USA later in the year.

My questions are:

1. As a Canadian Citizen can I bring this boat in without paying taxes as it will not be staying?

2. How do I handle the fact that it is owned by an llc?

3. Can I as a Canadian use the boat in Canada as I know my insurance allows this but I am unsure with respect to taxes etc.

4. Anything you think I am missing?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Wishing you all fair seas and following winds.

[Sailingallday]

The only ones who can really answer this is CBSA. reach out to them with these exact questions. They are pretty helpful when asked in advance - even if I don’t always like the answers they give.

[Explorer64]

Thanks for the input.

[Chazdog]

Have you found an answer to this? I have the same problem… I am flagging my boat in the BVI but would like to bring her home to NS for the summer to avoid the hurricane season. I really don’t want to pay the taxes!

[Explorer64]

CBSA advised that if the vessel enters Canada that as Canadians we would be deemed the beneficial owners regardless of the way the ownership and registration is structured. As such, we would be liable for import duties, luxury taxes and HST on the fair market value of the vessel!

It all seems a bit ridiculous when you consider how much we would have spent in Canada at marinas and on divers, maintenance etc each month that we were there. It took the US customs less than 5 minutes to give us a cruising permit for 12 months because they know the value of a visiting boat to their economy.

Needless to say we are staying with cruising the USA and Caribbean which means we are not even spending in Canadian Restaurants. Crazy!

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by Chazdog

Have you found an answer to this? I have the same problem… I am flagging my boat in the BVI but would like to bring her home to NS for the summer to avoid the hurricane season. I really don’t want to pay the taxes!

Explorer 64 is correct
As prevously posted, this was a regular part of my business ... One more time ... Canadian citizen = Canada Customs cares not where the boat is registered. They will make you pay as soon as they know you are in Canadian waters ... Period. They will seize the boat until payment is made.

[more]

Originally Posted by Explorer64

It all seems a bit ridiculous when you consider how much we would have spent in Canada at marinas and on divers, maintenance etc each month that we were there. means we are not even spending in Canadian Restaurants. Crazy!

i think owner of canadian restaurant,marina owner masive made suicide because you don't spent in his local business.
i think canada make huge mistake allowing chinese people buy property for capital saving...

tax,custom dont have nothing in connection with restorant marina owner.

[Chazdog]

That is absolutely crazy!
It would cost me 300k to bring my boat home for a few months. I have written CBSA to confirm… but I agree… she will never see Canadian Waters!
Our government has lost their mind!
Florida has capped the tax on boat to 18k for this very reason.

[Zanshin]

This is the same regulation as applies to E.U. and U.K. citizens when they take their VAT-Unpaid vessels into the country. I'd have to pay a 19% charge and whatever value customs assigns to the boat and would also need to pay it immediately upon entry - no "flex-pay" or similar relief is possible.

[sv_pelagia]

Doesn't seem crazy to me, and as noted, similar to other countries. Before you bought boat out of country, you should have been aware of this.



Did you really think registering boat in Cayman Islands (or other non-Canadian location) would allow you to bring in boat to Canada tax free? Can't do it with cars, either.



Get permanent residency/citizenship in country of boat's registration, and you can bring it in temporarily.

[robert sailor]

There are ways around this but you have to be well ahead of the game. We are Canadian and registered our boats as Canadian blue book offshore. This registration is set up for and used by shipping owners. We have all the privileges of Canadian registered boats but the boat doesn’t enter Canada….until it does. We apply for and receive a special work bond from the government that allows us up to 6 months to bring the boat into Canada and have work done on it, without paying tax. We have only done this a couple of times on two different boats and for periods of 3-4 months. Prior to this we would bring the boat into an American marina close to the border. In our case it was Pt. Robert’s Wa and we brought the boat into Steveston, BC. We did bottom work and some local sailing that your really not supposed to do but no one got excited and we cleared out when we said we were going to. That’s the only way I know that allows you to bring an offshore registered Canadian boat into Canada without paying the full tax at the first port you enter in Canada.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

There are ways around this but you have to be well ahead of the game. We are Canadian and registered our boats as Canadian blue book offshore. This registration is set up for and used by shipping owners.

The "Blue Book" was done away with about 30 years ago.

[skalashn]

Somewhat unrelated question, but I am curious how does CBSA know if a certain Canadian-registered boat is "tax unpaid" and was never in Canada before? Do they have some kind of database linked to TC registrations? When I was clearing into Canada on Lake Huron last year nobody asked me about any taxes so they must have known the boat was in Canada before?

[Zanshin]

The rule in Europe is if you cannot show a VAT receipt in original, it is assumed that it isn't paid. The onus is on the boat owner to prove VAT status.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by skalashn

Somewhat unrelated question, but I am curious how does CBSA know if a certain Canadian-registered boat is "tax unpaid" and was never in Canada before? Do they have some kind of database linked to TC registrations? When I was clearing into Canada on Lake Huron last year nobody asked me about any taxes so they must have known the boat was in Canada before?

A registered vessel must have the name and port of register marked on the hull
where both can be seen at the same time. It must have its register number marked permanently on a structural member inside the hull.

Those items must match the ships paperwork and must also match what anyone can pull up from the Transport Canada Registry database. The Customs folks can pull up a lot more data than you'll see on this link ... I've witnessed people trying to beat these guys. Few can afford it. if you try it you will go into a file in US Customs too(and most other countries customs) and your passport will be flagged everywhere you go.

https://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur...rations/search