Documented Sailboat

[chucks]

There's a whole industry of shady characters who claim they can protect your assets, protect you from liability claims and incorporate you in some backwater place to avoid txs. The bottom line is if you buy the boat and plan to register and use it legally in Florida, expect to pay sales tax or use tax and registration fees. No corporate ownership, out of state registration, or US documentation will give you the little sticker and certificate that makes you legal to operate it. There are plenty of people who make a living reporting the evaders to the Flordida tax collection offices, and there are many cases of people who have tried to evade taxes on yachts in Florida and elsewhere over the years, using all the suggestions in the previous posts, thinking they were perfectly legal. and ended up paying huge fines or worse in jail.

[capt lar]

vasco has the purchase info working in your favor. it seems the question is why would your canadian corp own an american yacht. using your existing company's assets to buy a boat is not one i would guess at. sounds like tax attorney time. it works if you bring after tax dollars to the new corporation, but seems to me you are clearly using company funds for personal use, which is really an interest free loan. plenty of big firms do this. some recent ones are in the news with jail time attached. hope you have a smart accountant (not too smart)
capt. lar

At the risk of repeating myself:
"The basic requirements for documentation are to demonstrate ownership of the vessel, U.S. citizenship, and eligibility for the endorsement sought. "
In my experience, a non US citizen can not own a US documented vessel. I have endured the trials and tribulations of several close friends going through this very process. One gave up, one state registered, and the other was fortunate that the boat had once been Canadian flagged, and after years of headaches, was able to return her to Canadian registry. There may be loopholes, but the bottom line is, as a non US Citizen, you cn not documant a boat in the US, and as a corporation, if the CEO AND Chairman of the board are not US Citizens, you can not document it in the US.
Any legal resident can state register a boat in the US and in California, you do not even have to be legal.
THere is one difference, if not benefit to state registration over documentation.

[ssullivan]

Wukong once whispered in the wind:

The long essay above (ssullivan) only applies to people who file individual tax returns in the US. A "S" corporation only has to distribute all income to the shareholders, who inturn file their individual returns with their "taxing authorities".

Um... please re-read my "long essay" and note that only a *C* corp is immune to the IRS tax laws above... not an S.

Thanks

Gotta stop thinkin like an accountant, and stay in charter capt mode Sean. I'll send ya an eye patch

[ssullivan]

Kai Nui once whispered in the wind:
Gotta stop thinkin like an accountant, and stay in charter capt mode Sean. I'll send ya an eye patch

AGREED! As I was saying in the other forum...

We should talk about boats. It's a lot more interesting than dry business talk.

So what kind of boat are you buying for this trip outside of Canada?

[Calif.Ted]

CG frequently sets up in harbor mouths here Friday nights and conducts boardings for "safety inspections". My boat is documented, they have boarded both documented & registered vessels. I get a safety inspection from the CG Auxiliary and put the resulting sticker on my mast every January. So far every time I've hit one of these "roadblocks" they stop every other boat but wave me thru. We are close to the border & I think they do it partially as a training exercise for boarding parties. Maybe it's just like having a "support your local police" bumper sticker but the dumb thing has saved me from having to stop & be bothered twice so far this year alone.
Also, most police officers out here consider the front license plate an "attitude" ticket. If you annoy them they'll write it up, but otherwise not worth the trouble. Course some have an attitude themselves and might not like your looks either.

CVC12500 if I remember right, Gives them an opening to pull you over and see what is inside the car.
So Lane, Do you have the new boat yet?
And KevinE, yea, what boat are you after?
All this insanity. I think it is getting time to cut the lines!

[Vasco]

CaptainK,

This site is one of the better ones on the web due to many factors. One of those factors is the absence of politics. Let's try and keep it that way.

[alaskadog]

For Captain K. You are off base with political rants on this thread. Or IMO in this forum altogether. There are some other sailing forums which welcome or at least tolerate political posting and perhaps you should take it there when you feel the urge to "sound off". And in case you think I am saying this out of disagreement with your remarks I want all to know my suggestion has nothing to do with whether I agree with your feelings or not. Fair winds to ya.

[KevinE]

I am one of the guys that has read pretty well every possible thread on "best boat to buy..." and still don't have a good idea what I want (better yet, there are lots that I like but could never afford). We are family of 3, my son is 7. Would like to take a year or 2 off in 2 years time and head somewhere south of florida. My wife told me last night I have a problem as all I do is read sailing books and browse sailing web sites and talk about sailing...hee hee.

Seem to be constantly flipping between looking at newer production type boats versus older 'quality' boats, something in the 40-42ft range, budget of 150k. Probably center cockpit, maybe something like a brewer 42. I don't have a problem with alot of the production type boats out there for the type of crusing that we want to do other than I don't care for alot of the 'flimsy' looking rudder and keel systems. I was browsing one of salvage web sites (gives you a good idea of build quality on various boats) and saw a brand spanking new beni 44 that hit a reef at 5 knots and was a total write off (you would never have known looking at the boat from a distance).

gotta get my butt into work so that I can buy this boat...

Cheers,
Kevin

[Vasco]

Kevin,

There is no "best boat". They're all compromises but you and your spouse have to like the one you end up with. You have to remember you'll be living on it for a long time so many of the compromises will be towards the comfort end of the scale. A Brewer or Whitby 42 would be a good choice. I would think the older Whitby's would suit your budget better and allow for re-furbishing. Knowledge of boat systems, expertise at fixing things and having the time to do so will play a big part in which boat you end up with. A good friend I see every winter bought an old Whitby in FL, trucked it up to Michigan and worked on it for two years (being a tool-maker helped). They did most things themselves, including all the canvas and the boat now looks beautiful. They've been cruising every winter since 2001 now. Oh, one final bit, save some of that budget for something major every year. It may be a replacement windlass or a set of davits, or a larger dink motor but you'll want or need something every year. There's always talk of next year's improvements! You don't know what you're missing until you see it on someone else's boat!