Florida Boat Sales Tax

[Island Time O25]

While RI exempts boats from its sales taxes NH does not have any sales tax. But it does hit you with more hefty than usual property/excise taxes but which are still way less than any other state's sales tax.

Someone posted in an earlier related thread that FL will not want it's tax (or the difference) from an incoming boat if that boat is coming from an non-tax state and has been in that non-tax state for at least 6 (or more?) months.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by skipmac

...

If you buy a used boat from an individual in Florida there is no one in the transaction to collect the sale tax. You will only be hit up for the tax if you go to a county office to get a Florida registration for the boat. No proof of sales tax paid, no registration.

...

But, even a Federally documented boat must be State registered in FL...so effectively, yes you do have to pay sales tax.

Whether or not someone involved in the transaction collects it or not, it is still owed under FL law.

[sailorboy1]

here let me google that since I felt like knowing the answer

http://dor.myflorida.com/Forms_libra...t/gt800005.pdf

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Island Time O25

Someone posted in an earlier related thread that FL will not want it's tax (or the difference) from an incoming boat if that boat is coming from an non-tax state and has been in that non-tax state for at least 6 (or more?) months.

Essentially correct but I think FL has added a couple of loophole closers to that rule. If I recall, you may have to prove that the boat was purchased for actual use outside Florida and not just kept out of the state for six months to duck the tax.

[sailorboy1]

I kept coming across the 6 month thing but couldn't find it on a official State of Florida form till I found this:

Use Tax and Consumption
Use tax is applied in the same manner as sales tax. The use tax rate and sales tax rate are the same, including discretionary sales surtax, if it applies. Use tax is due on purchases made out of state when the item is brought into Florida for use or storage in Florida within six months of the purchase date.
If the item brought into Florida is subject to tax, a credit for taxes paid to another state, a U.S. territory, or the District of Columbia is allowed. Credit is not given for taxes paid to another country. If you buy a product tax-exempt that you plan to sell at retail, but end up using at your place of business, the “use” of the product is taxable. If you buy materials that are “consumed” in a manufacturing process"

I got this from:

http://dor.myflorida.com/Forms_libra...t/gt800013.pdf

[VinnyVincent]

Look up your state laws before attempting to "save" on taxes.
There are quite a few states now who will charge tax anyways when you go to register, or at the very least a penalty.

[DotDun]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I kept coming across the 6 month thing but couldn't find it on a official State of Florida form till I found this:

It's on the form you pointed to in post #18.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by DotDun

It's on the form you pointed to in post #18.

I guess, but not as clear as the link in post #20.

But thanks

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Rhapsody-NS27

As mentioned, another state may try collecting sales tax. I bought my boat in TN but because it had a hailing port of CA, CA sent me a bill for use tax. I had to send them documents to show it was purchased and used elsewhere.

California is infamous for this. They troll the USCG documentation site & attempt to charge CA sales tax on any documented vessel with a CA hailing port. The do not verify ownership, residence etc. They simply send out bills with delinquency penalties.

[mstrebe]

Going from memory, RI and Delaware both have no taxes for boats. But yes, you have to keep the boat there except for occasional cruising or you'll pay a "use tax" (sales tax by another name) in the state which it resides.

When I looked into it, to avoid taxation in CA you'd have to take delivery of a boat out of state and keep it out of state for over a year in order to avoid sales tax.

[Hud3]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Hi Hud,

The first part is correct but the second part I believe is more or less the opposite.

If you buy a used boat from an individual in Florida there is no one in the transaction to collect the sale tax. You will only be hit up for the tax if you go to a county office to get a Florida registration for the boat. No proof of sales tax paid, no registration.

If you remove the boat from Florida within the deadline then you're free and clear although if some official questions you on the matter you will have to show proof of all the details.

You can buy in FL and register the boat in another state but stay in Florida and run the risk of getting caught at it and then being charged the sales tax plus interest and penalties.

If you buy from a broker or dealer then I believe they are obligated to collect the sales tax during the transaction unless the buyer submits some state form showing either an exemption from the tax or intent to remove the boat before the deadline expires. The deadline can be extended if you can document that the boat is in a yard and being worked on.

Skip,

This was the part of the tax regs that I was thinking about (link posted by Sailorboy 1)...

When a boat is sold by someone other than a registered boat dealer or a boat is brought into Florida for use in Florida, Florida use tax is due. The “use” part of Florida’s sales and use tax provides uniform taxation of items. Florida’s six percent (6%) use tax, plus any applicable discretionary sales surtax, is due on a boat used or stored in Florida when:
The boat is purchased from a person who is not a registered boat dealer and the sale or delivery of the boat occurs in Florida;

The part that I didn't recall was that it says "for use in Florida", so you are right. Thanks for setting that straight.

It just goes to show that posts made with good intentions can be unintentionally mis-leading. Nothing can replace doing the research oneself by going to the source! CF can help point a boat buyer in the right direction, but the buyer needs to make certain for himself that the info is correct.

[hellosailor]

"Use tax is due on purchases made out of state when the item is brought into Florida for use or storage in Florida within six months of the purchase date."
Read that in context, very strictly.
OK, the use tax may not be due, but can anything else be due? Sure.
The *difference* between the Florida use tax, and the actual use or sales tax in the other taxing jurisdiction, whatever rate that might have been.
So if the Florida use tax is 6%, and you bought the bought in NY and paid 8-ish percent...nothing due. (Well, actually, a two percent refund would be due, if they knew how to do math and were being honest about it.)
If you bought it elsewhere and paid 4%...then you'd pay the difference, another two percent due.


Florida changes laws twice a year (January and July) and they may have changed things, but AFAIK they do not simply give a free pass, even if they waive one tax and substitute another. They wouldn't be that generous, or that stupid, unless their legislature slipped up again, recently.


I'd be very careful to confirm a specific situation with their tax department before thinking this "law" was the great big loophole it certainly appears to be.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

"Use tax is due on purchases made out of state when the item is brought into Florida for use or storage in Florida within six months of the purchase date."
Read that in context, very strictly.
OK, the use tax may not be due, but can anything else be due? Sure.
The *difference* between the Florida use tax, and the actual use or sales tax in the other taxing jurisdiction, whatever rate that might have been.
So if the Florida use tax is 6%, and you bought the bought in NY and paid 8-ish percent...nothing due. (Well, actually, a two percent refund would be due, if they knew how to do math and were being honest about it.)
If you bought it elsewhere and paid 4%...then you'd pay the difference, another two percent due.


Florida changes laws twice a year (January and July) and they may have changed things, but AFAIK they do not simply give a free pass, even if they waive one tax and substitute another. They wouldn't be that generous, or that stupid, unless their legislature slipped up again, recently.


I'd be very careful to confirm a specific situation with their tax department before thinking this "law" was the great big loophole it certainly appears to be.

I researched this whole thing very carefully about five years ago when I bought my boat. At the time I was working for a company in CT and needed a place to live in New England. Timing was right so I bought a boat in NY and leased a mooring in RI where I lived and commuted to work for about a year until the job unexpectedly went away.

Since I also own a home in FL I wanted to be really, really certain I was OK with the purchase and exemption from FL sales tax.

So on top of reading all the information on various State of FL web sites I also called the state sales tax office and the FL FWC in Tallahassee to get their confirmation.

All agreed on the six month deal if the boat was legitimately purchased and used out of state.

BUT, as you note, FL changes the rules as often as some people change underwear. All the links I saved at that time are expired and the wording of the documents has changed a bit, but I think the essentials are still the same.

Still, Caveat Emptor. Check the latest before you buy.

[hellosailor]

It probably also helps if you don't have a residence, or even worse, a residence with homestead status, in Florida. So you can say you were legitimately residing elsewhere.


I think "tax court" is the only part of the US legal system where you are presumed guilty until proven otherwise.

[SURV69]

Well ...

does anyone know if any states have begun taxing the air that moves a sailboat?



as a country, we've come a long way since the Boston Tea Party ...