Cruising and taxes

  • January 26, 2015 5:52 PM
    Message # 3210907

    This may be a stupid question, but I have never spent any time sailing outside of my own state, and I was just told that for out of state boats sailing Florida waters you can not spend more than 90 days without paying taxes on the boat and getting a Florida registration. Is this just a Florida thing? I have considered for some time doing interrupted cruising, i.e. cruising for a week or two, leaving the boat at a marina, and coming back when I have more time off and moving to the next spot. If all states have these sorts of tax laws, it would seem really difficult to do this. Maybe where the states are small that is not a problem, but for Florida and California it seems like 90 days would be kind of short unless you did it all in one go. Not only that, but it seems that Florida really sticks it to you.

  • January 26, 2015 7:29 PM
    Reply # 3210957 on 3210907
    Deleted user

     

    Frank, it’s different in different states and I don’t know any other than California.  Actually every time I read another article on Ca. boat taxes I’m not even sure about that. For what it’s worth here’s how it works here.  In Ca. you are not libel until you are here a year, paying the taxes as per the county you’re in.  It’s usually enforced by the marina, which gives the county a list of the boats, usually on Jan 1st.  The county then sends you a bill. The kicker is that a lot of the counties have tax days other than Jan 1st and some walk the docks to double check during the year.  In So. Ca. they really play the game and will many times not accept any documentation that the boat wasn’t there, giving you the run around as the penalties rack up. Hiring an attorney is not unheard of. (Frequently written about in Latitude 38) A friend of mine fought them for months and won his battle by showing copies of his log book.

    Here in San Joaquin Co. they are much more reasonable and will accept reasonable documentation of the boat being in Mexico. But not all is bad. A friend of ours on WS 32 Windsong, now Komani, arranged with the harbor master to leave the end of Dec., returning the 1st of Jan. keeping him off the tax rolls. We left San Mateo County late one year.  Fearing we’d get on two tax rolls we made a call and she said no problem she’ll change us to transient.  She didn’t have to be so nice.

    One final tax story.  When we got back from Mexico we received a notice from the county wanting to know the valuation.  I didn’t respond because I thought they should be able look us up in the computer. Awhile later they sent us a terse statement saying that because we didn’t respond they would value the boat at $25,000.  We were elated! That made our tax less than half of what we were paying them before.

    Jim

  • January 27, 2015 3:18 AM
    Reply # 3211082 on 3210907
    Deleted user

    Hey Frank,

    Not sure what the time limit is here in Florida for out of State registered boats but as long as the sales tax has been paid at the time of your purchase our boats are eligible for the antique registration which is only about  $8.00 annually. Here are the full registration requirements from the State web site. Notice there i s no mention of the antique provision. Apparently they want to keep that low profile. I paid the full annual registration for about 10 years longer than I had to 'till someone told me about it.

    Regards,

    Werner

    Vessel Registration


    All vessels, with the exception of non-motor-powered vessels less than 16 feet in length, non-motor-powered canoes, kayaks, racing shells or rowing sculls, regardless of length, must be registered through your local Tax Collector's Office External Website.
    Letters must be separated from the numbers by a hyphen or space equal to letter width.
    The Certificate of Registration must be on board and available for inspection by an enforcement officer whenever the vessel is operated.
    Vessels must be registered and numbered within 30 days of purchase.
    Registration numbers must be displayed on the forward half of the vessel on both sides above the waterline.
    The numbers must be bold block letters at least 3" high in a color contrasting to the hull.
    The vessel registration decal must be renewed annually and is to be displayed within 6 inches of, either before or after, the registration numbers on the port (left) side.
    Documented vessels without a state registration in full force and effect must also obtain a Florida registration and display the validation decal on the port side of the vessel when using Florida waters.

  • January 27, 2015 3:36 AM
    Reply # 3211089 on 3210907
    Deleted user

    This from the FAQ section:


    Florida recognizes valid registration certificates and numbers issued to visiting boaters for a period of 90 days. An owner who intends to use his vessel in Florida longer than 90 days must register it with a county tax collector. However, he may retain the out-of-state registration number if he plans to return to his home state within a reasonable period of time.

    I may have misled you on the antique fee unless you haven't done an engine change. I still putter along with the old Volvo MD11C.

    Antique Vessel Registration


    The following requirements must be met in order to be registered as an antique vessels:

    At least 30 years old
    Used for non-commercial (recreational) purposes only
    Powered by the vessel’s original type of power; engine of same year and model that the vessel had originally.


    Otherwise it's about $86.00

    Werner

  • January 27, 2015 6:01 PM
    Reply # 3211771 on 3210907

    Unfortunately, my engine is not original. Thanks for the info, though.

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