USCG Documented Boats

[MTC]

If I buy a boat from VA that has USCG Documention can I document it in MA. Will I have to pay Sales taxes in MA. Will I have to regerster it also?

[macojoe]

USCG should be the same every where??

If you just visit Ma. no reg.

But if you are going to live here and boat here you will reg. it here.
Sales tax will pay there when you buy it but you will have the dreaded excise tax every year here $25 on a $1000 valuation.

[MakoMike]

MTC,
You can't change the home port without going through lots of rigamarole, but the home port dosn't realy make a difference anyway. You will wind up paying sales tax in MA. As far as registration goes, I don't know MA law, in RI there is a special registration for documented vessels.

[Mr. Sandman]

Ahh, the old way to avoid paying those pesky boat taxes.

MA and CT will get you. RI has no boat tax Many CT and MA boaters register their boat in RI to get around paying their states taxes (sales and personal property taxes).

Ever wonder by so many big boats are registered in dover del? Hmmmm. do you think it has anything to do with taxes? (you betcha)

CT has been getting hostile trying to track down boaters avoiding their tax. MA I suppose is doing the same. IMO they would be better off having a favorable tax policy (read low-none) to stimulate the industry (which itself generates more rev/jobs for the states, but they are short sighted)

Bottom line....most states have a rule that if your keep a boat in their state for more then X (days) (something like 30-60 days, each state varies) you are suppose to pay local taxes....NO MATTER WHERE THE BOAT IS REGISTERED or documented. If you move from state to state with a boat you already own (and it was registered in the previous state) then you don't have to pay a sales tax but they will get you other ways.

A lot of big boaters move their boat down south in the winter, and park it all around NE in the summer never leaving it in the same place long enough to get nabbed and avoid the tax. Others keep their boat in RI and live in CT or MA and keep excellent records showing their boat is registered in RI and it is docked and maintained in RI, not their home state. (this is another workaround). RI will let yolu register a baot in their state if you don't live there. RI makes up for their no-boating tax by having high personal property taxes and income taxes.

IMO it is all a stupid shell game, I wish they would all be consistant and have a tax policy that encourages boating. But I live in a dream world oke: