On Mon, 5 Jan 2009 18:55:07 -0800, you wrote: >'bella, > Why do you seem to think that everything Norm writes is a "rant"? > I didn't feel there was any "rant" in that post at all... > Plus what he wrote was true.
In the US, a boat is required to have the HIN engraved somewhere on the boat that is a permanent part of the boat. Ours is up in the anchor locker and the manufacturer of our boat also engraved it on the top starboard side of the transom. Sometimes that outside number gets painted or fiberglassed over - there are some boats I have seen where there is no trace of the number there. Sometimes they also put the documentation number up in the anchor locker. Different states deal with USCG documented boats in different ways, but in almost all cases, when a boat is sold, sales tax has to be paid regardless of whether it is documented or not. Some people go to great lengths to do the sale outside of the US - like doing the actual sale offshore. Generally it is the same as with cars - if you buy a boat in RI where there is (or was) a 3% tax and move to MD where there is a 5% tax, you pay the difference. It also makes a difference as to how long you have had the boat before you enter the state - if you buy a boat in RI, pay the tax and then move right away to MD, then you pay more tax. If you wait five or six years, they probably don't assess the tax. Different lengths of time for different jurisdictions. As far as registration goes - almost all states require a state registration fee be paid. The amount varies with the state. Usually the state registration fee also must be paid on the dinghy(s) which of course aren't usually documented. So the big boat puts the registration sticker on the mast (in the case of a sailboat) and doesn't have the numbers on the bow but the dinghies have to have the numbers on them. Incidentally for Canadians, what we call documentation, they call registration. Now in addition to the state registration, there are also various other fees and taxes that different states require. Some places have a county tax, and Virginia has a personal property tax on both boats and cars (this is why many people in northern VA have their boats in Maryland marinas). The tax cops go around and look to see what boats are in the marinas in January and then they levy the tax on the boats that are there. This is obviously extremely local. The real problem comes with getting information from someone who knows what they are talking about. Having been a government employee, I know that I didn't always know the answers to all the questions asked of me, and sometimes I guessed at the answer and was wrong. Sometimes my bosses didn't know the correct answer either. Generally boat questions don't come up very often. You have to hope that eventually you will get a longer term employee who may have answered the question before. _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
