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Florida Sales Tax

  • Thread starter Thread starter Freestyle
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garyd said:
Unless something has changed here is at least how it use to work.

Buy the boat outside of Florida keep it where you bought it for six+ months bring it into Flordia and or register it in florida to get your Numbers etc PAY ZERO SALES TAX.

Pay the registration fee to get your decal but not sales tax. AT least that is how it use to work.
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That applies if you (1) were not a FL resident at the time you bought the boat; (2) weren't a member of a FL corporation that bought the boat; and (3) you had no intent to move the boat to FL at the time you (the non-FL resident) purchased it.
 
Hey Ang were you an acountant in a former life? If so do you do any side work? Sounds like you know more about this than guy we pay to do it LOL


Brian
 
Now, you guys think it's bad here....in Europe if for instance you lived in the U.K and built yourself a boat, registered it, no tax as it is a homebuilt, now, cruise across the chuck to France and if you cannot produce a receipt showing VAT tax pd in the UK, you will not be cleared in. The EEC collects 1% of the VAT tax levied in the UK on all purchases, receipts for the materials used to build the boat do not qualify. Next proposal is to levy the normal road tax to diesel fuel used in boats. Obama must have a direct line to over there...watch out..
 
Brian Degulis said:
Hey Ang were you an acountant in a former life? If so do you do any side work? Sounds like you know more about this than guy we pay to do it LOL


Brian
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LOL...no, my background is in civil trial law, actually. However, by virtue of having the charteryacht business, I am a "sales tax collector" for the state which is where I learned all about the different levels of taxes throughout the state - the counties' discretionary surtax. Plus, I did my homework before buying my boat and moving to Florida.
 
I don't know how Florida works when you are in fact a resident of that state, but I fail to see how documenting a vessel puchased and kept in another state would trigger anything from the sales tax folks in Florida.

If the boat never comes into Florida, how can there be any sales or use tax involved? For that matter, if the owner brings the boat back to Florida with it bearing a CA registration or is documented, what difference would it make unless it's kept there long enough to raise eyebrows?

Case in point. My brother lives in Florida and has for many years. He bought a boat in GA from an individual last year, registered and paid sales tax on it in TN, and keeps it in Florida although it's on a trailer. Bottom line is, like TN registered boats I've owned when I lived in Florida, if you get stopped by LE, they look at your registration and that's that. If it's current and you have all the required safety equipment, they wave bye bye. Have any of you ever been asked for your driver's license or proof of residency when you've been stopped on the water?
 
The tax guys take inventory on boats in marinas here. It's easier to hide one on a trailer in the back yard, but you rent a slip in a marina, and you're on the record and the clock starts to tick. At the 180 day mark, they've got you. At that point, you've got to register the boat in FL. If they determine from your bill of sale or whatever documentation you have that you were a FL resident at the time you bought the boat, you have to pay the tax, or the difference between FL's rate and where you previously paid it (i.e., TN).
 
Sorry Ang, but my 58 sat in a big, high dollar marina in Florida for a year and nobody said a thing. It was also documented with a home port of Florida when I bought it.

It had no name on the stern, and it had my TN numbers on boards attached to the bow railing. Granted, if somebody ran those numbers, it came back to my company name as a licensed dealer, but it would have shown absolutely no information on the boat.
 
FLDOR checks new documentation processed by the uscg, that s how they contact you of you are a fl resident and doc a boat. When the boat is documented the only info available is the home port and oener address not where the boat is.
 
Freeebird said:
I don't know how Florida works when you are in fact a resident of that state, but I fail to see how documenting a vessel puchased and kept in another state would trigger anything from the sales tax folks in Florida.

If the boat never comes into Florida, how can there be any sales or use tax involved? For that matter, if the owner brings the boat back to Florida with it bearing a CA registration or is documented, what difference would it make unless it's kept there long enough to raise eyebrows?

Case in point. My brother lives in Florida and has for many years. He bought a boat in GA from an individual last year, registered and paid sales tax on it in TN, and keeps it in Florida although it's on a trailer. Bottom line is, like TN registered boats I've owned when I lived in Florida, if you get stopped by LE, they look at your registration and that's that. If it's current and you have all the required safety equipment, they wave bye bye. Have any of you ever been asked for your driver's license or proof of residency when you've been stopped on the water?
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Yes I have been asked for that. Fl is a tough state on boats and sales tax. I would challenge anyone with an out of state boat to go to The Crows Nest Marina in Venice FL. Odds are about 99% the famous Venice Water cop will demand to see all your papers and want proof that you have not been in the state with that boat for longer than the time allowed. I guess it depends on where you are in FL but the creeps are out there looking for you. They're law enforcment agencies get a cut of the revenue collected from tax evaders.

Brian
 
FLDOR is also rumored to be checking bridge logs...
 
Freeebird said:
Sorry Ang, but my 58 sat in a big, high dollar marina in Florida for a year and nobody said a thing. It was also documented with a home port of Florida when I bought it.

It had no name on the stern, and it had my TN numbers on boards attached to the bow railing. Granted, if somebody ran those numbers, it came back to my company name as a licensed dealer, but it would have shown absolutely no information on the boat.
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Bird if you registered it it would be different.
 
Bird, you were just lucky, that's all. That doesn't change the regulations in FL just because you didn't get caught, and it doesn't mean the next guy won't get caught either. If one is willing to take that risk, that's his choice - so long as he understands the consequences of getting caught. We all take risks similar to that every now and then.

I have a friend who bought his boat in FL, kept moving the boat from here to there, never registering it anywhere, never paying tax on it, and then took it out of the country. Now that he wants to come back to the US with it, he's got to come up with a strategy that won't hurt too bad. The penalties for running from the registration and tax are hefty.
 
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FLDOR sent me a letter a couple of years after I bought Adiano (and renamed it Gigabite.)

They didn't pick up the fact that they were the same boat and thus the tax had been paid.

A quick letter and proof the tax was paid shut them up, but they do check and they do come after you if they believe you owe 'em.

I know for a fact they both check marinas and bridges - I've seen them walking marina docks and taking pictures.
 
I'm still trying to figure out if a boat is sold new, tax is collected on the original purchase, so why does our lovely government continue to collect sales tax on resales of the same item over and over again, especially on a depreciating asset.
 
Larry I paid more sales tax on my boat than the original owner.

I paid about the same as he did in 1966 too.

It's an income stream. If we don't pay that they will look to get the money some other way. I would rather pay the sales tax than state income tax.
 
MicroKap said:
I'm still trying to figure out if a boat is sold new, tax is collected on the original purchase, so why does our lovely government continue to collect sales tax on resales of the same item over and over again, especially on a depreciating asset.
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Because they can





Brian
 
Boatsb said:
I would rather pay the sales tax than state income tax.
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What? You don't pay state income tax ?
Plus mortgage interest tax deductions on federal income tax?
Is there a federal sales tax in addition to the state sales tax?
Man, I pay federal & provincial income taxes AND federal and provincial sales taxes. And I'll bet the tax %'s are higher here than elsewhere too but I get this wonderful social medical plan instead of hard earned $$$ :(
 
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No federal sales tax
No State income tax
No Government run health care.
 
SportFishCruising said:
What? You don't pay state income tax ?
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In Florida, we don't have state income tax and we don't have property or ad valorem tax on boats. It's a great place to call home until a storm comes, or until you have to stroke a five figure check for annual yacht insurance. :)
 
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