Want to sail

Purchased used Sail boat in Florida through private owner. No broker, no Lawyer, no contract , just USCG bill of sale and change of documention. Sailed back to Ga. unsure about sales tax. Can't even find information on Ga Dept Rev. web site to know about sale tax or how to pay it if I do. Would really appreciate information. Tried to "register boat on line and it wouldn't recognise the hull number. Want to do the right thing the right way (but don't want to pay more than I am required ) Help appreciated!

Parthery

You can no longer walk in and register a boat in GA...everything has to be done over the phone or online.

Call 800-366-2661 and speak to a live operator...they will get you around the HIN issue and take your application over the phone. You will need to either PDF (scan), fax or mail a copy of the bill of sale, FL Title and FL registration in. As soon as they receive it, they will process it and send you the stickers.

As long as you didn't complete the FL Waiver of Sales Tax form, which a FL dealer or broker would have required, the GA Dept of Revenue won't bother you. Person to person used boat transactions are not taxed in GA (yet...)

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GW 180 Sportsman / 150 Yamaha
"Double Trouble"

dward51

You do need to send in the form for any boat stored in GA for more than 184 days. It's a property tax that will be paid to the county where the boat is stored (may not be where you live). Use the "fair market" value on January 1st of the current year for youf value. You can refile a new value every year as the boat ages and devalues. If you don't state a value they will pull one out of thin air and you are stuck with it until the next year. You can only file a return on the value between January 1st and April 1st. They will review what you send in, but unless you way undervalue the boat they will likely accept it.

Good news is if anyone bought a $25,000 boat as a "as is - project boat" and can document the fair market value is say, $2,000 (ie, by bill of sale for the "as is" boat in the "as is" condition). You can claim that as the fair market value. They often come out and inspect boats in my county (Henry) and as long as it's a project underway you would be fine. Once completed and sea worthty again, the value should be properly reflected in your next filing.

Your actual property tax is calculated the same as your home. It's 40% of the fair market value multiplied by your local millage rate (here it's around 33.324 mils which is multiply by 0.033324 after taking the 40% value). It works out to about $266 on a $20k boat and should also be tax deductible on your income tax.

Oh, one last thing - the value is for the boat & motor only. Do not include your trailer value if you store it on the trailer. That helps quite a bit with a multi axle salt water trailer as they can be pricey by themselves. A lot of folks forget to deduct the trailer and many of the GA boats are stored on trailers. Every dollar you can lawfully knock off the value is a plus.

oh one

Welcome to the great state of Ga.! The " We love to tax ya" state. Ad velorum tax is the birthday tax, due every year on your birthday for every vehicle you own. True it is 40% of appraised value x the particular milllage for your county. Try owning a motorhome, it ain't pretty... It is true that purchases from person to person are not subject to sales tax ..yet. ? This could change if they can figure a good way to get the money. I recently sold my boat and am currently in the market for another, but only from an individual so as to avoid the sales tax.