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(Gould 0738) wrote:

Why register it? Why not just document it in Canada? Do you have to
take it to Canada to do that?

If you are going to take it down to the Caribbean or something,
wouldn't documentation be better than registration anyway?

Can't speak for all 50 states, but a good many (such as the one where I live)
require state registration of a documented vessel.

That has nothing to do with the original question which was partly
from another thread from Ed McDermot which said

Now Here's the funny one. If you don't bring the boat into Canada you
don't have to pay GST or PST but you can't register your boat in Canada.
Since I'm not planning to bring my boat back, I don't know how I'm going
to register it.

I'm a Canadian but I may not be able to fly a Canadian Flag on my boat.

So I was answering how he could fly a Canadian flag on his boat
without registering it in Canada. I don't know whether a Canadian
documented boat has to be registered in any state in the US. That's
another question which is too complicated for me.

The state is prohibited by law from issuing a "title" to a documented boat. The
state is not prohibited from requiring owners of documented boats to submit to
registration and paying an annual tax. As a result, most states do.

Again - tax is not the issue. We are talking about a Canadian who
buys an American boat whether he takes it back to Canada or not. I
would think that a Canadian could document a boat in Canada and fly
the Canadian flag - it wouldn't have to be registered in Canada if the
laws in Canada are anything like the US. SOME states in the US do NOT
allow registration of documented boats (Texas for one).

If documentation were a workable scheme around the stae tax collector, I bet
we'd have every single vessel that met the minimum tonnage, etc, documented.
:-)

grandma Rosalie