On Nov 11, 11:38 am, Joe wrote:

Well Greg.. better than Wilbur, but a puppet anyhow.

Plonk



Hi Joe:

Aside from the proliferation of personal attacks here, I would like to
add one more thought before I drop this futile thread.

Like Joe, and I suspect many others before us, I had visions of making
my boat pay for its self. Some of the "projects" I researched were the
following:

Sailing lessons: Sole Proprietor Schedule C. I did this and did not
make a profit for three consecutive years. As such I was violating the
SPIRIT of the IRS Hobby Loss condition.

Unispected Passenger Vessel CFR Sub Chapter T and of course 6
passengers Charter Boat: Same problem plus even more regs/insurance.......

I even considered buying one of the 80' Katrina gulf shrippers that
were going for $100k. Now that's a lot of boat for the bucks! Oh, then
haul Christmas trees from PNW down to So Cal.

Don't forget, since my daughter was going to school at U of Hawaii I
thought I would just pack some of my daughters things and "move her to
college" via sailboat. But of course pack in some "extra stuff" that
she could sell at a "yard sale" later. That is even more "legal" than
your project. As you belive, "hey... its MY stuff! I cna do anything I
want to with it!" Very Nieve to belive that.

After reading CFR, IRS, USCG, Customs etc, TO BE SAFE I then went and
talked to: 1) USCG Enforcement, 2) an Admiralty Attorney ($190/hr),
and 3) a CPA who specialized in marine business.

The bottom line I learned is: when that 28 year old in charge of a
USCG boarding party hops aboard your boat its up to her to interpret
the law. They will ALWAYS error on the side of conservative
interpretations. In other words, "if walks like a duck, and quacks
like a duck.... Youre screwed. Cause, your boat is seized, you go to
jail, and you of course loose your coffee. Now you get to fight the
court system to prove your innocence and get the boat back.

It wasn't worth the risk losing the boat I worked my ass off to get.

Dear Joe, you said that you did not know the definition of the IRS
term "Hobby Loss" that means you have many more lessons to learn and
many more land mines to avoid. Another telling statement you made to
me was, "Im on vacation... gonna buy some souvenirs... an take it home..."

BUT other places you are claiming to be a COMPANY and will sell your
beans on e-bay and are seeking donations for poor children. With those
statements on the web you already screwed yourself. You blabbed your
plan on the web! That is evidence fool!

You can not have it both ways......... you re either using 10,000 lbs of
beans for personal use, which is a ridiculous amount for personal use,
or you're a full on coastwise vessel transporting cargo for your
company. You can not have it both ways!

Besides do you really think Foss, Crowley, Tidewater, Hornbeck,
Chouest, Sause, Seacor, SIU, SUP, and IBU are going to let some JIPO
hippy boat wannabe undercut their business?!?!?!? Your dealing with
Tony Sopranno only here the law and USCG are his Paulie Walnuts.

Do it right or don't do it..........................

Bob