It's 3 months. Have to show you used the boat out of state during the 3
months. They charge you difference between the sales tax you paid, and the
local sales tax rate. If buying a real expensive boat, there are companies
that assist you in the transaction and you dock the boat at the Coral Marina
in Ensenada.
Bill

"Curtis CCR" wrote in message
m...
jim wrote in message
...
hello,

anyone in CA know if I buy a used/new boat out of state, will DMV charge
me sales tax? Pretty substantial tax which affects my budget...thanks!

You'll owe sales/use tax if you move the boat into CA within 180 days
of purchase --- OK - I am not sure about the time limit. It may be
90 days... or maybe it used to be 90 days. Anyway, you have to be
able to prove you kept *and used* out of state for the time period.
You can't just store it out of state - you have show that you were
using it wherever it was you kept it. Gas receipts or signed log
entries often do it.

If you finance any portion of the boat through a formal lender (like a
bank, as opposed to your Uncle Bob) you probably won't be able lie to
the DMV about it. Banks generally don't want to risk a tax lein on
your collateral.

I am going to make a comment. Yeah, we are taxed too much in CA. I
paid 8.25% on my boat, and pay recurring property tax every year (to
me, that counts as double taxing...), and you should too. Buy a
smaller boat if you can't afford the 8+ percent. And thank Gray Davis
and the reast of the jackasses in Sacramento for the fact sales and
property taxes won't down anytime soon.