URGENT !! LA taxing me even though boat NOT in LA

[Colin A]

Originally Posted by Bill Seal

If I recall, my sister paid CITY tax on her car in Suffield, CT in addition to outrageous property tax.

Cars do have property tax in CT but not boats. Property tax is all city (or town) based, we have no county government other then the court system in Connecticut and no state wide property tax. So property tax to town then registration fees to the state, on cars trailers etc. But boats are exempt. Boat reg for my little trailer sailor is around $50.00 (it's based on length)

[zeehag]

you need to prove that you were NOT in l a.
i had to prove to ventura county that this boat was in mexico when they fraudulently slammed me with back taxes despite my not being present in santa barbara...
this procedure is not difficult.
i used telephone.
it worked.
i also had to prove to san diego county i was not there-- sd was easier than ventura, but the procedure isnot difficult.
call on fone, record name of the individual with whom you speak, and continue onward with the procedure as they instruct. document your locatuon and send copies of proof to th etax bureau soliciting you. have fun.

[buzzstar]

Originally Posted by arch007

I moved to Los Angeles but my boat was kept in Northern California.

Los Angeles is insisting on taxing me on my boat. CAN THEY DO THIS ?

What has the burden of proof ?

So they need to show the boat is in Los Angeles

OR

Do I need to show the baot was kept eleswhere for the years in question.

Surely Los Angeles needs to have some proof the boat is in LA else they can just tax anyone on their boat and ask you to prove it is in in LA.

arch

Actually, they may not be able to do so if you make the facts known via a timely appeal. Presumably you have the boat registered in your name at your address in Los Angeles County, but the boat is physically located in another county in the northern part of the state. I do not pretend to be an authority on the subject, but I believe the property taxes are determined by the location of the boat on a particular date. I am mildly surprised you have not had a tax bill from the county where she lies. My suggestion is to make sure you want to pay the taxes in the county where she is rather than to Los Angeles (one may have a lower rate than the other) and then call the tax office (probably the assessor rather than the collector) for each county and find out what they say about the problem and the solution. Good luck.

[jmschmidt]

Hawaii doesn't tax boats. Yet.

[1Sunseeker]

They tried that on me also. Even after a few years living in WA. They also wanted California state income tax even though money was earned in WA. After a few years they decided to save postage and went away. Boat now registered in Alaska. $24.00 for three years. My advice? ignore them. Move often.

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by buzzstar

Actually, they may not be able to do so if you make the facts known via a timely appeal. Presumably you have the boat registered in your name at your address in Los Angeles County, but the boat is physically located in another county in the northern part of the state. I do not pretend to be an authority on the subject, but I believe the property taxes are determined by the location of the boat on a particular date. I am mildly surprised you have not had a tax bill from the county where she lies. My suggestion is to make sure you want to pay the taxes in the county where she is rather than to Los Angeles (one may have a lower rate than the other) and then call the tax office (probably the assessor rather than the collector) for each county and find out what they say about the problem and the solution. Good luck.

as i did not receive my snail mail for 5 yrs..hahahahaha--- i received notice about my current cruiser fraudulently being taxed by 2 counties-- with the date of sale of my ericson as the time of assessment. oops.. fraud by 2 counties.
if you are not currently in area, and if you did notify them of your departure, you have no issue for many years.
this is a tax that is not based on your possessions so you willnot lose your boat or home. you will lose your good credit rating if not addresed.
ok so here goes--remember my last post??
is the way to do it.
if you lived there and they still assess you and youhave advised them, then their paperwork is behind. slow. normal for bureaucracies.
if you never lived there, oopsy they goofed.
telephone them learn with whom you need communicate, and do it.
i had both scenarios. i resided on board in san diego, paid taxes and did not tell them of my departure. they asssessed me taxes after the sale of ericson. oops.
they reversed it much easier than the ventura fiasco. all i had to do in san diego was have my receipts sent to them and ta daa no mas. so mooring company and the marinas work with ye on that. i had to do it remotely.
ventura, wherein i never resided nor had a boat, but which is my hailing port, assessed me fraudulent taxes based on hailing port alone.
they have been corrected.
i called the tax office via my telephone from mexico, and spoke with a lady whose name i wrote down. she gave me a list of instructions which must be followed before the next call. i did that and communicated with her and received my a-ok i aint owin' anything on taxes and my name is again clear. good to know as i have 6 years of cruising marinas(only in summer, when canes hit here) and receipts for accessories and equipment and mail received for that length of time and sent them to the tax office., email works.
ventura county had zero proof i was there and i had 100 percent proof i was outside usa. i win.
go for it.
each county in california works same way.
call the number on the advisory notice and deal with these helpful folks. they are not scary. know your rights. use em. be nice.
ps they are difficult to deal with when approched by electronic othe rthan telephone means, i noticed greater lag time, and mine was already allegedly delinquent)

[Sky Pilot]

Originally Posted by arch007

The big problem is LA insist on taxing me annual property tax when the boat is not even in LA and they have no proof it was ever in LA.

When can a county jusr decide on no evidence to tax you.

How do they know you have the boat?

[buzzstar]

Originally Posted by Sky Pilot

How do they know you have the boat?

While I have no particular knowledge, there are at least two ways: One is if the boat is registered to you in a particular county. Another is that they visit marinas and mooring fields on tax day (which may be called the lien date) which is the same throughout the state (at least in California) and take down the identify go each vessel using the state registration numbers or the boat name and hailing port. I have no clue about foreign boats. The addresses, if not by registration, are presumably available to the registration agency for the state, or via the USCG. State and local governments in the USA, particularly California for one, and Los Angeles city and county as others, are primarily tax hungry monsters that on on constant watch for revenue sources, new and old. As an example, the focus of a lot of police activity is now on traffic enforcement since violations and violators are big revenue sources, and crime prevention and crime solution takes a back burner since it costs more than it provides in revenue.

[michaelratinter]

I moved my boat from San Pedro (Los Angeles County) to Bodega Bay (Sonoma County) in October 2015. In 2016 LA County sent me a personal property tax bill. I filled in the info that the boat had moved and sent the bill back. No problem. Easy peasy.

Now I pay Sonoma County PP tax.

But: Boat is USCG documented and I don't live in L.A.

[a64pilot]

I didn't read all the posts, but will tell my story.
Last boat, I got a tax bill from my County. I Called them and explained that the law said where the boat was at for more than 180 days was where the tax is due. I gave them a copy of my rental slip agreement for the Navy Base in Panama City Fl.
Fl has no property tax on boats. Since I could not produce proof of me paying tax on the boat in another State, their position was I owed them the tax.
I quote " You gots to pay you taxes"
I paid the tax as it would cost more to hire a Lawyer and fight it, and sold the boat.

[friz]

Originally Posted by Kaptain Ken

This why you should register (Document) your boat with the U.S. Coast Guard. Never, ever, register it with any State.

Interesting. I bought a 28' cabin cruiser in Tennesee in late 2015. Pulled it down to Florida and titled it. Cost almost zip as it is over 30 years old. I did not register it and the lady at the Tax Collector office said nothing about any financial liability for not doing so. I also did not register it in 2016 nor so far this year. I am not a scofflaw. The boat is in the project stage and has not been in the water. Hopefully it will be this summer. So, how much does USCG registration cost? Also sounds as if there is a annual USCG renewal fee. Maybe not be exactly the same but I do not pay an annual renewal fee on the Florida title. Also, what are the implications if I don't pay the USCG renewal fee because the boat is not in the water? Beyond the Bahamas or Canada this boat will probably never be.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by alctel

Every other Western country (and most of the others too) have some kind of universal, 'free' healthcare (and looks on the US system with horror).

Yup, and to think I visited the US several times without private medical cover in the past

Sometimes perhaps your own country isn't as bad a folk make out, at least I only pay tax on initial purchase rather than annually.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by friz

Interesting. I bought a 28' cabin cruiser in Tennesee in late 2015. Pulled it down to Florida and titled it. Cost almost zip as it is over 30 years old. I did not register it and the lady at the Tax Collector office said nothing about any financial liability for not doing so. I also did not register it in 2016 nor so far this year. I am not a scofflaw. The boat is in the project stage and has not been in the water. Hopefully it will be this summer. So, how much does USCG registration cost? Also sounds as if there is a annual USCG renewal fee. Maybe not be exactly the same but I do not pay an annual renewal fee on the Florida title. Also, what are the implications if I don't pay the USCG renewal fee because the boat is not in the water? Beyond the Bahamas or Canada this boat will probably never be.

Fl has no property tax on boats, sales tax yes, but no yearly property tax.
I wouldnt bother registering it until I was ready to put it in the water.
We just went to the County tax dept and it was easy, real easy.
Mine turns 30 this year and I think at 30 they become an antique and get very cheap to register, as long as engine type is the same. No idea what engine type has to do with anything, but it seems to.

I wouldn't bother with USCG registration, if never leaving the US, why bother? I know the Bahamas doesn't care, and I bet Canada doesn't care either

[jmschmidt]

The US Coast Guard does not “register” boats, they “document” them. There is a major legal difference which would take too much space to explain here. Needless to say if you are a boat owner you need to educate yourself on this subject. So-called “registration” is a state or perhaps even a county or city function in the United States usually for the purpose of taxation. In order to document a vessel it must measure at least five gross tons. This has nothing to do with the actual weight of the vessel. You can do this calculation for a pleasure craft on USCG Form 5397. Simply enter certain dimensions into the form and it automatically calculates the gross and net tonnage.
In Canada, I’m told, the term “register” or “registration” is roughly equivalent to USCG “documentation” in the US.
If you buy a boat that is already USCG documented you can change the existing documentation to your name or that of a company and even change the name of the boat for $72, at least it was the last time I did it six months ago. The “Official Number” (this is not the Hull ID No.) will remain the same forever no matter how many times the boat has changed hands unless it falls out of US documentation i.e., transferred to a foreign flag. Annual renewals for documented vessels are now $26. They were free until last year.
If you let a USCG documentation lapse, say for nonpaymnet of renewals, you can apply to reinstated it but the cost will be way more than $26. You must be a US citizen (not a green card holder or illegal alien) or your company must be controlled by US citizens to own a US documented vessel. Period, no exceptions.

[cpt_757]

Originally Posted by svHyLyte

Yes. "Personal Property" tax via the registration fees. My last annual auto registration fee in SoCal was over $400. My registration in SoFla the following year was $35.

After JB took over the office, went up.