Importing a sailboat into Canada

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Niall leslie

You'd better do it quickly if you are going to.
The Canadian government is in the later stages of approving the new wealth tax which will impose a 10% tax on privately owned boats, cars and aircraft of over Can. $100,000.
The tax will be payable on the whole amount, not just the portion over $100,000 and will be a double taxation system applied before HST etc. which, for example in ON. will mean 24.3% total tax on any boat imported over Can $100,000 excluding any duty payable.
Cheers,
Niall.

There was a Liberal promise during the election to introduce a 10% tax on luxury items like cars, planes and boats, but I've not heard of any new bills introduced to do this. Did I miss something? And my reading of the promise is that it would apply to the amount over the $100k mark. It would be uniquely unusual to apply any tax like this to the entire amount.

We all know how well politicians keep their promises, especially our Federal Liberals (think proportional representation promise). And given the minority government, I'll be surprised if they have the ability to push this through.


But I would look closely at the new NAFTA to make sure the rules for importing boats haven't changed.

[longjonsilver]

i have a question about buying a second hand Canadian boat in Canada. Do you have to pay GST/HST/PST upon purchase or registration?
thanks
jon

[leveramikes]

I will follow up on the luxury tax with an accountant.
Check with your broker pertain ing to Can taxes on purchasing a Can boat.

[Redline452]

Originally Posted by longjonsilver

i have a question about buying a second hand Canadian boat in Canada. Do you have to pay GST/HST/PST upon purchase or registration?
thanks
jon

Last times I bought a Canadian boat from another Canadian, there was no tax on private sales between individuals. There would be, however, if purchased from/via a dealer.

[rbk]

Originally Posted by Redline452

Last times I bought a Canadian boat from another Canadian, there was no tax on private sales between individuals. There would be, however, if purchased from/via a dealer.

Requirement varies from province to province as does the amount.

[pcmm]

Originally Posted by longjonsilver

i have a question about buying a second hand Canadian boat in Canada. Do you have to pay GST/HST/PST upon purchase or registration?
thanks
jon

YES.

If you buy through a broker you'll pay the tax at the time of purchase. If you buy privately you'll need to prove that you've paid the tax to license/register or you'll get a tax bill for that amount.

[Scaramanga F25]

From NAFTA to USMCA is there not a 10% extra tax? Retaliation. Or is it only on powerboats?

[BugzyCan]

It is typical of any sale, if you purchase privately, then you do not pay tax at time of purchase, but you would need to pay tax when registering.

If you went through a broker or purchased new, they would most likely take the tax.

If you have an unregistered boat, and keep it that way, then you would pay no tax. An unregistered boat would be any boat with a motor less than 10 horsepower that does not have a pleasure craft license and is not registered.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Scaramanga F25

From NAFTA to USMCA is there not a 10% extra tax? Retaliation. Or is it only on powerboats?

I believe that was a retaliation tariff over the whole US steel/aluminum tariff silliness. I'm pretty sure it was removed.

Originally Posted by longjonsilver

i have a question about buying a second hand Canadian boat in Canada. Do you have to pay GST/HST/PST upon purchase or registration?
thanks
jon

Sales taxes are supposed to be paid on private sales. When I did this with my first boat Rev. Canada was notified once I licensed the boat. The process was that they would then send you a tax bill. Interestingly, back in the day it seemed rather hit-or-miss whether a bill ever showed up. But I bet they've tightened up the process now.

[svchinamoon]

Although my experience is from 20 years ago it seems not much has changed, so here’s my 2 cents. My boat was built in Taiwan but had been sailing and registered in US when I bought her. So when I imported her to Canada (from Wilson NY to Toronto) I was required to pay duty of 9.5% and both the provincial and federal sales tax now rolled into one. One thing you may also consider in order to slim down the tax is that the broker, if your using one, may exclude his commission from the bill of sale and perhaps other charges that in other cases may be reflected in the bill of sale. Good luck.

[techmans]

When showing up with the boat and reporting it to the proper authority keep your mouth shut.Just answer questions and show them the paperwork.Don't wake them up on beforehand by calling in and asking what the import tax is.
You may get lucky and they forget to ask or notice where the boat was built and save yourself a chunk of money.
They forgot to ask me , didn't notice Taipei on the USCG document I showed and I didn't tell them that the boat was built in Taiwan because they did
not ask.
I saved the import tax and was charged only GST and PST.
This was in Victoria, 2016.