Foreign Boat Purchase

[capemiker]

i am just purchasing a yacht from SA, located in Fl.
Biggest stumbling block is getting an HIN hull number to be able to register it in any usa state.
i wound up hiring a professional company to handle the paperwork. 600.00 well spent.

[matauwhi]

G'day, Mate. I have a well kept Mason 53 that is USCG documented and fully imported to New Zealand if your deal doesn't work out. Any buyer can purchase the boat and depart and return to New Zealand as often as they like with out any duty or taxes. The vessel can also be left in New Zealand as long as desired. A U.S. citizen can keep the USCG documentation if so desired. Pics are on my profile page in the album. If you want to discuss in more detail, send me a PM. All the best. Cheers.

[UNCIVILIZED]

This is good info/places to start. Thanks guys! Oh, & good luck with the purchase!
And it's just a "think": But dealing with the guys who brought down Al Capone, isn't fun regardless of what country one's in.

[undercutter]

When we bought our boat in Brunie we registered it in the Cayman Islands. The transaction occurred at sea so there was not VAT or GST anywhere. this is in fact quite common.

If I had to do it all over again I would register the boat in Malaysia which has no duty as long as the home port is Langkawi or Labuan. There are no annual fees and from what I understand this might prevent the US government from boarding your boat anywhere in the world that they feel like which they have the right to do if you are registered with the USCG.

There was a thread on this forum that you could search which was I believe titled "registering a boat in Langkawi" for more information.