If a foreign buyer wishes to cruise in the US after purchasing a US vessel, there are major advantages to getting a state title, since the boat can't be US documented and owned by a non US citizen. If the boat is state titled: No US Customs Cruising License is required. Since no Cruising License is involved, it is not necessary to report in at various ports when traveling from port to port. Eliminates the chances of getting fined $5000 per incident for failing to report (10,000 for the second instance). Some states, especially Washington will attempt to force foreign flag yachts to use expensive pilotage services or collect exorbitant fees to provide an exemption. Alaska and Washington think they are entitled to discriminate against foreign flag yachts. Cruising to Canada or Mexico with the US titled boat should not be a problem. Titling the boat in a state that has no sales/use tax cuts down on the chances of becoming entangled with the state taxing authorities; California is notorious for this. The yacht has a dinghy, it needs to be titled. Titling it in any state that has sales/use taxes will entangle the yacht with the state taxing authorities, creates property that is owned in that state and leaves the owner vulnerable to the dinghy having a lien brought against for taxes, imagined or otherwise. Such a lien could result in difficulty in transferring the title. These issues are not hypothetical as I have had a client who encountered just these sorts of difficulties. Yachts over 20 meters(65 feet) seem to be eligible to be state titled. Once the yacht leaves the US permanently transferring the registration to a flag of convenience like the British Virgin Islands should not be more difficult due to the interim titling that was done for the benefit of cruising in the US. An Oregon yacht dealer who could be employed to arrange the titling and registration in Oregon is Dale Laird at Hayden Island Yacht Sales, +1-503-519-4235. I have confirmation that Oregon will accept titling for yachts owned by foreign buyers. -- Capt. Mike Maurice Tigard, Oregon 97224 http://www.yachtsdelivered.com

Be aware that neighboring states to Oregon (or any other state that doesn't charge sales tax) are always trying to catch boats (or RV's, airplanes, cars) that were registered there for tax reasons. Its a common ploy to try to do this given that WA state sales/use taxes are in the 8.5% range, and CA is probably higher. I don't know about the 65' rule for boats, but I know if I (as a WA resident) tried to register my 55' boat, or my car or RV in Oregon to avoid taxes, I would find that Oregon officials would refuse to do so unless I had a valid Oregon address (and would therefore be subject to their income tax). They try to play fair with the neighbors. I don't understand why Oregon, which has nothing to gain by the registration in terms of tax revenue, would behave completely differently when it comes to foreign owners. My presumption is that the foreign owner would need to present an Oregon address, and if that wasn't truly their home, that would be fraud. But then, I'm not a lawyer. I simply hear horror stories about this here in WA state. John Marshall On May 13, 2010, at 9:36 AM, Mike Maurice wrote: > If a foreign buyer wishes to cruise in the US after purchasing a US vessel, there are major advantages to getting a state title, since the boat can't be US documented and owned by a non US citizen. > > If the boat is state titled: > No US Customs Cruising License is required. > Since no Cruising License is involved, it is not necessary to report in at various ports when traveling from port to port. Eliminates the chances of getting fined $5000 per incident for failing to report (10,000 for the second instance). > > Some states, especially Washington will attempt to force foreign flag yachts to use expensive pilotage services or collect exorbitant fees to provide an exemption. Alaska and Washington think they are entitled to discriminate against foreign flag yachts. > > Cruising to Canada or Mexico with the US titled boat should not be a problem. > > Titling the boat in a state that has no sales/use tax cuts down on the chances of becoming entangled with the state taxing authorities; California is notorious for this. > > The yacht has a dinghy, it needs to be titled. Titling it in any state that has sales/use taxes will entangle the yacht with the state taxing authorities, creates property that is owned in that state and leaves the owner vulnerable to the dinghy having a lien brought against for taxes, imagined or otherwise. Such a lien could result in difficulty in transferring the title. > > These issues are not hypothetical as I have had a client who encountered just these sorts of difficulties. > > Yachts over 20 meters(65 feet) seem to be eligible to be state titled. > > Once the yacht leaves the US permanently transferring the registration to a flag of convenience like the British Virgin Islands should not be more difficult due to the interim titling that was done for the benefit of cruising in the US. > > An Oregon yacht dealer who could be employed to arrange the titling and registration in Oregon is Dale Laird at Hayden Island Yacht Sales, +1-503-519-4235. I have confirmation that Oregon will accept titling for yachts owned by foreign buyers. > > > > -- > Capt. Mike Maurice > > Tigard, Oregon 97224 > > http://www.yachtsdelivered.com > _______________________________________________ > http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/passagemaking-under-power > > To unsubscribe send email to > passagemaking-under-power-request@lists.samurai.com with the word > UNSUBSCRIBE and nothing else in the subject or body of the message. > > Passagemaking Under Power and PUP are trademarks of Water World Productions.