Importing a boat from Canada
- Thread starter shemandr
- Start date
I had planned to buy a boat in SC that was Canadian registry. I didn't buy it, but here is the limited info I found out.
1) Get a Boat History. The Canadian boat was originally a USA boat and they paid the duties/taxes to make it Canadian.
2) In my case, just changing the registry BACK to USA was done without duties, but only the paperwork and USCG registration was needed.
With the boat history, you can track its country of origin.
Jim...
James, I might own the boat you looked at. Bought it right out of skull creek marina. I had a really awesome woman who just does these things, delete the Canadian registry and using the original USCG registry numbers that were still in the port lazarette, reregister the vessel in the good ole USA.
Shemandr, it slows the process down a bit and there is a ton of paper to file but with a knowledgeable expiditor it's not too bad. If you would like her name and contact info pm me.
Shemandr, it slows the process down a bit and there is a ton of paper to file but with a knowledgeable expiditor it's not too bad. If you would like her name and contact info pm me.
Check with your state's boat registration folks and also with US Customs. While you can find out a lot of anecdotal stuff on the 'net... it will not replace source information...
Things have changed I am sure, but I imported my prior boat from Canada in 1983. The duty was diminishing each year but in that long-ago time my boat costing $18500 US, invoked a $900. duty when we checked in with US Customs after sailing it into US waters from BC Canada.
It was CN built. All I had was a bill of sale and the survey. Customs guy welcomed me and my boat home!
We cruised and raced that boat for ten years. Happy years. Then we discovered that it was shrinking each year... so we bought the 34 footer that we still have. After a decade of use a boat can sometimes get... smaller.
Things have changed I am sure, but I imported my prior boat from Canada in 1983. The duty was diminishing each year but in that long-ago time my boat costing $18500 US, invoked a $900. duty when we checked in with US Customs after sailing it into US waters from BC Canada.
It was CN built. All I had was a bill of sale and the survey. Customs guy welcomed me and my boat home!
We cruised and raced that boat for ten years. Happy years. Then we discovered that it was shrinking each year... so we bought the 34 footer that we still have. After a decade of use a boat can sometimes get... smaller.
It's way early in the process but it's never bad to have a good Rx. I'll send you a pm.
To add a little info the boat would travel over land on it's own tri-axle trailer from Nova Scotia to Greenport NY. Without the currency lift, sort of speak, it probably wouldn't make economic sense. It may not anyway. Could be a fun boat 'though.
I went the other way, but if I can offer any advice:
- I hired a customs broker. One of the best $250 I ever spent. They collected the taxes, prepared all documentation, contacted the broker for the bill of sale and other documents. The guy who transported the boat spent all of 10 min. at the border (most of it walking to and from the broker's office).
- There is no duty for any of Canadian or USA boats when moving between the two countries. The only payments you need to make are any state/provincial and federal taxes (if this applies to you). Btw. keep the record of paying these taxes for a long time. Our tax-men came after me three years after I brought the boat. Of course, I had the proof of paying them, but if I did not...
- if you are moving the boat by land, make sure that you have a reputable shipper/carrier. There are many who aren't.
No question this is the time to buy in Canada; you get a 30-40% discount.
Good luck
- I hired a customs broker. One of the best $250 I ever spent. They collected the taxes, prepared all documentation, contacted the broker for the bill of sale and other documents. The guy who transported the boat spent all of 10 min. at the border (most of it walking to and from the broker's office).
- There is no duty for any of Canadian or USA boats when moving between the two countries. The only payments you need to make are any state/provincial and federal taxes (if this applies to you). Btw. keep the record of paying these taxes for a long time. Our tax-men came after me three years after I brought the boat. Of course, I had the proof of paying them, but if I did not...
- if you are moving the boat by land, make sure that you have a reputable shipper/carrier. There are many who aren't.
No question this is the time to buy in Canada; you get a 30-40% discount.
Good luck
There is (or was) a very good trailer sailor and/or small motorboats website about moving and buying & selling boats across the border that you might want to see if you can find. If I can, I will let you know. Covers a ton of cross border issues.
I bought a boat in Canada and brought it back into the U.S. I didn't hire anyone. Just went up, looked at it, paid the money and brought it back through customs. The boat had to have proper documentation meaning that paperwork showed where the boat was built (in Canada in my case) and the registration/ownership of the seller. That was it. I paid the fee to cross the border, but no duty charge and I just registered it in the state I live and happily went sailing.