Boat Property Tax - Protect yourself.

[AnglersPursuit]

Hello boat owners and future boat owners.

Wanted to give some of you heads up on property taxes on your boat. For those of you already familiar with this and agree to that extortion this post isn’t for you.

For those thinking of buying a boat or maybe just purchased your boat I want to give you some tips so you’re not over taxed on your “property”...I mean boat.

First, when you buy a boat and trailer ask your dealer to separate the cost of the trailer on the invoice. The reason is that your local county assessor cannot use the trailer value when assessing the value of your boat. And they will. If your dealer writes you up for a lump sum then the assessor will go with that. They will not, unless yours is a good one, call the dealer and ask if the trailer value is included into the cost and how much the trailer is. This is important because even if you let them know the trailer should not be included they will use an arbitrary number to value your trailer and that number will be much less than what you actually paid.

Next and this is important. Ask them if they used the NADA guide as per the BOE to value your boat. Ask them to show you what the NADA lists your boat at. I believe they are required per the BOE to use the NADA but even if they don’t it tells you where they should be at instead of the value they come up with. My assessor valued my boat at $30k when I paid $29k out the door and that included $3k in sales tax and $3k on the trailer. That’s 6,000 over value. Roughly after fees comes out to $70.00 over taxed. To the financially gifted this may not be a lot but times that over all the boat owners and you can see what their up to. Also if you don’t fight back on that valuation they will use that for the following year as the amount to work off. You may be surprised to hear that my boat was valued exactly the same in 2019 as it was in 2018. Not $1.00 in devaluation.

Protect yourself and ask for a review based on what I’ve posted. It’s your money and we both know giving it to them isn’t going to benefit you, your waterways or your fishery.

Good luck!

[MGJR]

Even when I provided backup on cost of my boat - my County valued it as they saw fit, with no explanation. And yes - no devaluation. Something I need to press on this year. Also - rather than saving the data each year - I have to provide all backup every year. Really awesome.

[AnglersPursuit]

Even when I provided backup on cost of my boat - my County valued it as they saw fit, with no explanation. And yes - no devaluation. Something I need to press on this year. Also - rather than saving the data each year - I have to provide all backup every year. Really awesome.

They should be following the rules set forth by the BOE and at the very minimum provide to you what guide they used to price your boat. There is also an appeals process that they will need to provide that information.

In speaking to the BOE however, they are a bit like the FCC and FTC, all bark and no bite. It sounds to me like these assessors know their is no oversight or clear rules they are to follow and make up their values as they want. Revenue generation is their motivator, not fair representation.

The BOE explained to me today that they can use sales tax in the valuation of your boat. Their agent had a hard time providing to me the tax code that allows them to do that but he cheerfully told me all about how they can tax you on sales tax.

Most people choose to leave CA for these reasons. Some choose to push back. As fisherman we are getting attacked from every angle and crap like this needs to be met head on.

I hope raising awareness gets others motivated to do the same. They’ll keep taking and taking as long as we let them. Taxing sales tax? How the heck did things get this out of control?

I told em Id gladly sell the boat to the county at the rate they valued it at and they declined. Apparently it’s a good deal for me but not for them.

[monte300]

When I bought my boat new in 2000 it cost $30,500 and the personal property tax was about $300 or 1% of the value. Now that it's 2020 it costs me something like $70 a year. The first 11 years of it's life the boat resided in Contra Costa County. The last 8 or so years it's been stored at Whiskey Slough which is in San Joaquin County. Around 5 years ago I received a letter in the mail saying that going forward I will be getting charged by San Joaquin County instead of Contra Costa for my annual personal property tax. It took them two or three years to realize the boat was being stored in a different county.

[AnglersPursuit]

When I bought my boat new in 2000 it cost $30,500 and the personal property tax was about $300 or 1% of the value. Now that it's 2020 it costs me something like $70 a year. The first 11 years of it's life the boat resided in Contra Costa County. The last 8 or so years it's been stored at Whiskey Slough which is in San Joaquin County. Around 5 years ago I received a letter in the mail saying that going forward I will be getting charged by San Joaquin County instead of Contra Costa for my annual personal property tax. It took them two or three years to realize the boat was being stored in a different county.

This brings up another point about the assessors and the various counties. They don’t have to follow the same rules. I had one county tell the other their assessment was too high and they professionally responded. “Our territory, not yours”. So there is no consistency whatsoever between counties. This was confirmed by the BOE. Basically these guys can do whatever they want with no oversight, no standardized procedures and even no evidence as to where they get their valuation from.