Bass Fishing Forum - Westernbass.com

Is it worth it to register your boat out of state?
No sales tax and luxury taxes
I have heard alot of bass guys do

My boat is registered in Tx, aswell as my trucks. But I'm a Tx resident living in California, (Military).

You still have to pay sales taxes to the state and yearly registration fees. Tx doesn't have a luxury tax. The only way to legally get out of paying taxes, is if you buy a boat and register it in a state with no sales tax (ex:...Delaware)

.....And Montana.


My dad has made the trip to Montana 5 times in the last three years (4 vheicles and one harley)

I was gona do it when I bought my '05 Dodge -- But insurance here would only cover me as a driver and not my wife.


There are loop holes to avoid the CA Luxury tax here in CA ....... You just gotta find them.

I think I have avoided it on my newest boat forever-- (My boat ain't worth paying a yearly "Luxury" tax in the first place......... But CoCo County still wanted their handout witch I avoided.)

Well this guy wants to sell me his boat.
He lives in ca. but his boat is registered in ariz. as a non resident.
Supposedly there is a place on the reg form you check as non resident.
Says there is no problem and totally legal

Any thoughts?

I personall would double - tripple look into it ...... AND Insurance as well.


I do know that many from CA went to NV to purchase the Dodge Diesel New from the Dealer when the 600 series motor first came out..... and were not able to title/register them in CA until they had 7500 miles on them.

The ones that had to do it legal...... had to open a PO box from someone they knew in NV and have the bills sent there while they put as much miles as they could as fast as they could.


I have another close Bro that recently purchased one from AZ. He went ahead and paid the CA sales tax. The way it works is if then is CA charges you the OVERAGE Balace of what you paid from the state purchased -- and can register in CA as new/used.

--It is Bogus because all the new Dodge Diesel's are 49 state complied with CA being the role model for all these motors running on ULSD.


My dad has purchased his vheicles here in CA - then went to Montana to register the trucks/cars....... he had to drive them to there to Mont. DMV and then back -- For the Harley he was able to just fly there and register it.

My dad has Insurance through AARP...... My mom is covered as well with MO plates/Reg -- We looked into it ourselves and our insurance company, Mercury. would not cover my wife.

When you buy a boat it's tough to avoid paying sales tax, but I thought I read a post where in Ca you have to pay a yearly type of tax? In Nev we reg our trailers with the dmv but the boat is through fish and game. Seems you could at least register the boat after all sales tax and stuff was done here in Nv to avoid the yearly taxes.

My boat has been registered in Arizona since the day I bought it. Non-resident, no problem. The trailer is registered in California because non-resident for trailer is not an option. When I purchased it I had both registered in Arizona and shortly got pulled over by California Highway Patrol. He said I had to register the trailer in California since I didn't have a residence in Arizona but he said he could do nothing about the boat. So california knows I have a trailer manufatured by Ranger Boats but knows nothing of the boat.

Rest eazy amigo. I've had three boats registered the same way. Boat registration thru AZ and trailer registration thru CA DMV. Legal and far less expensive. AZ knows that alot of CA boaters are starting to get word on this and have increased the fees for the past 3 years.

My 2004 Champ 198 cost $129.50 just for the boat- that's it. The trailer was a one-time fee for the permanant license.

Keep in mind this only works for boat and trailers -- NOT cars or trucks.

If you have more questions, shoot me an email.

Personal experiance, last boat I had came from AZ. I kept it that way for severl years, lake ranger stopped me one day, cal. drivers and fishing license, AZ tags on boat, works fine till you get checked then you are going to have to make the change, unless,,,,,,,,,, you are close to the border , mead havasu or the like then it works. fortunatly no fine or penaltys, just adds on to the tax role you already have. If you are in the military, you can bypass this and keep your stuff registerd in your home state no problem. stay with the AZ plates as long as you can, apply for non resident tags from AZ dept of fish and wildlife.