Importing a boat from Canada

davidbrooks

I read through some posts on others experiences in buying a boat in Canada and importing it into the US to be registered and used in the states.  I do see a lot of misinformation though and conflicting information out there.  I wanted to see if there were any experts with some real experience that could point me in the right direction.  There are several factors involved.  Buying used vs new, for personal use and then that the boat was originally manufactured in the US.  I am looking at used and something small enough that i would bring it back on a trailer.  So, the trailer is a question also. Here are a few questions to get started.

Do you pay sales tax if the boat is through a broker?  What is that?  I have heard there are two taxes possibly.
How do I specifically get documentation for the boat that customs will ok?  How do i prove where the motor and boat were manufactured?
What custom forms are needed for the boat?
What custom forms are needed for the trailer?

Do i need temp tags for the trailer from Canada?

What happens at the border?  Any taxes collected on entry?

I was hoping to just bring cash so i didnt have to deal with banks and wire delays.  Then i read that anything over $10k and they could potentially seize it as illicit money.  My hope was to drive up, check out the boat.  Sea trial and survey in one day and then leave the next for home. Is that realistic?  

thanks in advance for your advice.

YYZRC

I have done the reverse - I have bought two boats in the US and imported to Canada. One was through a broker and shipped to me (Rinker 330 from NY State). The other was a Four Winns on a trailer and I hauled it back from Skipper Buds in Wisconsin. Both boats made in USA. Maybe this will help a bit. 

Canadian boats don’t have a title document so it can be difficult to prove ownership. You should get a pleasure craft registration document with the sellers info on it. If the seller cannot provide this, I means that s/he did not transfer the boat into their name properly to avoid taxes. 

Taxes should be tied to your state policy (in Ontario, used boats are taxed always). For both boats, I used a customs broker recommended to me by a boat shipper and pre-cleared the boat. For the boat I was trailering into Canada, this meant that all I had to do was show that sales taxes were paid when I spoke to the agent at the border. The fee for this service was about $200. 

For the trailer, you will need the ownership from the seller and a bill of sale specific for the trailer. You should ask the seller ahead of time if they have the trailer ownership - again, it is common that people won’t transfer the trailer into their name to avoid taxes. I drove the trailer back with the Wisconsin plate on it and then plated it with Ontario plates when we got here. I wasn’t able to get plates ahead of time because I didn’t have the title document in hand (boat/trailer had a lien on it). I figured since I had all the paperwork it wasn’t a big issue in the event that I got pulled over. 

You can carry more than $10k across the border, you just need to declare it and state the reason you have the cash with you. Have a copy of the boat listing with you that shows the selling price so there is consistency. 

There should be no customs duties as long as the boat is made in North America. The HIN # of the boat indicates the country of manufacture. If it’s got an outboard on it, I’m not sure how they interpret that but if the seller has the original paperwork for the boat you could use that to show the motor and boat were sold as a package. 

I bought a spare tire for the trailer (it didn’t have one) and brought tools including a jack in the event of a blowout as I knew the tires were old and the trailer was only used for winter storage. I also had it greased before leaving. Turned out that a tire did blow so that was lucky.