[jason555]

Another point of interest to take note of is the sales tax you pay when you purchase a boat. In Florida if you purchase a boat with an outboard motor you only have to pay sales tax on the value of the hull because the motor is not a permanent part of the boat. So you can therefore get a bill of sale from the owner and breakdown the large components. For example if you pay $10,000 for a boat, you cn breakdown the bill of sale to say $2000 for hull, and $8000 for outboard motor (assuming the value of the motor is close to this amount). Your sales tax will be based on hull value only. You can also break out electronics and trailer value from that gross purchase price. This is great info if you are trying to sell your boat and the buyer has a hard time coming up with sales tax money, or you are buying a boat and can save a bunch of sales tax dollars come registration time. This only works in private sales. If you buy from a dealer they will charge you full sale tax on purchase price only. I did this last year when I purchased my 23 from a private party. One other fact about the antique decal. If you rgistered or renwed your reg this year and your boat qualified for the antique vessel program, you can go to the tax office and get an abatement form, fill it out and request a refund of the registration $ you paid and they will refund the regisration amount less the antique vessel fee to you. They will only go back on the current year. I found out about this and tried to go back three years but they would only go back the one year. Problem is most of the clerks do not k now about these laws until you make them do some research then they find them and apply them to you.