Buying a used boat

[mistaredone]

So I’ve been in the market for a fish and ski and have ran into some colourful characters so far and never a straight forward transaction. So the one I’m looking at now is a US boat being sold in Canada. So if I go to obtain a pleasure craft licence with a bill of sale am I going to have to show proof of duties being paid on the boat? Any way I can look up to confirm the boat is not stolen from the US Indian to be exact.  I know this all sounds like a bad idea. This whole process should be fun but has been nothing but stress

[BillM]

So the boat can't come across the border without the title being in hand and values for both the trailer and the boat itself being declared.  I'm assuming the boat is already here?  If so, those steps have already been taken and the duty/tax paid.

Has the trailer been registered here before?  If so, the tax on that has already been paid as well.    Has the boat ever been registered in Ontario?  

[mikeh]

I think duties and taxes should have been paid when it was brought across the border, unless they said they were going on a fishing trip to canada. 

[mistaredone]

The guy has a cottage up north.  Spends six weeks a year here.  The boat is registered in Indiana never in Ontario. 

[BillM]

So then the boat has never been officially imported.   You'll need to pay all the associated fees along with that (Duty, tax, RIV fee etc).   It's not all that complicated to be honest, the process of importing our Lund from Michigan took about 10mins at the border.   

[mistaredone]

Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking. From what I’ve read so far it’s $250 to have someone clear the title in the states. Bill of sale and proof of sales price that I have through messaging. Duty’s are free because the boat is built in North America?  Just HST?  I read duty is 9% if made outside North America 

[DRIFTER_016]

I just brought a hovercraft and trailer back from Wisconsin.

At the border I had to fill out paperwork for the trailer and pay GST on the purchase amount.

That is all.

[HTHM]

In order to save a lot of potential grief, I would suggest that you do the transaction in the States and pull the boat over the border yourself. My understanding is that they take a very dim view of a transaction done in Canada for US property. 

http://boating.ncf.ca/buy-usa.html

[BillM]

16 hours ago, mistaredone said:

Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking. From what I’ve read so far it’s $250 to have someone clear the title in the states. Bill of sale and proof of sales price that I have through messaging. Duty’s are free because the boat is built in North America?  Just HST?  I read duty is 9% if made outside North America 

Is Indiana a title state?  I know anything under 20ft in Michigan and there is no title.  This is the stuff you need to figure out.  You either need the title or something from a bank stating there are no liens on the boat.   At the border you'll pay RIV and GST, when you register the trailer with the MTO you'll pay HST on that.   Make sure you've got two receipts, one for the boat, one for the trailer (Obviously you want the trailer to be the cheaper one of the two because this is what you're paying tax on at the MTO)