Import fees and related costs

[john-o]

This may have been covered in another thread, so sorry for the redundancy.
A trawler made in China, that is resold in the USA by the first owner, who flagged the trawler in the USA, who has already paid all the import fees, are subsequent buyers obligated to pay the import fees again, even if the new owner will flag the trawler in the USA?
** I know the question is worded awkwardly, but I didn't know how to word it any other way.

 

[gsholz]

The fee only applies when importing the vessel.

 

[Steppe]

Couple of points:

1. Duty on a Chinese built boat is due upon import, either paid by the first owner or the company that imports for resale.

2. Duty is not levied upon new vessels manufactured in Canada or Mexico.

3. If a Chinese vessel was imported into Canada and flagged/registered in Canada then subsequently sold to an American and imported into the US duty would be required on the current value of the used boat. This would even apply to a Chinese or Taiwanese boat built in the 1980s and never imported into the US, albeit the value would be significantly different.

4. Duty on vessel used to be 1.5% of value at import. I believe the duty on importation of vessels from China was substantially increased by Trump during the trade wars. Not sure if it has been lowered back to the previous level.

5. You will occasionally see a yacht advertised as "not for sale in the US". This doesn't mean an American can't but it just that the boat hasn't been imported into the US, duties have not been paid and the seller is not willing to pay the fees to import and register the boat in the US prior to sale. In this case you can buy it, hire an agency to help process the import than document or register and title the boat somewhere in the US.

 

[Pete Meisinger]

So very many things are made in places other than the U.S. Cars, jewelry, oil, plastic, food, you name it.

Duties and tariffs get paid once and after that it is a used item with no further tariff due.

pete

 

[koliver]

So very many things are made in places other than the U.S. Cars, jewelry, oil, plastic, food, you name it.

Duties and tariffs get paid once and after that it is a used item with no further tariff due.

pete

This has been my experience, both my dinghy, made in Venezuela, its outboard, made in Japan and a car, made in Germany. All were imported and duty paid into the US. When I imported each into Canada, under NAFTA, no further duty, as all were, by then, used goods.
Check with your Customs guys to be sure.