NY Boat in Florida - Get FL registered?

I am currently a NY resident and kept my boat docked in NY for many years. I expect that I will remain a legal resident of NY for at least a few more years. I recently brought the boat down to Florida and intend to keep it at a marina there for the foreseeable future or even forever.

The boat is registered in NY and federally documented.

Since I am keeping the boat in Florida, I seems that the right/legal thing to do is to register in Florida. If that is correct and I do not have a residence in Florida - can I still register it there? Should I register it there?

Yes you will need to register it in Florida. The state gives you 90 days reciprocity if you are registered in another state, after that they expect you to be Florida registered. If no out of state registration (doesn't apply in your case) they expect you to register on day 1. It's no problem for out of state residents to register in Florida.

Yes, you should. As you have owned the boat before bringing it to FL, there is no sales tax. Your will pay a titling fee and registration only.

Ted

Thanks guys.
My 90 days have run out already but hopefully nobody is counting.

From the DMV website it looks like I have to do this in person and DMV offices are all closed until April 19. Hopefully the virus situation or at least some of the restrictions can be done by then so I can travel down to Florida and take care of it.

O C Diver said:

Yes, you should. As you have owned the boat before bringing it to FL, there is no sales tax. Your will pay a titling fee and registration only.

Ted

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Ted
Does FL actually issue a title for a documented boat or just charge the fee?
Just curious...
I know in NY a documented vessel has to be registered (so they can collect tax & fee) but no numbers or title is issued.

Bacchus said:

Ted
Does FL actually issue a title for a documented boat or just charge the fee?
Just curious...
I know in NY a documented vessel has to be registered (so they can collect tax & fee) but no numbers or title is issued.

Click to expand...

No title if federally documented, I missed the documented part. They go through the process, assign numbers for your boat that don't have to be displayed, and the sticker that must be displayed. I believe, although not positive, that the hailing port must be in FL.

FL offers a discount on your registration if you have an EPIRB or PLB. The discount is significant and increase with size of the vessel. You will need to submit a copy of the NOAA registration for the EPIRB each time you renew your registration, to get the discount.

Ted

O C Diver said:

I believe, although not positive, that the hailing port must be in FL.

Click to expand...

The hailing port does not need to be in Florida.

Federal Documentation includes a Title. That is why in states that don't title a vessel, the banks require that you document the vessel in order to have a title to place a lien on.

If you are in a state the titles vessels and you document with the USCG, then that state will issue a registration, but not a title. Regardless of whether you are documented with the USCG almost all states require a registration if you boat beyond their minimum time frame. This means you might need to register in multiple states.

Documented boats don't display state registration stickers for this purpose. Some states have a different colored registration sticker to denote documented vs non-documented.

NOTE: If, Almost, Some. There are no absolutes in life, however one thing is for certain. How they do it in "X' state is not relevant to the OP's post. His post is specific to NY and FL.

And, if your boat is 30 or more years old, it can be registered in Florida as an antique. My antique registration was $32.50 total for 2 years on a 40 foot trawler and dingy.

Alzero is 32 years old and we pay $40 a year for Florida registration. The tender is a 2008 and we owe a lot more, can’t recall offhand how much though.

From a florida tax collector office (includes DMV).


I do believe the requirements were updated to include "original engine"....guessing rebuilt is acceptable.


Each county has a different administrative fee amount.

https://www.sarasotataxcollector.com/services/other-services/vessels-boating/registration-antique

Antique Vessel Registration


Antique Vessel Registration
The following requirements must be met in order to be registered as an antique vessels:

• At least 30 years old
• Used for non-commercial (recreational) purposes only
• Powered by the vessel’s original type of power; engine of same year and model that the vessel had originally.

If your vessel meets the requirements, the Application for Antique Registration Form must be submitted to one of our Service Centers. Antique vessels are exempt from an annual registration fee and only pay the service fee of $6.25 annually.