Sales tax question

I’m buying a boat from a private party, and was wondering what do I do about sales tax? Do I have to pay any? Which state do I pay it to? I live in Wisconsin, and I’m buying a boat from a private party in Minnesota. I was just trying to figure out if I need to come up with more money here, and by when do I need it.
Thanks in advance!

Theres no sales tax on private party boats in Minnesota. If your going to register it in WI, check with your local license bureau.

As far as I know, anytime there is a private party transaction there shouldn’t be sales tax payed on it. I may be wrong, but it seems rather asinine to have to pay sales tax in that situation.

You got that right. I just transfered my RV into my name from my gals name and they made me pay $600 in sales tax. What a joke.

The DNR will want to know the value on the boat.This is what will appear on the title.You will pay tax on that value.Get a separate reciept from seller for the boat alone to send to the DNR.No need to report items that do not get titled.

So, do I get a receipt for the boat with no motor, trolling motor electronics, etc? That would be quite a bit cheaper.
Thanks,

Cant speak for the WI DNR or WI license bureau. MN DNR will not ask for sales tax or value. Please follow my first post.

You’ll pay the sales tax when you go to register the boat at the courthouse. You’ll need either a sales reciept or they guestimate the value for you. That’s the way they do it in Iowa and should be similar in your state.

that was my experience. I bought the boat in Red Wing and paid sales tax when I registered it in WI

I’ll help confuse this post.

I bought my boat used from a resort owner in MN. Although I did have to show a receipt that I bought it, I didn’t have to pay any sales tax…just the transfer fee.

Perhaps in Minn there isn’t a tax on private sales, unless the transaction includes a dealer. Yes, Brian, now I’m confused.

You only pay sales tax in Mn on vehicles such as cars,RV’s,trailers, etc. Anything that is regulated by the state. Boats,PWC,snowmobiles etc are regulated by the DNR. The DNR can not collect sales tax, they can only collect on the registration.

I have bought 2 boats so far this Spring. Both times I paid sales tax at the DNR office. When you fill out the Boat Registration and Titling sheet, it will ask how much you paid for the boat, this includes-boat, motor, and trailer. If the boat is under 16 foot, there will be no title-just a registration card. In this case you can fudge a little on the purchase price . Either way, you have to pay the taxes.

Well I just did the reverse of you. I bought a boat in WI and registered in MN. Paid no sales tax on boat but did have to pay on the value of the trailer. They told me they use 10% of the sales price as a trailer value. I printed out the NADA value sheet for that age and size trailer which was much less than 10% and she accepted it. They still got me for $158 for a danged trailer!!!!

When you buy a NEW boat you pay the sales tax on the boat/motor at purchase. Then you pay the trailer tax to the county.

With used boats, purchased from a private party , my understanding is that there is no sales tax assessed, at least in Iowa. I believe that is one of the reasons some boat dealers sell used boats “on consignment”. The dealer is not actually sell the boat, the boat owner is the seller. It saves the new buyer sales tax. Any boat dealers in your area should have the answer to sales tax questions, as should your county treasurer’s office.

When you fill out the paperwork to register it in WI, the paperwork will ask the price you paid for the rig and then tax will be added to the registration fee. You get nailed for state tax-5%, county tax(if your county does it) and then if you’re lucky to be over in the Milwaukee/Green Bay area you could pay the football or baseball stadium sales tax too

If you have adobe acrobat reader, here is the registration form.

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/caer/cs/servicecenter/forms/9400193.pdf

I’ll add th the confusion. I bought my boat from an out of state private party and paid sales tax based upon the trailer and its value. The value used to calculate the tax came from a purchase agreement the seller and I designed for the sale. We obviously took into account the sales tax I would be paying a listed the trailer value accordingly.