Indiana Excise Tax

[nofearengineer]

Okay, I just bought my boat and trailer. I know I have to pay my sales tax in the state of Indiana (7% ). However, when I look at our state codes, it calls for excise tax on both the boat and the trailer, done separately. Having bought this boat from a guy who bought it from....I have no original bill of sale. Of course, the excise tax is based on the original sales price. How do I go about getting this information? Honestly, I don't even know of any way to legally find out, since that information was between someone else and the dealer. How do I keep the BMV from screwing me over by inflating the sales price for the purposes of calculating the tax?

This owning a boat thing is going to be fun, I can tell.

[WTL]

Thats a weird law. You are positive you have to pay the tax on the original list price and not the depreciated value?

[JB]

we live eight minutes from the indiana border and they complain about sales tax on all vehicles all the time

[CMorg]

I bought a boat last year , its on the depreciated value ( what YOU paid for it ).

[MallenManson]

Originally Posted by WTL

Thats a weird law. You are positive you have to pay the tax on the original list price and not the depreciated value?

100% in agreement here. That's like buying a 10 year old truck, yet paying tax on the 1999 price.

[MallenManson]

P.S.
I gave the secretary of state lady the price i paid for the boat way back when i bought it. my registration cost 43 bucks for the next 3 years

[woody]

The information below has been copied and pasted from the INDIANA TAX CODE.

IC 6-6-11-10
Amount of tax; computation
Sec. 10. (a) The amount of boat excise tax that a boat owner shall pay for a boating year is based on the boat's class and age.
(b) Motorized boats and sailboats are classified for excise tax purposes according to the value of the boat when the boat was new. The amount of excise tax for a boating year that is imposed for a motorized boat or a sailboat and owed by the boat owner is prescribed in the following table:


MOTORIZED BOAT'S or SAILBOAT'S VALUE

CLASS WHEN NEW TAX DUE
AT LEAST but LESS THAN
1 $ 0 .01 $ 500 $ 2
2 500 1,000 6
3 1,000 1,500 20
4 1,500 2,000 30
5 2,000 3,000 42
6 3,000 5,000 55
7 5,000 7,500 70
8 7,500 10,000 88
9 10,000 15,000 110
10 15,000 22,500 150
11 22,500 35,000 200
12 35,000 50,000 275
13 50,000 75,000 375
14 75,000 or more 500


~Mark

[WTL]

At least it wont be much more than a couple hundred, worst case.

I would call the dmv and ask them, point blank, how much your boat was worth when new. If they cant give you a good answer, guestimate it and pay that amount.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In order for you to get in trouble for payin the wrong amount, there has to be a bureaucrat somewhere who says "no, the 1999 x cat bass boat retailed for 35,999.99....time to audit".

And I actually dont think that bad of a bureaucrat even exists, even at the state dmv or whoever takes care of this. Chances are they are well familiar with the stupidity of that law and as long as you dont lowball it by a huge amount (claim the same boat sold for $25 bucks new or something) you'll prolly get by.


Disclaimer; Not legal advice. I know nothing.

[nofearengineer]

It's a 2005 Tracker Avalanche with Trailstar trailer and 115 Optimax. It's pretty well-equipped, but doesn't have every bell and whistle. I was figuring the combo cost around $21,000 when new. NADA online says 20,560, but I've heard that the online figures do not match what's actually in the physical book, which is what dealers and bankers go by.

Assuming $21,000 is correct, would you say the trailer was about $3,000 and the motor $8,000 in 2005? I don't know if I would be able to get that information from a Tracker dealer; he might give me the sky-high price they like to start a deal with.

[zooker]

enigeer
why are you complaining? pay the tax....

afore ya start.
when i pay mine it is for the 275 pro xl stratos.. i own a j-160 stratos but cause mine is not in the nada book they charge for the closest one..

zooker

[nofearengineer]

I'm not complaining about paying the tax, although it does take a pretty big chunk out of your backside. What irks me is how complicated they make it. I think they like it where you stop trying to figure out what is owed. Then the BMV is pretty much free to make up things as they go along.

As it turned out, they didn't charge me any excise tax. But they did overcharge me on the registration for the boat and trailer. Both of these amounts I looked up in the Indiana code on indiana.gov. I saw legal filings dated April 2009 that have different amounts and rates than what I was charged. Even though the grand total ended up being slightly less than what I thought it would be , it would be nice if the government was consistent with their own documents.

Either way...it's over. I'm going to go fishing now and enjoy myself.

[CMorg]

Originally Posted by CMorg

I bought a boat last year , its on the depreciated value ( what YOU paid for it ).

You know what ? I remember them asking me what it cost new....now I know why. I was wrong in my earlier post