South Carolina Owners (boat property tax question)

[srock]

Thinking of buying in SC so I am interested in this. Here is what I found.

Casual Excise Tax When Buying a Boat or Motor

When you buy a boat or boat motor in South Carolina, you have to pay a casual excise tax. The tax is effectively a sales tax and applies to both new and used boats and motors.

You have to pay the tax before you can receive a title and register the boat.

The tax rate is 5% of the purchase price up to a maximum tax of $500 when you buy a boat.

If you buy a standalone motor separately from a boat, the tax rate is 6% of the purchase price with no cap.


Depending on the county you live in, your annual boat taxes could be around 2% to 6% of your boat’s current value. You can find an estimate of your boat’s current fair market value in the ABOS Marine Bluebook or similar guides.

To calculate your boat’s actual property taxes:

• Find its fair market value
• Multiply by 10.5%
• Multiply by your local personal property tax millage rate (typically .2 to .6).

[srock]

Seems a bit steep. If the above is accurate, I have to believe people are finding a work-around.

[bturner]

So on my 72K boat using 5% rate I'd be at $378 a year. What a racket but at least I'm not taking a loan for the tax every year. Please tell me you at least don't have a state income tax.

[Scooter G]

What the..? Glad I don't own a '23 Paragon in SC.
I guess if I could swing the Paragon, I could swing the taxes.
It would definitely be registered in a 2nd Cousin's name in another State, no doubt.

[mgs917]

So on my 72K boat using 5% rate I'd be at $378 a year. What a racket but at least I'm not taking a loan for the tax every year. Please tell me you at least don't have a state income tax.

That would be the casual excise tax at the time of purchase.

Your property tax is 10.5% of value X millage rate .2-.6 (2-6%)

72000 x 10.5 = 7560 7560(.2) = 1512 7560(.6) = 4536.

So your ANNUAL tax bill would be $1512-4536 range.

[bturner]

Holly cow. That's just nuts. That means you have to pay between $100 to $400 a month for the privilege's of owning property you already paid sales tax on. I don't know how you guys can afford that. Do you pay this on cars/trucks too?

I always had the impression the south in general had a lower cost of living and tax structure. There I go thinking again.

[Rednucleus]

mgs917 2% & 6% should be 0.02 & 0.06 multiplier I think

[mgs917]

Rednucleus, yes, you’re correct. I meant 20-60% millage rate. If you look back in the thread my rate was around 52% or .52. I just misspoke in my example above, but the math is correct for 20-60%

[core-rider]

So just a question… I live in AL. If I decided to move to SC and bring my boat would I have to pay their property tax as well? I cant imaging having to pay that of money on a boat Ipaid off years ago.

[mgs917]

core-rider, if you register the boat in South Carolina, I believe the property tax would still apply.

[bturner]

Do you pay that tax on your cars too?

Also how does that work if you're buying a boat? For example, you go to the dealer and buy say a $175K boat and finance $150K. Do you start paying that tax on the $175K or just the portion you own which would be the $25K? Still seems crazy to me. I mean if you're paying on the 175K you would have the bank payment of say $1200/month and then another what? $200 - $800/month of property tax on top of it? Is this the same for cars, trucks, planes and such as well?

Sorry to keep digging on this but this whole concept of paying property tax on something like a boat beyond the sales tax it really mind blowing to me.

[MN Ryan]

I'm with you, bturner, and I live in MN (aka The Land of 10K Taxes).

[mgs917]

bturner, We pay property tax on cars, but it is only like 5% of market value. I paid about $300 per vehicle each year. You have to pay that tax in order to renew your annual registration. I believe it is capped at $500 per vehicle but not 100% certain on that.

RV's are also taxed. My in-laws paid almost $2000 dollars for tax this year. That was on a 100,000 5th wheel trailer.

To answer your question about financing; you have to pay 10.5% of the boats market value which they pull from NADA or similar sources.

Say you have a 2022 G23 valued at 200,000. They would base the tax off of 10.5% of the value or 21,000. Then you have to pay anywhere from 20-60% based on the county you live in. That is the millage rate. 20% = 4200, 60% =12600.

So a G23 valued at 200,000 would land you a tax bill of somewhere in the $4200-12,600 range, but on the bright side it is based on market value so in theory that number should go down with each passing year as the 'fair market value' depreciates.

Edit: I believe I saw planes listed at similar rates as boats when I was digging around for information on this tax.

[bturner]

Thanks for taking the time to explain that. That's just insane from this northern boy's perspective. That would probably make me think twice about either owning my toys or moving south to a state that taxes like that. You southerners don't have to worry about this yankee moving south based on that tax structure.

We do pay a license plate fee up here based on vehicle value that has continued to go up every year. I think on my 2019 Tahoe it was something like $300 last year. The 70 Mach1 I have is registered as a historic vehicle, that plate was a one time fee of something like $150 and doesn't expire. On boats you pay sales tax at time of purchase and a flat fee to renew the registration every 3 years. I want to say registration is something like $120. Boat trailers get a flat fee for the plate that was something like $150 but you never renew the plate or are charged anything again while you own it. If you don't put a plate on something like a car or boat you pay nothing to continue to own it.

I guess if you grow up with that tax structure it seems normal and you automatically factor in the never ending tax bill as part of ownership. From here it just sound so wrong to continue being taxed on something you've paid tax on already and will continue to do so even if you're not using it.

[Rednucleus]

bturner WA is pretty much what you describe. I thought it really sucked until I read this thread!!