Reduce the tax bill on your boat

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Boat Owners:

If you think the tax on your boat is too high, the Ventura County Assessor just might agree.

If you’ve looked at any brokerage page on the net, you know that your boat isn’t going to sell for anything near the amount you paid. Yet you keep getting tax bills based on that amount.
 

Sancerre

 
If your boat is in Channel Islands Harbor or Ventura Harbor, call the Ventura County Assessor and ask for an assessment appeal form, fill it out and send before the end of November. Don’t bother trying their website. That is an electronic disaster area. Call (805) 654-2181 and request the form.

BTW – the form covers the 2009-2010 tax year and does not affect this year’s taxes.

BTW -2- I intend to file every year for each of my boats. It’s marked on my calendar annually on 1 Oct.

The process takes a long time – about a year, so it looks like I’ll be “in process” all the time if I file a yearly appeal. Even if the economy largely recovers, the value of the boats will likely continue to decline. A sad state of affairs, but a boat fact of life. Don’t let it be more expensive than the law requires.

If you own a boat in California but outside Ventura County, call your county assessor. The process will be similar.

capt. dan

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