VESSEL
TAX ASSESSMENT
Marine surveyors’ primary product to the boating community
is a vessel condition and valuation report. By default marine
surveyors have become the de-facto vessel appraisers in the
United States. Due to the falling value of vessels, Christian
& Company has received numerous requests for appraisals
in order to lower the basis for property tax assessment. As
a result, we did some research to educate ourselves and to
share what we learned with others who may be interested.
In
California there is a state personal property tax of 1% per
year. The research we did was primarily through the San Diego
Tax Assessors office; they are extremely helpful. They appraise
vessels and assess taxes, which include the 1% state personal
property tax and may include slightly more taxes depending
on geographic location for items such as retiring bonds. The
additional localized taxes seldom are more than .2 percent.
The address for the San Diego marine and aviation tax assessor’s
office is 9225 Claremont Mesa Blvd. 1st Floor, San Diego,
California 92123. Phone numbers for San Diego, Orange County,
Los Angeles and Ventura counties are included at the end of
this document.
All
vessels located within the county on January 1st of each year
are subject to the tax. A list of all vessels registered in
the state of California is provided to the tax assessor’s
office by the California Department of Motor Vehicles. The
DMV does not collect the property tax on vessels; it is collected
by the County Assessors office. Marina operators provide a
list of slip renters and the assessors office has a team of
four who “walk the docks”, collecting information
on vessels to supplement the information provided by marina
operators. This is the method for obtaining a list of U.S.
documented vessels that are subject to the tax.
When
the vessel first appears on the tax assessor’s roll,
it is appraised. The assessor appraises the value as of January
1st of each year. The initial value may be determined by the
purchase price or through appraisal techniques. Among tools
available and used by the assessor’s office are value
guide books including A.B.O.S., N.A.D.A. and B.U.C. and value
data bases available on the internet. Due to the number of
vessels which require appraisal and the limited personnel,
the value of an individual vessel is not thoroughly and extensively
researched by the tax assessor’s office and vessel inspections
are not performed. They appraise thousands of vessels and
thus are unable to spend too much time on each appraisal.
After
an initial value of a vessel is established, the subsequent
value is adjusted annually per a depreciation scale determined
by the tax assessor’s office. A higher depreciation
percentage is applied to new vessels and the percentage of
depreciation decreases with age.
Based
on our experience, vessel values have suffered a significant
decrease in the last two years and are currently trending
rapidly downward. We recommend you take a few moments to review
the appraised value of your vessel and feel free to call or
email us if you would like a free verbal approximation of
its value. Perhaps a formal appraisal of your vessel will
allow a reduction in taxes for the immediate tax bill and
for years to come.
The
tax assessor’s office has no firm or written guidelines
as to what they will accept as proof of value for your vessel.
There is a handbook available through the State Board of Equalization.
A marine survey is one of the options available for you to
document the current value of your vessel. The tax assessor’s
office will consider any documentation and if they agree,
they will change the appraised value and the tax accordingly.
If they disagree with your value an appeal can be made. Appeals
are initially addressed with a second consideration of the
value and are followed with a board review if the vessel owner
and the assessor’s office still disagree on valuation.
Christian
& Company Marine Surveyors, Inc. would be happy to provide
a written valuation of your vessel and our fee is often less
than the tax savings in a single year, with additional financial
benefits in the years to follow.
County
Tax Assessor – Marine and Aviation contact telephone
numbers:
San
Diego 858-505-6200
Los
Angeles 213-974-3119
Orange
County 714-834-2772
Ventura
805-654-2193
