Wis. Admin. Code Department of Revenue Tax 11.85

Current through September 30, 2024

Section Tax 11.85 - Boats, vessels, and barges

(1) TAXABLE SALES. Taxable receipts involving boats include the following:

(a) The receipts from the sale, license, lease, or rental of boats and boat accessories, and of attachments, parts, supplies, and materials therefor, by any retailer registered or required to be registered to collect Wisconsin sales or use tax, regardless of whether the retailer is a boat dealer.

(b) Charges for services involved in installing an item on a boat for a consumer.

(c) Charges for repair, service, alteration, fitting, cleaning, painting, coating, towing, inspecting, and maintaining boats and their accessories or component parts. Services purchased outside Wisconsin, which would be taxable if purchased in Wisconsin, with respect to property later used in Wisconsin, are subject to use tax.

Example: Individual A, a resident of Wisconsin, takes his boat to Illinois to have it repaired. No Illinois tax is charged to Individual A on the repair services. Individual A brings the boat back to Wisconsin where it is used. Individual A owes Wisconsin use tax on the purchase of the repair services performed in Illinois.

(d) Charges for docking and storing boats. The tax applies to boat storage in public storage warehouses.

(2) EXEMPT SALES.

(a) The sale of a boat not required to be registered in Wisconsin with the Wisconsin department of natural resources or documented under the laws of the United States may qualify as an exempt occasional sale if the transferor does not hold and is not required to hold a seller's permit.

(b) Sales of boats to the spouse, parent, stepparent, father-in-law, mother-in-law, child, stepchild, son-in-law, or daughter-in-law of the transferor are exempt if the boat was previously registered or titled with the Wisconsin department of natural resources, if required to be registered or titled, or documented under the laws of the United States in the transferor's name and if the transferor is not engaged in the business of selling boats.

(bm) The sale of a boat by a nonprofit organization meeting the requirements in s. Tax 11.35(4).

(c) Vessels and barges primarily engaged in interstate or foreign commerce or commercial fishing that are documented under the laws of the United States showing a net volumetric tonnage of 50 tons or more are exempt from the tax. Accessories, attachments, and parts attached to the vessel or barge and fuel for the vessels and barges are also exempt.

(d) A boat purchased outside Wisconsin by a nonresident and used by the nonresident while temporarily in Wisconsin shall be exempt from the tax if the boat is not used in Wisconsin in the conduct of a trade, occupation, business, or profession or in the performance of personal services for wages or fees. The use tax does not apply to a boat for an individual's personal use purchased by a nonresident outside this state 90 days or more before bringing the boat into Wisconsin in connection with a change of domicile to this state.

(e) A boat purchased by a Wisconsin or federal governmental unit or by certain nonprofit organizations is exempt from the tax, regardless of the boat's size or kind, pursuant to s. 77.54(9a) or 77.55(1), Stats.

(f) Section 77.53(17m), Stats., exempts a boat purchased in a state contiguous to this state, as determined under s. 77.522, Stats., by a person domiciled in that state if the boat is berthed in this state's boundary waters adjacent to the state of the domicile of the purchaser and if the transaction was an exempt occasional sale under the laws of the state in which the purchase was made.

(g) Section 77.54(30) (a) 7, Stats., exempts fuel sold for use in motorboats that are regularly employed in carrying persons for hire for sport fishing in and upon the outlying waters, as defined in s. 29.001(63), Stats., and the rivers and tributaries specified in s. 29.2285(2) (a) 1 and 2., Stats., if the owner and all operators are licensed under s. 29.514, Stats., to operate the boat for that purpose.

(3) PAYMENT OF TAX.

(a) No boat may be registered in Wisconsin unless the registrant presents proof that the sales or use tax has been paid or that the transaction was exempt. If the registrant does not present proof that the tax has been paid, the registrant shall pay the tax at the time the boat is registered or titled in Wisconsin, even though the boat may also be used out-of-state.

(b) A boat purchased outside Wisconsin which is required to be registered under Wisconsin law is subject to the Wisconsin use tax, regardless of the state of domicile of the person bringing the boat into Wisconsin or the use of the boat in Wisconsin, unless exempt under sub. (2) (d).

(c) A credit is permitted against the Wisconsin use tax for the sales or use tax imposed by and paid to the state in which the boat was purchased.

(d) The "boat" subject to the use tax at the time the boat is registered in this state includes all accessories affixed or attached to the boat when in use. Anchors, boat cushions, marine radios, radar equipment, and other similar accessories are included in the measure of the tax.

Note: In a decision dated July 25, 1983, in the case of Alan G. Dwyer vs. Wisconsin Department of Revenue, the Wisconsin Tax Appeals Commission held that the tax applies to boat accessories, including the anchor, boat cushions, and marine radio, in addition to the bare hull of the boat.

(4) TAXABLE SUPPLIES. Sales of consumable supplies or furnishings not attached to the vessel or barge are not exempt from sales or use tax under s. 77.54(13), Stats.

Note: Sales of bedding, linen, table and kitchenware, tables, chairs, lubricants, work clothes, acetylene gas, paper towels, etc., used on commercial vessels or barges of 50 ton burden or over engaged primarily in interstate or foreign commerce or commercial fishing are subject to sales and use tax.

(5) SALES TO SHIPS. Sales of tangible personal property, items, property, and goods under s. 77.52(1) (b), (c), and (d), Stats., and taxable services delivered to operators of foreign flag ships or ships under the U.S. flag in a Wisconsin harbor are subject to tax, unless the retailer receives a properly completed exemption certificate from the purchaser.

Example: The operator of the ship may purchase without tax fuel and repair parts for a ship which exceeds 50-ton burden under s. 77.54(13), Stats.

Wis. Admin. Code Department of Revenue Tax 11.85

Cr. Register, December, 1978, No. 276, eff. 1-1-79; am. (1) (d), (2) (a) and (b), Register, January, 1983, No. 325, eff. 2-1-83; am. (2) (a), Register, September, 1984, No. 345, eff. 10-1-84; cr. (2) (f), Register, July, 1987, No. 379, eff. 8-1-87; am. (2) (b) to (e), cr. (3) (d) and (4), Register, April, 1990, No. 412, eff. 5-1-90; am. (2) (a), (c) and (f) and (3) (b), cr. (4), renum. (4) to be (5), r. (1) (e), Register, June, 1991, No. 426, eff. 7-1-91; am. (2) (b) and (3) (a), Register, April, 1993, No. 448, eff. 5-1-93; EmR0924: emerg. am. (title), (1) (intro.), (a), (c), (2) (a) to (d), (f), (3) (a), (d) and (5), cr. (2) (g), eff. 10-1-09; CR 09-090: am. (title), (1) (intro.), (a), (c), (2) (a) to (d), (f), (3) (a), (d) and (5), cr. (2) (g) Register May 2010 No. 653, eff. 6-1-10; CR 12-014: am. (2) (b), cr. (2) (bm) Register August 2012 No. 680, eff. 9-1-12.

Section Tax 11.85 interpretss. 77.51(13) (am), 77.52(2) (a) 9 and 10., 77.53 (17), (17m), and (18), 77.54 (7), (13), and (30) (a) 7., and 77.61 (1), Stats.

The interpretations in s. Tax 11.85 are effective under the general sales and use tax law on and after September 1, 1969, except: (a) Boats documented under laws of the United States do not qualify for the occasional sale exemption effective February 28, 1979, pursuant to Chapter 1, Laws of 1979; (b) Charges by governmental units for docking and storing boats became taxable effective June 1, 1980, pursuant to Chapter 221, Laws of 1979; (c) The exemption for boats of nonresidents kept in waters contiguous to the nonresident's state of domicile became effective September 1, 1985, pursuant to 1985 Wis. Act 29, later amended effective June 1, 1988, pursuant to 1987 Wis. Act 268; (d) The exemption for boats brought into Wisconsin by new residents became effective August 1, 1987, pursuant to 1987 Wis. Act 27; (e) The exemption for transfers to in-laws became effective August 15, 1991, pursuant to 1991 Wis. Act 39; (f) The exemption for fuel used in motorboats by persons regularly employed in carrying persons for hire for sport fishing became effective July 1, 2009, pursuant to 2009 Wis. Act 28; and (g) The requirement to collect the tax on sales of boats by persons who are not dealers but who hold a Wisconsin seller's permit became effective October 1, 2009, pursuant to 2009 Wis. Act 2; and (h) The change of the term "gross receipts" to "sales price" and the separate impositions of tax on coins and stamps sold above face value under s. 77.52(1) (b), Stats., certain leased property affixed to real property under s. 77.52(1) (c), Stats., and digital goods under s. 77.52(1) (d), Stats., became effective October 1, 2009, pursuant to 2009 Wis. Act 2.