Buying a boat owned by a Delaware corporation

[Irish Rover]

I viewed a boat yesterday which is US flagged and owned by a Delaware registered company. I've made a provisional offer even though I was told it's well below a recently rejected offer. I'm 99.9% sure I won't be buying it. I bought a similarly owned/registered boat some 15 years ago or rather I bought the company which owned the boat because I was advised that was the easiest way to do it. The seller and I went to the US conslate in Izmir and they witnessed and notarized the transfer of the company to me and various undertakings from the seller to the effect there were no debts, liens etc. The whole procedure was probably a worthless load of cobblers.
In the unlikely event the seller accepts my offer I don't want to buy the company this time. I just want to buy the boat. Has anyone done this previously and, if so, what procedure did you follow -
- how did you confirm the corporation actually owned the boat,
-how did you confirm that the person signing the BOS had authority to do so, -did you transfer funds to the company account or the beneficial owners account,
-how did you get a deregistration cert
-Anything else I should know

 

[greeny]

I'm sure you probably know this already but it's in an offshore jurisdiction company probably to avoid taxes. Delaware is one of the main offshore jurisdictions now left in the world. If you're buying it out of that company someone will have to pay the taxes due to bring it "onshore".
You don't want that someone to be you.
I've not done it with a boat but I've done it with 2 properties and it was expensive for the vendors as I insisted they were brought onshore before i bought them.

 

[Irish Rover]

I'm sure you probably know this already but it's in an offshore jurisdiction company probably to avoid taxes. Delaware is one of the main offshore jurisdictions now left in the world. If you're buying it out of that company someone will have to pay the taxes due to bring it "onshore".
You don't want that someone to be you.
I've not done it with a boat but I've done it with 2 properties and it was expensive for the vendors as I insisted they were brought onshore before i bought them.

I don't think this is a big issue with a boat. The beneficial owner is a Turk and he bought the boat second hand. If he bought it in his own name he would have to pay prohibitive taxes to import it into Turkey and get Turkish registration. So the Delaware company is the workaround and he's able to bring it in on a transit log (equivalent of EU or UK Temporary Admission) . This is common enough practice here. If I bought it I'd be able to change the flag and apply for a new transit log in my name and the new registration details- also common enough here. So thanks for your advice but I'm more interested to hear about the BOS or change of ownership procedure as I applies to a Delaware company selling to a private individual and the deregistration procedure.

 

[Wing Mark]

Is the Delaware company a one-trick pony? Could you buy the company instead of buying the boat from the company?
Personally I'd want proper advice from a grown-up before mingling with tax dodgers.

 

[greeny]

I don't think this is a big issue with a boat. The beneficial owner is a Turk and he bought the boat second hand. If he bought it in his own name he would have to pay prohibitive taxes to import it into Turkey and get Turkish registration. So the Delaware company is the workaround and he's able to bring it in on a transit log (equivalent of EU or UK Temporary Admission) . This is common enough practice here. If I bought it I'd be able to change the flag and apply for a new transit log in my name and the new registration details- also common enough here. So thanks for your advice but I'm more interested to hear about the BOS or change of ownership procedure as I applies to a Delaware company selling to a private individual and the deregistration procedure.

OK

 

[capnsensible]

I delivered a yacht to Turkey once. Very surprised to see shedloads of stars and stripes on boats everywhere.

I can only suppose that a very large number of people have skin in this particular game and that an agent may be able to facilitate a safe transaction,?

 

[Irish Rover]

I delivered a yacht to Turkey once. Very surprised to see shedloads of stars and stripes on boats everywhere.

I can only suppose that a very large number of people have skin in this particular game and that an agent may be able to facilitate a safe transaction,?

An agent would definitely tell you he knows what to do - for a price. Same guy would be able to give you a full medical check-up, draw up plans for your new house and arrange a nice new Turkish passport for you. Oh and he'd definitely be able to give you a haircut because that was his job last week. If at all possible stay as far away as you can from Turkish yachting agents and real estate agents.

 

[capnsensible]

An agent would definitely tell you he knows what to do - for a price. Same guy would be able to give you a full medical check-up, draw up plans for your new house and arrange a nice new Turkish passport for you. Oh and he'd definitely be able to give you a haircut because that was his job last week. If at all possible stay as far away as you can from Turkish yachting agents and real estate agents.

The one I used to deal with formalities when I delivered a yacht there was excellent, recommended and highly regarded. Perhaps you are talking to the wrong type of chappie? ?

 

[Irish Rover]

Dupe

 

[Irish Rover]

The one I used to deal with formalities when I delivered a yacht there was excellent, recommended and highly regarded. Perhaps you are talking to the wrong type of chappie? ?

One good apple in the sewer doesn't change the smell of shit.

 

[capnsensible]

One good apple in the sewer doesn't change the smell of shit.

Might be a mistake to buy a boat when you are so angry?

 

[Irish Rover]

Might be a mistake to buy a boat when you are so angry?

Thank you. Very helpful.

 

[Bajansailor]

What make of boat is it, re the one that you are interested in?
If a popular type (I am assuming that it is also a power cat?) then it might be best to be patient and wait until you can find one that has a more 'acceptable' type of registration?
Are you looking for a bigger boat, or just different (monohull??) re your present cat?

 

[Irish Rover]

What make of boat is it, re the one that you are interested in?
If a popular type (I am assuming that it is also a power cat?) then it might be best to be patient and wait until you can find one that has a more 'acceptable' type of registration?
Are you looking for a bigger boat, or just different (monohull??) re your present cat?

It's a Leopard 39PC so longer and wider than my current Greenland 34, 10 years younger and with some extras I'm keen to have. On the minus side it's a 4 cabin version whereas we'd prefer a 3 cabin owners version. There are few of these coming up for sale in Europe. There would be considerably more in the Caribbean but that's hardly practicable. I've made an offer below an amount I was told had already been rejected. If it's to be it will be. I'm not overly concerned about the current ownership status which is quite common here but I just want to make sure I do the transfer of ownership in a way that won't cause problems if I decide to go for Irish or Jersey registration - both very particular on the last 5 years ownership history.