Avoid the boat tax, come to Hampton!

Did you know the city of Hampton does not charge a personal property tax on recreational boats? And you don’t have to be a resident of the city to dock your boat in Hampton and avoid your home city’s tax?

The beginning of the new year is a good time to think about where you’ll dock your boat in 2010, and whether you want to pay a tax elsewhere that can be $1 per $100 of value or even more. For those on a budget, it could mean the difference between gassing up for the weekend or not. On a $3.5 million yacht like the one pictured here, that's $35,000!

Those savings would go a long way to paying the slip fees at one of Hampton's full-service marinas.

A little background…

In 1985, Virginia allowed individual cities to decide whether or not to impose their own personal property tax on boats. The hope was to prevent boaters from going over the border to North Carolina.

The City of Hampton repealed its personal property tax on recreational boats in 2003 in an effort to attract more year-round boaters to Hampton’s 1,500 slips.

(Note: To be accurate, there actually is a tax, but it’s a miniscule formality. Hampton’s tax rate for privately owned pleasure boats and watercraft is $.000001 per $100 of assessed value.)

Here’s how to do it…

You need to register your boat as being docked in Hampton with Game & Inland Fisheries. Again, you do not need to be a Hampton resident.

Also register your boat with the Hampton Commissioner’s office. You can do it easily online.

If you have any questions, call the Hampton Commissioners’ Personal Property Tax number at (757) 727-6183.

Now just think of what you’ll do with those extra dollars! We hope you'll spend some of it in lovely Hampton. We love boaters!