Key Takeaways
The baseline US customs duty on pleasure yachts (HTS heading 8903) has always been low — roughly 1% to 1.5% of value for most sailboats and motor yachts. Everything above that is the result of the 2025–2026 tariff actions layered on top.
Since April 2025, US yacht tariffs have gone through IEEPA "reciprocal tariffs" (struck down by the Supreme Court in February 2026), a Section 122 flat 10% global surcharge (expired by statute on July 24, 2026), and are now governed by a new two-tier Section 301 action plus a patchwork of bespoke country deals (EU, UK, Taiwan, South Korea).
As of September 2026, EU-built yachts (Italy, France, Spain, and other EU states) face an effective ceiling of roughly 15% on top of the base MFN duty; UK-built yachts are around 10%; Turkey, Taiwan and South Korea each have their own negotiated or tier-assigned rates that have moved more than once in 2026.
Duty-paid status generally transfers to a new owner on resale without the buyer having to pay duty again — as long as the vessel keeps its US flag/registration and doesn't lose that status through export or a change in the underlying entry.
A foreign-flagged yacht that has not had duty paid cannot legally be sold to a US citizen or resident while sitting in US waters — this is a genuinely different issue from sales/use tax, which is a separate state-level obligation.
Non-resident foreign owners cruising the US under a CBP cruising license never paid duty in the first place, so "duty-paid status" is not something that applies to their situation at all.
A duty-paid yacht that is later exported and returns to the US within three years, unmodified, generally does not owe duty a second time under HTS 9801.00.10 ("US and Foreign Goods Returned") — but it still must go through formal re-entry, and processing fees apply.
Why This Article May Be Out of Date By the Time You Read It
This is not boilerplate throat-clearing — it's the single most important thing to understand about US yacht tariffs right now. Here is the timeline that got us to today:
April–August 2025
The Trump administration imposed a sweeping set of "reciprocal tariffs" on nearly every trading partner under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), with country-specific rates negotiated or set by executive order (the EU landed at a 15% baseline in a July 2025 framework deal; the UK around 10%; Turkey at 15% in August 2025; South Korea at 15% after a July 2025 deal).
February 20, 2026
The Supreme Court ruled in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that IEEPA does not authorize the president to impose tariffs at all. All IEEPA-based "reciprocal" and "trafficking" tariffs stopped being collected as of February 24, 2026.
February 24–July 24, 2026
The administration immediately invoked a different law — Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows a temporary import surcharge to address balance-of-payments problems — and imposed a flat 10% surcharge on nearly all imports. Section 122 surcharges are capped by statute at 150 days without Congressional extension, so this one automatically expired on July 24, 2026. (A federal trade court also found problems with how the administration justified this action, though that ruling only granted relief to the specific plaintiffs who sued.)
July 24, 2026 to today
The U.S. Trade Representative rolled out a new action under Section 301, timed to take effect the same day Section 122 expired. It applies a two-tier tariff — roughly 10% for countries with adequate forced-labor import safeguards, 12.5% for those without — to around 60 economies, while the EU, UK, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea each operate under their own separately negotiated "ceiling" arrangements rather than the generic tier system. Section 232 tariffs (steel, aluminum, and a handful of other sectors, unrelated to the reciprocal-tariff fight) have run in parallel the entire time.
Important
Multiple additional Section 301 investigations were still open at the time of writing, covering Turkey, Taiwan, South Korea, and a dozen other countries, meaning today's rates could shift again with no advance notice. This is exactly why every serious brokerage transaction on an imported yacht should have its landed-cost duty confirmed by a licensed customs broker at the time of signing, not estimated from an article — including this one.
The Baseline: How Yacht Duty Actually Works
Before any of the 2025–2026 tariff drama, yachts entering the US under HTS heading 8903 ("Yachts and other vessels for pleasure or sports; rowing boats and canoes") have always carried a modest general (Column 1 / MFN) duty rate:
| Sailboats (8903.91) | 1.5% |
| Motorboats, inboard (8903.92) | 1.5% |
| Outboard motorboats and most other pleasure vessels (8903.99) | 1% |
| Inflatable vessels (8903.10) | 2.4% |
| Rowing boats (8903.99.15) | 2.7% |
| Canoes (8903.99.05) | Free |
This base rate is what applies to a yacht from a country with no special trade deal and no additional tariff action in place, and it is the floor underneath every one of the additional layers described below. Any "reciprocal," Section 122, or Section 301 rate you see quoted for a country is generally described as the total effective rate (often expressed as "the higher of MFN or X%," or "X%, net of MFN") rather than something stacked on top of the base rate — but this detail matters and should be confirmed line-by-line by your customs broker for your specific HTS subheading.
Current Tariff Snapshot by Country (as of September 2026)
| Country / Region | Estimated Current Total Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Italy (Ferretti, Azimut, Sanlorenzo, Riva, Pershing, Benetti) | ~15% | EU member; operates under the 2025 US–EU framework ceiling |
| France (Beneteau, Prestige, Fountaine Pajot, Jeanneau) | ~15% | Same EU ceiling as above |
| Spain (Astondoa, Sunreef's EU-flagged builds) | ~15% | Same EU ceiling as above |
| England / United Kingdom (Sunseeker, Princess, Fairline, Pearl) | ~10% | Bespoke US–UK deal; some product categories may vary |
| Turkey (Sirena, Numarine, Azuree) | ~12.5%–15% | Rate has moved at least twice in 2026; confirm current tier before signing |
| Taiwan (Horizon, Ocean Alexander, Nordhavn-built hulls) | ~10%–15% | Bespoke reciprocal trade agreement, revised as recently as mid-2026 |
| South Korea | ~12.5%–15% | Bespoke deal, "realigned" more than once during 2025–2026 |
| Netherlands (Feadship, Heesen) | ~15% | EU member — same ceiling as Italy/France/Spain |
| Germany (Hanse, Bavaria, Lürssen) | ~15% | EU member — same ceiling |
| Croatia (Dalmatian charter-fleet builders) | ~15% | EU member — same ceiling |
| China | ~25%–40%+ | Multiple stacked Section 301 actions; among the highest effective rates of any yacht-building nation |
Read with caution
The EU figure is the most stable and well-corroborated number in this table. Turkey, Taiwan, and South Korea have each seen their rate reset more than once in 2026 alone, and at least one additional round of Section 301 investigations covering all three was still open at the time of writing. Treat every number here as a starting point for a conversation with your customs broker, not a quote.
Six Rules Every Yacht Buyer Needs to Know (Beyond the Headline Tariff Rate)
1. Duty-paid status generally travels with the boat, not the owner
If duty has already been paid on a yacht and it has not been exported since, a new buyer does not have to pay duty again just because ownership changes hands. Industry guidance on this is consistent: duty-paid status is transferable between owners as long as the vessel keeps its US flag and registration continuously between sales. In practice, the way a buyer (or their broker) confirms this is by requesting the CBP Customs Entry Summary — Form 7501 — from the seller, which is the primary documentary proof that duty was paid on the original import.
2. This does not help — or apply to — non-US owners cruising under a foreign flag and a CBP cruising license
A cruising license issued under 19 CFR 4.94 lets a non-resident foreign owner keep a foreign-flagged pleasure yacht in US waters for up to a year (renewable) without going through formal importation or paying duty at all. Because no duty was ever paid in this scenario, "duty-paid status" simply doesn't apply — there's nothing to transfer or protect. Crucially, this privilege is only available to owners who are legally resident outside the United States; the regulation is explicit that a foreign yacht becomes dutiable the moment it is owned by a US resident, or brought into the country for sale or charter to a US resident. A cruising license is also non-transferable — it expires the moment the boat is sold, and a new owner has to apply for their own.
3. A yacht that isn't duty-paid cannot legally be sold to a US citizen while sitting in US waters
This is one of the oldest and most consequential rules in the business, rooted in the Tariff Act of 1930. A foreign-flagged yacht that has not had duty paid — commonly marketed as "not for sale in US waters to a US resident" — cannot have its sale legally close while the boat is physically in US territorial waters and the buyer is a US citizen or resident. There are two standard ways around this: the seller pays the import duty (and associated bond and processing costs) before closing, or the closing itself takes place outside US waters — traditionally at least 12 nautical miles offshore, commonly in a location like the Bahamas — with the buyer unable to board or take possession while the vessel remains in US jurisdiction beforehand. This is exactly the kind of transaction where an experienced broker and a maritime attorney earn their fee; get it wrong and the vessel can be subject to seizure.
4. US citizens who want to keep and use a yacht in the US generally need it formally imported (duty-paid) — and in practice, that usually means US documentation
A US citizen or resident cannot use the cruising-license loophole described above — it's reserved for non-residents. To use a yacht in the US on an ongoing basis, a US resident owner generally needs the vessel formally imported and duty paid. Separately, if that owner wants to document the vessel with the US Coast Guard's National Vessel Documentation Center (which most lenders, insurers, and marinas expect for a serious yacht), federal rules require that a documented vessel be wholly owned by US citizens — dual citizens qualify, but any non-citizen co-owner disqualifies the boat from US documentation. It is possible in narrow structures for a foreign-flagged vessel to be held through a foreign entity even with US ownership interests, which is why larger and more complex yacht purchases are routinely structured with the help of a maritime attorney rather than assumed from general rules of thumb — the interaction between duty status, flag state, and documentation eligibility has real edge cases.
5. Import duty and state sales/use tax are two completely separate obligations — and both usually apply
This trips up more first-time buyers than any tariff headline. Customs duty is a federal charge collected by CBP at the point of formal entry, based on the yacht's HTS classification and country of origin. Sales tax (or its cousin, use tax) is a state and local charge, collected on the purchase or use of the boat within a given state — Florida's 6% state sales tax, capped at $18,000 per vessel, is the most commonly cited example in the yacht brokerage world. A foreign-built yacht bought and kept in the US can be liable for both: the federal duty on importation, and the relevant state's sales or use tax on the transaction or on bringing the boat into that state's waters. Neither obligation substitutes for the other, and paying one does not exempt you from the other.
6. A duty-paid yacht that was exported and comes back doesn't have to pay duty again — but it does owe re-entry paperwork and fees
If a yacht already had duty paid, was later exported from the US, and now needs to come back — say, after time spent cruising the Caribbean or the Mediterranean — CBP's "US and Foreign Goods Returned" provision (HTS subheading 9801.00.10) generally allows it to re-enter without a fresh duty assessment, provided it returns within three years and has not been "advanced in value or improved in condition" while it was away (in other words, no major refit or upgrade abroad that would count as new value added). Unlike some older assumptions about this rule, current CBP guidance confirms it isn't limited to the original importer — a different party can bring the same goods back in, provided the goods themselves haven't changed. This is not, however, a free pass on paperwork: a formal entry still needs to be filed, proof of the prior export and unchanged condition needs to be produced (the export entry record, a builder's/owner's declaration, or in some cases the vessel's own log), and standard processing charges — the Merchandise Processing Fee and, in some circumstances, the Harbor Maintenance Fee — still apply on the re-entry itself, separate from duty.
FAQ
What is the current US tariff on a yacht built in Italy?
As of September 2026, Italian-built yachts fall under the EU's negotiated tariff ceiling, generally estimated around 15% total, on top of which the base HTS duty rate (1–1.5%) is generally already absorbed rather than added separately. Confirm the exact figure with a customs broker at the time of purchase, since EU-wide arrangements have shifted more than once since 2025.
Do I have to pay duty again if I buy a used yacht that already had duty paid?
Generally no. If the seller can produce CBP Form 7501 showing duty was paid on the original import, and the vessel has maintained continuous US flag/registration since, that duty-paid status is understood to transfer with the sale.
Can I buy a foreign-flagged yacht that's in Florida if I'm a US citizen?
Only if the yacht is duty-paid, or if the closing takes place outside US territorial waters. A non-duty-paid, foreign-flagged yacht cannot be legally sold to a US citizen while it sits in US waters.
Is import duty the same thing as sales tax?
No. Import duty is a federal charge tied to bringing a foreign-built vessel into the country; sales/use tax is a state-level charge tied to the purchase or use of the boat within that state. Both can apply to the same transaction.
If I take my duty-paid yacht to Europe for a season and bring it back, do I owe duty again?
Generally not, as long as you return within three years and the vessel hasn't been materially altered or improved while abroad, under HTS 9801.00.10. You will still need to file a formal re-entry and pay standard processing fees.
Can a US citizen keep a foreign-flagged yacht in US waters long-term?
Not under the same duty-free terms available to non-resident foreign owners. The CBP cruising license that allows duty-free use of a foreign-flagged yacht is restricted to owners resident outside the United States; a US resident generally needs the vessel formally imported and duty-paid to use it in the US on an ongoing basis.
Legal Disclaimer
Biagio Yachts is a luxury yacht brokerage — not a licensed customs broker, import attorney, tax advisor, or agency of the United States government. Nothing in this article constitutes customs, legal, immigration, or tax advice, and it should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional guidance specific to your transaction. US tariff and trade policy in 2025–2026 has been exceptionally volatile, is the subject of ongoing litigation, and can change without notice; figures in this article represent our best understanding as of the date noted above and may already be out of date. Before signing any agreement to buy, sell, import, export, flag, or document a vessel, you should engage a licensed US customs broker and a qualified maritime attorney to confirm current duty rates, entry requirements, and your specific obligations. Biagio Yachts accepts no liability for decisions made in reliance on this article.
Get the Real Landed-Cost Numbers Before You Commit
Considering a European or Asian-built yacht and want a clear picture of the landed cost before you make an offer? Our team works alongside licensed customs brokers and maritime counsel on every cross-border transaction — reach out and we'll help you get the real numbers before you commit.