I'm no expert on this topic, but with both our boats we didn't have to pay an import tax nor state sales tax. Our boats were built in South Africa and delivered to, and ported in, BVI for charter. They were/are both flagged/registered US. Our state tried to collect sales tax on the purchases, but all we had to do to avoid this was document that they were not located in the state. I do not know the tax implications if we were to base them in the USVI, but it sounds like they would then be subject to the 1.5% import tax.