thelucky, I'm sorry for your difficulties but none of what you wrote here makes sense (which, by the way, I am blaming on the state, not you).
I think they are confused by which procedure to follow. Boat owners must move into state from other states fairly regularly. They already own their boat, so whatever procedure they use for them would apply to you.
The IRS has nothing to do with this. This is a state issue. Perhaps you meant the DOR, which also is irrelevant since this is merely an issue of determining which registration procedure to follow.
In a worst case scenario you might bite the bullet and pay the Mass sales tax just to move things forward and get your boat in the water.
i have another option for you, im not sure what your budget is but i just found one in bridgewater on craigslist
id do this over an inflatable
http://www.porta-bote.com/index.php
they are really cool actually
this is the craiglist link if you wanna see if you could talk the guy down
http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/boa/3784038053.html
Have you thought about a Kayak ? They have those Sit on ones or a 2 person for you and your fishing partner to use together.
Here is my latest toy. Just got two weeks ago, and ordered back in February. It splits in two sections, with a total length of 7'8". Each section is about 48lbs, and the back section has wheels mounted. It fits in the front door of my condo, which I needed. I throw it in the bed of my truck but it can maybe fit in a back of a SUV? I actually was going to get a porte bote, but I didn't think it would fit in my place.
Since I bought it out of state and payed that state's sales tax, and paid through paypal it has been a pain in the ass to register. I emailed Fish and Game's register people and gone down there and no one knows what to do. I now have to call the IRS.