W1N,
The whole issue of using an owner in a state different than the selling dealer is to avoid paying sales tax in the state where the dealer is located at the time of sale. However, the buyer is subject to sales & use tax of his/her home state when the vehicle is registered there, which may be a lot less than the seller's state.
In your case, this is a moot point as the vehicle will not be titled in the U.S., all you are after is getting the MSO so that the transport company can legally ship it.
Now I really don't know of all the in's & out's in terms of the time frame in which your friend(s) must act from the time the MSO is issued till the time the vehicle needs to be titled in the state of domicile, and every state has its own little twists in motor vehicle regs.
Think about this for a moment, if you want to have a NEW vehicle, modified to your specs, and be in a position to ship it home, even if you have to pay sales tax, the worst is that it will add another $5K to the acquisition cost
But this would be the safest since you'll be able to inspect & test the vehicle after it's been tuned, just one less surprise.
While this is only STATE tax rates (not including local & other municipal taxes), this should give you a flavor in choosing your friend wisely:
http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/sales.html