sales tax - toyota prius

[yoyoman]

I heard from my friend in Albuquerque New Mexico. There is no sales tax for Toyota Prius?? Is this true? How can I verify? :P

[gschoen]

If you are planning on registering the car in a different state with sales tax, you may have to prove what you paid in tax and cough up the difference. This was true when I moved to Massachusetts (even with car 3 yrs old) and learned from PC Illinois is same as well.

[yoyoman]

My brother is thinking about buying the car in Albuquerque and move the family to CA. Usually, I though we only pay sales tax at the place we buy the car. When moving to CA, only have to pay title/registration change. Am I right?

[kkister1492]

You might have to prove that you have owned the car x number of months first. If they believe that you bought the car out of state solely to avoid the CA sales tax you'll get charged for it.

I think that if fou go to the CA DMV website, you might find out how long you have to have a car without paying the sales tax.

[SpaceCadet]

It's my understanding, that as of October. 2004, if you bring ANY car into California that was purchased LESS than 12 months ago, you have to pay a use tax that is equal to the sales tax. In effect double sales tax if you purchased the car in a state that has a sales tax.

Please, someone correct me if I'm wrong, because I puchased mine in November '04 in Indiana, and then accepted a job in California in December.

I realize that I'm supposed to register the car within 30 days or somesuch of the car coming to Ca., but, as I still own my home in Indiana, I'm in no hurry to pay an additional $2200, "Use" tax.

[nmrickie]

I believe you pay sales tax based on where you register the vehicle, not necessarily where you buy it.

I live in New Mexico, but purchased my Prius in Utah. The dealer sent the paperwork to the MVD in NM for me to register it.

New Mexico does NOT charge sales tax for hybrids (at least for the Prius -- there may be a MPG requirement). I just had to pay for my title and plates (about $100 for two years).

The only problem is that I registered it in a small town. The clerks had heard about the sales tax waiver, but didn't know how to do it. A phone call to Santa Fe solved that problem.

[kkister1492]

Here in CA we pay based on where we live. So even if we found the cheapest sales tax area we would still be charged for our home area - unless we could use someone else's address. Too bad we didn't think of that. Fremont has the highest sales tax rate around here - 8.75. OUr tax was something like 2339.00.

[yoyoman]

So in my case, I can buy the prius in new mexico for no sales tax, and I will pay the NewMexico title/license registration for 2 yrs. Later on, if I find a new job and I move to LA (let's say). I will continue driving my prius in LA for 2yrs until my NM title/license registration expired. After my Prius become 2yrs old, I can then register my title/license under CA MVD. Is this possible? Can I get away with the CA (new/used car)sales tax?

Hope I'm not confusing all the Prius Pro here.

[DanMan32]

In the situations where clearly it is not an attempt to avoid/evade tax, and you are charged a fee that a state native does not have to pay, you could sue on the grounds of being charged a state border tax, which is unconstitutional.

We had an impact fee here in FL, initially cost me an additional $200 to register my car. A few years later, I get a refund of this, as there was a class action lawsuit that was won, on the grounds that it was an illegal border tax. This was back in 92-94.

Now if you have residence in state A which has a high sales tax, and you buy car in state B where there is no or low tax, and register it in state A where you reside soon after you buy it, then the state can charge you tax, I don't there would be grounds to avoid it. However, if you resided in state B, bought the car in state B, then moved to state A, you shouldn't have to pay a tax in state A over what a native in state A would have to pay for an already owned but unregistered but stored car, esp if you owned it over a reasonable period of time.

[galaxee]

i registered my car back home in wi although i live in nc while i go to grad school. it was a little- uh- inconvenient to deal with but the taxes here end up being higher in the long run and we plan on going back in 5 years if i can get a job back in wi.

i paid 1300 in taxes (5%) and registration fees and title fees. it is legal for me to drive with wi tags as long as i am still a student and still have state reciprocity.

if you move to another state, depending on the state, most times you will have between 10-60 days to register your car in the new state or you can get hefty fees if you get pulled over. unless you're a student or military. as far as i know, in wi anyway, you do not pay sales tax to title your car from out of state since you already paid it once. that would be like paying sales tax on your tv again for taking it across state lines. you simply pay registration fees. in nc everyone pays a fee of 3% of the value of their car, but it is a one time registration fee they charge in lieu of sales tax. then they charge a yearly property tax on the car- which i think is stupid.

check your particular situation to make sure you're not going to get some big fines. 2 years with an out of state plate will probably get you in trouble.