aepiua

I am leasing my car out of state and I had to supply the dealership with my local sales tax rate.

Nefilim

Ok slightly different situation but here's what to be careful of: Last year I lived in Denver, CO and bought a 2002 Jetta there. I paid registration and taxes and all of that in Denver. Two weeks later we moved to the bay area in CA. Two months later I took the car for registration, being honest on the forms etc. They charged me the registration fee, late fees AND FULL use tax for CA since the car came into the state being newer than 90 days. So I paid around $1500 in sales tax in CO and then another $1900 or something in use tax in CA. The DMV in CA did NOT inform me of my options, I discussed this with my accountant and she advised me of the following:

1. If your employer moved you between states and you present according evidence you can be exempted from paying use tax again in CA.

2. The DMV is supposed to charge you the DIFFERENCE between the tax rates.

I submitted a claim for refund of use tax to the State Board of Equalization, who told me it would take 2 - 3 weeks. Now after 5 months my cheque has apparently been mailed.

I cannot say this is how it works in every state, this is in CA. So make SURE you know how this works in your state before you attempt something like this.

B_Chicago

Your home state won't allow you to register the car without paying the sales tax. You can pay it at the dealer or pay it at the DMV. They don't care. The only exception they will make is if you can prove that you had the car registered in another state for a minimum amount of time (I think it's 6 months here in Illinois), because that other state will have collected the sales tax before allowing it to be registered there. You really can't get around it. Just tell the dealership you are from out of state and they won't make you pay the tax.

PS - I don't know of any state that doesn't have a sales tax that doesn't collect some sort of use tax or excise tax on cars, so trying to register the car in one of those states is going to cost just as much, if not more.