Car Registration - Moving to MD (excise tax, pay, to sell)

[Merlander]

Originally Posted by zotmeister

I am still confused....someone above wrote if you come from a state with greater than 6% sales tax, you still pay $100 even if you hae a car older than 7 years???? But aneftp says otherwise????

We registered my wife's '98 last year, and I'm pretty sure she didn't have to pay the $640, or the difference between the 3% VA tax and MD's 6%. I would call MD's MVA dept. and just ask them directly. They're pretty helpful and you can remain anonymous.

[pauljana]

how often do you pay excise tax in maryland?

[dursty]

how often do you pay excise tax in maryland?

Once

The $640 is the VALUE of the car assigned by the MVA, Unless the NADA blue book value is more. It's not how much you would pay. So the 6% excised tax would be based on the $640. Nobody is going to pay $640 in taxes on a car worth a couple of hundred bucks.

[JosephineBeth]

Originally Posted by shaynaciao

I think you should take a look at the website. I also bought my car in California, three years ago and it's a 2000, so I would only need to pay the $100, since Cali's tax is higher. Yes, it's a bummer.

New to Maryland Titling and Registering Your Vehicle Information

I am looking at it appears to me that I have to pay 6% tax for a 2003 vehicle licensed/registered and bought in CA even though CA has a much higher tax rate due to the age of the car which is now 8 years old?

Here is the info:


For vehicles less than 7 years old (Non-Residents):

• Vehicle(s) titled in a state with a tax rate equal to or higher than Maryland's 6% tax rate will cost $100.
• If the vehicle is registered in a state that imposes no tax, the tax will be assessed at 6% of the value of the vehicle.
• Vehicles from a state with a lower tax rate than Maryland's 6% will be taxed at the rate of the difference between the two states. Example: MD 6%, VA 3%, the difference is a 3% tax rate. Minimum tax - $100. When the value of the vehicle is less than $2,000, the 6% rate will apply.

For a vehicle over 7 years old:

• Tax is based on the greater of the purchase price or the minimum of $640. The MVA may require you to submit additional documentation to substantiate the purchase price

Purchase price of the vehicle all those years ago? That makes no sense to me. What do they mean? I now have to pay 6% price of a car that was purchased years ago and is worth far less or?

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by JosephineBeth

For a vehicle over 7 years old:

• Tax is based on the greater of the purchase price or the minimum of $640. The MVA may require you to submit additional documentation to substantiate the purchase price

Purchase price of the vehicle all those years ago?
That makes no sense to me.

No it doesn't make sense. Can you post the link?
---
iirc... they'll use the Kelly Blue Book (or similar) to establish the CURRENT value that the 6% gets applied to.

eg: The KBB suggested retail for a 2003 Chevy Malibu with 100,000 miles in Glen Burnie is $6140.... x 6% = $368 excise tax to have that car (re) titled in Maryland.

also (iirc) California charges this sort of fee when people relocate too
(as well as the rather onerous smog test).

[JosephineBeth]

Thanks MrRational!

Here's the link: http://www.mva.maryland.gov/Vehicle-...EG/NewtoMd.htm

CA used to do this but no longer does as the state got sued for violation of interstate commerce IIRC. What they are doing is collecting sales tax again. When I moved to CA from MN (many years ago) I had bought my car right before I left - so CA had me show them the sale documents and I paid sales tax at the CA rate but I got a form to fill out and I got the tax money back from MN.

If I were to come from MD and need to register my car here in CA it would cost $189 total for licensing/titling it. I used the calculator on the CA DMV website. The smog certificate is $60 and there is no fee for the inspection. So my grand total would be $249. Not cheap but certainly not what I'm going to pay in MD!

But for me to do the opposite and go from CA to MD I pay 6% of the KBB which is $13,500 so $800+ or so and I pay for the inspection. That 6% does not include my actual license fee - that is only the excise tax. As far as I can see the registration fee's are $180 which will get added on to the top of the $800. All told to bring a 8 year old car to Maryland I am going to pay probably over $1000? Is this sales tax (I don't care what they call it..excise...whatever..it's sales tax if it is based on the purchase price) deductible on my taxes? IIRC it should be since it is based on the purchase price and not, for example, weight of the vehicle.

Maybe this is something other states do and I just never moved somewhere that it was such a huge amount. I consider having to pay almost $1K to register a 2003 vehicle way past excessive!

That is past amazing - I truly have never heard of this - its absolutely shocking! Probably the only time that buying a Toyota that does not lose it's value sucks! I bought my car 3 years ago for $15K and it's worth $13,500 according to KBB.

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by JosephineBeth

That is past amazing - I truly have never heard of this - its absolutely shocking!

NC charges 3% instead of 6%...
but then they also have an annual personal property tax as well.

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by JosephineBeth

I am looking at it appears to me that I have to pay 6% tax for a 2003 vehicle licensed/registered and bought in CA even though CA has a much higher tax rate due to the age of the car which is now 8 years old?

Here is the info:


For vehicles less than 7 years old (Non-Residents):

• Vehicle(s) titled in a state with a tax rate equal to or higher than Maryland's 6% tax rate will cost $100.
• If the vehicle is registered in a state that imposes no tax, the tax will be assessed at 6% of the value of the vehicle.
• Vehicles from a state with a lower tax rate than Maryland's 6% will be taxed at the rate of the difference between the two states. Example: MD 6%, VA 3%, the difference is a 3% tax rate. Minimum tax - $100. When the value of the vehicle is less than $2,000, the 6% rate will apply.

For a vehicle over 7 years old:

• Tax is based on the greater of the purchase price or the minimum of $640. The MVA may require you to submit additional documentation to substantiate the purchase price

Purchase price of the vehicle all those years ago? That makes no sense to me. What do they mean? I now have to pay 6% price of a car that was purchased years ago and is worth far less or?

I do not think "purchase price" means what it cost new 8 years ago. I'm pretty sure it means the current KBB value as if you had just purchased it. What''s the current KBB value?

[JosephineBeth]

Originally Posted by dkf747

I do not think "purchase price" means what it cost new 8 years ago. I'm pretty sure it means the current KBB value as if you had just purchased it. What''s the current KBB value?

Current KBB value is $13,500 for my car in good condition (not excellent). I have a 2003 Toyota Highlander Limited. I bought it for about $15,900 in Jan of 2008. So clearly it hasn't depreciated much.

However if I read it right even at $13,500 is $810 at 6% plus the lien document fees and the registration license and other fees including inspection (which appears to not even be a set amount!) mean it will be $1200 to license this car in MD.

At this point that is absolutely not worth it. My car has 85K miles and is out of warranty and even Toyota's have regular things that start to go wrong and need fixing at 100K miles - so within 2 years I'll hit that time where I start to need this or that just to maintain. I'd be far better off selling it here since it is a CA car and thus is higher standard than other states for emissions - plus it's in great condition. It does need new tires and a service - so that is another $1K I'd have to put into it if I kept it. I'm thinking of selling since I'll have about $4-5K at least in equity left even after I pay it off and then investing that as a down payment on another car when I get to MD. I'd rather pay the $1200 on a new car with a warranty at the beginning of its life.

Or I guess I could drive it and then trade it in when I get there? People do that all the time here in CA since their cars have a hard time meeting emission standards for CA so they end up dumping them and getting a new one.

Thoughts? I just cannot see putting that much money into an older car just to license it!

[dkf747]

I think selling it and using the money to buy another here is a good plan. However, whatever you buy will be taxed too.