do you pay taxes when you buy a car in Washington while livinging in Portland? (sales)

[carbondreams]

Hello,

I tried to search and I didnt get any results.

Im moving to portland in a few weeks and I have been looking at prices of cars.

If I buy a car in Washington state, do I have to pay a sales tax on it as a Oregon resident?

Thank you in Advance!

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by carbondreams

Hello,

I tried to search and I didnt get any results.

Im moving to portland in a few weeks and I have been looking at prices of cars.

If I buy a car in Washington state, do I have to pay a sales tax on it as a Oregon resident?

Thank you in Advance!

Taxes are paid when you register the car in your home state, not when you buy it. Hence, if you live in Oregon and buy a car in Washington, you won't pay Washington sales tax (but you will pay Oregon licensing fees and taxes).

A caveat though: having lived on both sides of the border and purchased cars on both sides, most dealers either don't know or deliberately ignore licensing in another state. The temp tags a dealer gives you need to be good in the state in which you will be driving the car, not the state in which they were issued. Vancouver dealers are better about this than Portland dealers. Likewise, lemon laws don't cross state lines - Oregon can't enforce against a WA dealer and vice versa.

[TJCalif]

If you live in Washington, you don't have income taxes but you do have sale taxes of 6.5% or more.

If you live in Oregon, you don't have sale taxes but you have flat 9% income tax.

Many people take advantage of working and living in Vancouver, WA while shopping in OR.

However, if you live in Vancouver and buying a car in OR, you don't pay sale taxes to OR; you still have to report it to WA since it's a big purchase you made so you eventually will pay WA sale taxes on your vehicle. If you don't report it, it's a risk you are taking with the government.

If you live in OR and want to buy a car in Vancouver, you do not pay sale taxes since you are not a resident of WA. As an Oregonian, you only have to pay tag and registration fees.

I hope this helps.