use tax/ plate fees?

[jody_wy]

some counties are only 5%

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by SnowSand

Hello - I've been following this thread and a few others on registering out of state vehicles when a person moves to Wyoming. Maybe I haven't had enough coffee yet, but I'm still a little confused.

We live in Montana and are planning to move to Wyoming in the next year or two, depending on when we can get our place here sold. What I've gathered so far is that you pay $15 for a non-transferrable title so you can then register the vehicle and obtain Wyoming plates. Then you pay a yearly registration fee, which goes down as the vehicle ages. You would pay a 6% sales tax on each vehicle, based on the original sales price, but if you originally paid more than 6% in the State you bought it, you would owe nothing, right?

We have a 2007 ATV that we bought in MT, which has no sales tax. And we bought a 2007 Utility trailer to haul it around on - no sales tax. So we will get hit with a 6% sales tax on these? Montana has a one time permanent registration fee for the ATV and trailer....we paid those to DMV the year we bought them....never had to pay registration fees for them again. Does WY have a similar program or do you have to pay yearly reg. fees for your ATV's and trailers?

Have a 2002 Toyota Tundra 4WD - last years reg fee was $167
Have a 1998 Toyota 4Runner - last years reg fee was $78

How does this compare to WY? Thanks for any input!

A couple of points:

1) The sales tax on a motor vehicle is paid ONCE on the purchase. If you are a Wyoming resident and buy a vehicle out of state with intent to bring it to Wyoming and register it here, then you will be liable for Wyoming sales tax upon the purchase when you title and register it here.

2) The WY sales tax rate varies by county and locality; the state gets 3% and the county and local taxing districts the rest. Some counties only have 2%, some have 3%, and some have special tax districts that can add even more. You need to consult with the county clerk's office for the county you intend to register your vehicle in WY to get the current sales tax rate.

3) If you are a resident of another state and have purchased, titled, and registered a vehicle in that state for a period of time before moving to Wyoming and establishing residency here, then when you bring your owned motor vehicles into WY and title/register them here you do not owe sales tax on the vehicle. Your initial WY title and registration will be for the sole purpose of registering the vehicle, not paying sales tax on it. For example, when I moved to WY from Colorado, I brought 9 motor vehicles, 6 trailers, several off-road vehicles, and an assortment of motorcycles; for each of them, I had to obtain a WY "non-transferrable title" at the county clerk's office so that I could then register them at the county treasurer's office. No sales tax was collected by Wyoming at the county clerk's office, but USE TAX/Ownership taxes are collected annualy with the registration of the vehicle at the county treasurer's office.

4) The Use/ownership taxes are based upon the original manufacturer's list price for a vehicle and are on a sliding scale which drops to the bottom levels in about 6 years from new. It does not matter what you paid for a vehicle, the county treasurer's office uses the best information available to them from the NADA Book or Kelly Blue Book or similar publications to establish the original list price.

5) Wyoming sales tax on a motor vehicle collected by the county clerk are based upon what you actually paid for it, less your trade-in (if any).


OK, let's go back to the "non-transferrable title" issue. Wyoming's county treasurers use a software system that only allows them to register/license a motor vehicle that has a Wyoming title issued to the vehicle (or trailer, or ATV, etc). Generally speaking, the county clerks offices issue the titles and would prefer to issue a Wyoming motor vehicle title which confers ownership fo the vehicle (and recorded liens). This gives them the opportunity to do a vehicle trace and be sure that the title issued is to the proper owner and that no issues such as a stolen vehicle show up, or that the serial number isn't quite right, etc. This trace takes office time and effort, use of computer resources, etc. So the county clerks charge more for a full ownership title, and this issuance may also lead to their questioning your prior ownership history and whether or not appropriate sales taxes were paid on the purchase of the vehicle.

Rather than dealing with all of those issues if you have a full ownership title from another state of prior residence when you bought the vehicle, it's simply easier to request that your Wyoming residence county clerk issue a "Wyoming non-transferrable title" to the motor vehicle you intend to now register in Wyoming. For $15, the county clerk issues a non-transferrable title based upon your proof of title/ownership from another state which is then used at the county treasurer's office to issue the vehicle registration. The only thing you must do is hang on to that old title so that when you go to sell or transfer your vehicle, you have a legal proof of ownership. I've had no difficulty using my legal titles from other states when I went to sell vehicles here in Wyoming, it's a common paperwork issue at the county clerk's office.

From the responses on the threads here, I think what confuses a lot of folk moving to Wyoming is that when they register a motor vehicle here, they aren't just going to a single point DMV to pay their fees and obtain their license plate(s). Wyoming's motor vehicle titling and registration system involve TWO different entities that you must deal with and write TWO separate checks to: The county clerk for the sales taxes and titling fees, and the county treasurer for the vehicle use/ownership/registration fees.

It is at the country treasurer's office where you must show proof of motor vehicle insurance to get your license plates. The county clerk doesn't check into that for establishing your title and proof of ownership. The county clerk, however, will require a VIN inspection by an appropriate law officer (PD, Sheriff's dept, or state patrol trooper) on a vehicle being brought into the state and titled here. There's a nominal fee for the inspection; best to have this done on a vehicle before you go to the county treasurer's office to get that non-transferrable title or they'll just hand you the form and direct you to the possible places that can do the VIN inspection before going any further on your paperwork.

While I don't have actual numbers for your vehicles, I'd estimate that the newer one is close to what you'd pay in Wyoming and the older one is going to be in the neighborhood of $130/year. The best way to find out, however, is to simply call the county treasurer's office of the county where you intend to move to in Wyoming and ask them to give you an estimate over the phone.

[SnowSand]

Thanks for the info Sunsprit! We're looking at the Star Valley area.