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This message has been edited. Last edited by: dwd1985,

I did something similar when I bought my Corvette. The only one I could locate with the right color and options was in California. They filled out a form that said it was exempt from CA tax because it would be registered in MN. I paid MN sales tax in addition to the usual plate fees when I went to register.

I went through this several years ago before my move from California to Texas.

Each state has its own unique system of registering and collecting tax upon transfer. I don't think your state of residence is a factor.

If I had purchased a car prior to my move, it looked like I would have had to pay the tax in CA then the registration fee in Texas, or risk driving unregistered to here and trying to register the car from the sellers name to mine, etc.

After intense study and inquiry, I decided to wait. It turns out cars in Texas are a bit cheaper than in CA.

Maybe you can do something buying from a dealer. I see cars are sold interstate quite commonly online, so there must be a way.

I believe you will still end up paying Colorado taxes on the vehicle when you register it there

I you are a resident of Colorado you can buy a vehicle anywhere in the US and title/license it in Colorado.

1 item to remember is Colorado has a VIN inspection for all out of state used vehicles (I do not know the process for new vehicles). This must be done by the Police or at an emissions location in CO.

Not sure if this will help, but I moved to CO in Jan 1995 from NJ (college student). I drove my car from NJ to CO, changed my drivers license from NJ to CO and registered my car in CO. Problem was, I had a street motorcycle still in NJ, with NJ plates/registration. I had to have my local NJ PD come to my house for a VIN inspection. They filled out my CO form and wrote a letter on the PD letterhead stating my VIN matched my NJ title. I think I had my parents do this while I was still in CO, then had them mail me the letter. I took the letter to the CO DMV to get my plates.

This site may help:
https://www.dmv.org/co-colorado/car-registration.php

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Originally posted by JALLEN:
Each state has its own unique system of registering and collecting tax upon transfer. I don't think your state of residence is a factor.

It absolutely is a factor for active duty military. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, allows military members to maintain residency in the state they entered active duty, or switch to another state while actually stationed there. The law provides tax protections related to both income tax, and taxes on personal property (including motor vehicles).

For example, when I was stationed in San Antonio , TX, I changed my state of residence to Texas. When transferred to Nebraska, by law I was allowed to maintain residence in Texas for voting and tax purposes. (NOT for the purchase of firearms, see: https://www.atf.gov/firearms/q...utes-residency-state) When I purchased my vehicle in Nebraska, it was registered in Bexar County Texas, and I paid taxes in Texas. Also, even though Nebraska had state income tax, I didn't file or pay taxes in NE, because by law I was a Texas resident, and not subject to NE state income tax.

Check the laws of your State carefully.
Many have a clause in there about needing to register in the State if OPERATED in the State for more than 30 days (or some period) regardless of where your home is.

Then, there is the factor that you can get away with anything as long as you don't get caught. Just be aware of your risks.

As a SC resident, when I have bought vehicles in NC, they always charge the SC sales tax.

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I'm thinking about purchasing a new vehicle, but the high tax rate in Louisiana has me looking at alternatives. Could I purchase in Texas, Florida or Alabama, and then register in my home county in Colorado, and circumvent Louisiana entirely?

Be careful, or you may end up paying both.
I bought a vehicle recently in Texas and they added on Texas sales tax. I had the car shipped to Missouri, licensed and titled in Missouri and had to pay sales tax again in Missouri.
I have to fill out a form in Texas to try to recover the sales tax paid in Texas.

If you buy in another state, would you not be paying that state's sales tax, and the new state's tax when you go to register it? Doesn't sound like a plan.

Be careful buying a used car from Texas especially the Houston area from the Harvey flooding.

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Originally posted by dwd1985:

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Originally posted by chellim1:

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I'm thinking about purchasing a new vehicle, but the high tax rate in Louisiana has me looking at alternatives. Could I purchase in Texas, Florida or Alabama, and then register in my home county in Colorado, and circumvent Louisiana entirely?

Be careful, or you may end up paying both.
I bought a vehicle recently in Texas and they added on Texas sales tax. I had the car shipped to Missouri, licensed and titled in Missouri and had to pay sales tax again in Missouri.
I have to fill out a form in Texas to try to recover the sales tax paid in Texas.

Exactly, this is the type of stuff I am worried about. If I buy in LA right now I'll likely pay 10% at the dealership, and then when I take my paperwork to CO (4% rate), its not like they're going to give me a refund for that 6%. So I guess my next question (maybe a dumb one) is, do dealerships automatically charge you the sales tax rate of your homestate, or of the state you are physically in at the time?

My father in law recently bought a new F250 from Colorado as a Texas resident and only paid Texas sales tax. He is not in the military either.

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Originally posted by dwd1985:
Yup, that's what I'm looking to do. CO taxes are lower than LA taxes. Combined tax rate in my home county is 4%, but tax rate in NOLA is 10%.

I did the same years ago moving from AL to LA. Went to register my truck in LA and they told me that I would need to pay the difference between AL and LA tax - this added up to about $1,500 on my new truck. I couldn't afford that and there was no option to roll it into financing because I already had a loan from 8 mos earlier in AL.

So I just had my Dad renew the AL registration for me each year and kept my AL license. If I got stopped I was "just visiting" or had only "been in LA for a couple weeks."

The LA state police are very strict about the registration requirement. They were even known to take note of out of state plates on vehicles in the same driveways for extended periods of time and would ask questions sometimes. If caught the fines can be large. I knew I would only be there for 2-3 years and figured I could pull it off or at least have time to save up the money to pay, as well as let the value of my truck go down. I made it 3 years and moved back to AL.

Dealerships do not automatically charge sales tax for the state in which you are a resident. For last three out of state purchases I made (Texas, Tennessee, Ohio), the dealerships collected no sales tax from me at all. When I registered the vehicles in Florida, I paid the Florida sales tax. There was a 30 day time window to get them registered in Florida.

I don't know how Louisiana or Colorado handle this. I'd talk to a dealer in Louisiana and whomever the registration authority in Colorado is to find out.

As someone stated earlier, each state may handle things a bit differently. I have purchased out of state when I lived in Washington state and again since moving back to Texas. Both Washington and Texas handled it the same. If the selling state collected no sales tax I paid the home state sales tax upon registering my vehicle. If the selling state charged tax at point of sale, I was only liable for any difference upon in the tax rate upon registration in the home state. So if I bought in Colorado and was charged 4% sales tax at point of sale, when I registered in Texas I was charged an addition 2.25%, the difference between Colorado's 4% rate and Texas' 6.25% rate.

Ah the wonders of the internet...did a Google search and came up with this:

Louisiana Vehicle Registration and Military Tax Exemption/Credit regulations

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I bought a vehicle recently in Texas and they added on Texas sales tax. I had the car shipped to Missouri, licensed and titled in Missouri and had to pay sales tax again in Missouri.
I have to fill out a form in Texas to try to recover the sales tax paid in Texas.

Last time I did this the DMV looked at the paperwork and deducted the tax I paid out of state from the tax due here in Missouri.

Some states like North Carolina charge you sales tax all over again. When I moved here I brought my 2014 GTI which I bought in PA and paid PA sales tax on it. When I registered it here they charged me “highway” tax which is basically sales tax again. So I paid it twice. Now I have 2 cars and a motorcycle so my first day at the DMV cost me well over a thousand dollars for 3 plates.

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Originally posted by a1abdj:

quote:

I bought a vehicle recently in Texas and they added on Texas sales tax. I had the car shipped to Missouri, licensed and titled in Missouri and had to pay sales tax again in Missouri.
I have to fill out a form in Texas to try to recover the sales tax paid in Texas.

Last time I did this the DMV looked at the paperwork and deducted the tax I paid out of state from the tax due here in Missouri.

This. Alternatively, I think the time I bought a car in AZ and registered in TX I had to pay the entire tax in TX but got the refund from the AZ dealer. They were super-fast in doing this, but it was a relatively high-end dealer with service to match.