In general if you purchase a new car out of state, the sales tax you are charged is for the state you purchased the car in and not the state of residence. Correct? The best price I can find is in a neighboring state. Never purchased a new car out of state before. Not certain how that tax thing work.

 

If you purchase the car, you pay the taxes at the place of purchase. If you lease a car, then you pay the tax based upon where you live.

 

In general most states also tax you when you register your car in your "home" state.
Usually there is a credit for taxes paid to another state on purchase.

One way or the other the state govt will get your tax money for sure
(Otherwise all CA residents would be driving up and purchasing from OR !!)

 

Unfortunately in TX, you pay full sales tax (on total cap cost of the car) when you lease
(not just on the depreciated portion).

On top of this travesty, we are also charged a sales tax (again) when we want to buy the car at the end of the lease.
Logic being that the leasing company is now selling you a "used" car - hence the new tax

 

If it's a big dealer they should be able to take care of it.
When I bought my truck from NJ(I'm in NY) they took care of all the paper works, and I paid NY(home state) taxes.

 

Depending on where you're buying the car from, if it's a neighboring state, they should set it up whereas you pay state tax on where the car will be registered. Not where the car is physically purchased. If you're buying a car from across the country however, I doubt they'll know how tax you properly and you may be hit with sales tax twice. Once upon purchasing and once again on re-registering a new car in your home state. I know in VA/MD, they tax you differently as of a few years ago. Both have 5% state sales tax but in VA, since they assess an annual property tax to vehicles, they only charged 3% car tax as oppose to the regular 5% sales tax. So if I'm from VA and stop by MD to buy a car, they know to only charge 3% sales tax while if I was from MD and purchased in VA, they'll charge me 5% sales tax. Also, the paperwork is setup so it's properly registered in the correct state and will not require for the buyer to register. Less headache this way.

 

I can't imagine that every other replier is wrong, so it must work different in the Northeast than other places. I know for a fact that when you purchase a car, new or used, the sales tax you pay is based on state of residence, not where you buy it. I used to sell cars at a dealership that was right along the MA/CT border, so I know it works that way. If it didn't, why wouldn't everyone run to NH or DE to buy a car and pay no sales tax?

 

My new G is the third car I have purchased in CA. I live in WA state. I have flown to CA each time for the purchase and paid the CA sales tax. When I license the car in WA they credit the amount of tax already paid to CA. WA does not get the tax I paid in CA. I suspect if I had the car shipped to WA from a CA dealer I would pay the tax in WA not CA. Is that all cleared up now? Now I have confused myself..

 

Oh well, there goes my idea on not having to pay NY taxes. I'm in the same boat as you.

 

The tax should be paid wherever you first register the car. You have to pay the tax when you get your plates. As others have said, there is a credit for any taxes paid to another state. When I bought mine, the dealership collected some local taxes (not sales tax) and then wrote a cheque paying them back to the DMV where I was going to register the car.

 

it should be the tax rate of where you reside.

 

you should be paying taxes where you register the car... irrespective of where you buy it.

 

if you purhase a car in a state other than the one in which you reside, that out of state dealer will give you the paperwork to take to the dmv for the state in which you do reside. you pay taxes when you title the car in the state in which you reside/licensed.

 

Obviously, you should check the laws in your state. This thread is evidence that it is different in different places. Here you pay "sales tax" where you purchase and then the registration tax is another set of taxes in and of itself which are paid when you register the car where you live.

 

Actually, if "here" is Alabaster, Alabama, you are wrong. You are liable for a local use tax in addition to whatever rate you may have paid to an outside agency.