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Texas Model S Reservation Holders - PLEASE READ

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sublimaze1

8Dec2012 / Leeroy Jenkins
Sep 6, 2012
1,132
76
Basin City, TX
A few things have come to light today. They are not earth shattering, but that can cause some dyspepsia, if you are not prepared. I was not prepared.

(1) TESLA no longer gathers tax for Texas. Texas sent Tesla some kind of piss-o-gram this week and essentially forbade them from collecting tax. Because they are not an authorized dealer and only dealers can collect taxes on cars as an extension of the government taxing authority.

- why is this important? If you finance your car, when you get the final MVPA, the tax will not be on it and it will not be rolled into the financing. You will have to search for $5-8K somewhere else.

(2) When your car is delivered to you, it will no longer be with a Delivery Specialist. Yes, you read it right. He or She will not be present on your property to deliver the car to you. Clyde or Marvin or Spike will deliver your Model S as a third party delivery company would. Roll your car off, presumably hand you the fobs and get a signature and leave. I did not ascertain if you would be able to have the DS come by later, or not.

This is simply another way that state legislature is playing bully on the playground. And you know what bullies on the playground end up being? They end up mowing our lawn.

Slightly peeved, but motivated to get over it,

WJ
McKinney, Texas
 
What I am learning from all this (and if someone is reading this on Nov 9, 2013 - it all may have changed)is that I am going to have to be vigilant in this new vehicle sales model, with respect to my state and other issues that are unknown right now. I guess keeping on top of this has helped me avoid unrecoverable situations: e.g. digging around for $6,500 on Christmas Eve ...
 
Sorry to hear about these problems you're having. Would treating the car purchase as an item ordered online from Tesla (clothing, charge cord) allow Tesla to collect the tax for TX? There must be other companies with a physical presence in TX but main office located elsewhere, that are required to collect sales tax, Tesla shouldn't be any different. If so, can they generate two invoices, one for the finance company showing the full price of the car including tax (the online purchase) and the other for the DMV?
 
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Hey WJ. I'm in plano and taking delivery next week move been introduced to my delivery specialist so I think I will meet him at some point. I haven't heard anything about him not being present at delivery.

I'll update this thread when I learn more.
 
Out of interest, I'm in Texas, but am (vaguely) planning on doing a factory collection followed by a road-trip home, so would that bypass these issues? Paying 'cash' for the sales tax will not really be an option for me, without dropping some other options off the car.

Would love to see a copy of the piss-o-gram. Stupid Texas.
 
This is really sad. That is all I can say. I hope this changes by the time I make my purchase. If not I will buy out of state if that's an option and Texas won't get any of my Tax dollars... unless of course I have to pay where I live.... then I'm screwed I suppose.
 
So Texas is enforcing an anti-business, closed-shop style, anti-competitive law. Did anyone tell Gov. Perry?

Governor Perry is too busy praying for rain and executing criminals to actually do anything productive.

- - - Updated - - -

Out of interest, I'm in Texas, but am (vaguely) planning on doing a factory collection followed by a road-trip home, so would that bypass these issues? Paying 'cash' for the sales tax will not really be an option for me, without dropping some other options off the car.

Not really. It would just postpone the payment until you register the vehicle. However, if you pay California sales tax, I think Texas will give you a credit. The problem is that CA sales tax is more than TX sales tax so you'd actually be out more.
 
What's the source of the information posted here?

Does anyone know if we can purchase the vehicle, say at the factory and pay California taxes instead? (I'd certainly rather keep my tax money in state, but letting another state get it is probably the fastest way to force the laws to change.
 
... but letting another state get it is probably the fastest way to force the laws to change.

Spot on!
Any other state or auto dealers want to play that game, let the state loose out altogether - CA would be happy to take your money.

Though in Oregon we don't have sales tax (make up for it in income tax), that wouldn't be an option for us. Our auto dealers have asked the AG to "look in to" how Tesla is set up. Fortunately we are a EV friendly state, so hopeful for positive outcome.
 
Some posts on this forum have indicated that Texas has reciprocal sales tax arrangements with at least some states, including California.

They do. These were older posts. Texas pulled Teslas ability as they have no dealership rating. They flew under the radar til last week.

The source of my info is my final MVPA and explanation (via phone) from Tesla financial. That explanation was as to why my tax, registration, and state fee columns were blank.

mu4e3ysa.jpg
 
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Understood. So we can't get out of it. But what was the source of the information that sublimaze1 provided on the first post of this thread?

That was for a car transported to Texas. I believe if you took delivery at the factory and drove the car here it would be different. Of course without a supercharger network in place, I doubt many would want to do this.
 
If that's all Texas has (requiring 3rd party deliverers) then they got nothin!! Actually, hasn't TM been using 3rd party deliverers quite a bit lately? So really, no biggie.

Wrt sales tax to what state vs where car is picked up, I'm guessing TM is deciding on a case-by-case ad hoc last minute basis, so best not to ask them for policy statements.
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I do not have words to express my feelings for you texans.

Many Germans look to America as an archetype of a free nation with a free economy based on personal freedom. A built on trust and fairness to all. Freedom to do business, to make money and to spend it the way you want.

This just doesn't make sense to us. Neither do the dealership laws in some states.

Here in Europe any European company is allowed to do business in any other of the european community countries. All foreign companies are required to collect the local VAT (value added tax) if they exceed a certain annual threshold (around 35k Euros) in sales to a foreign country. No hassle, clear rules for all to follow.
 
I do not have words to express my feelings for you texans.

Many Germans look to America as an archetype of a free nation with a free economy based on personal freedom. A built on trust and fairness to all. Freedom to do business, to make money and to spend it the way you want.

This just doesn't make sense to us. Neither do the dealership laws in some states.

I'm not Texan, but I live here, and I've had several people around me say they're "Texan first, American second". Welcome to Texas :)

I am planning on a road trip from the factory, although I've not researched charging stops yet, figured there wasn't much point until nearer the time (May-ish). If Texas is choosing to be so dumb about this issue, I'm happy to give my tax dollars to another state, but I assume there's residency requirements to do that? I.e. I could fly to New Mexico and take delivery there, where car sales tax is just 3%, and drive it back to Texas. Of course, I'd have to eventually register it in Texas, so I'm not sure how that would work.