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Tesla and Town Hall -- $50K too high on excise tax

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All,

This may affect your automobile taxes.

Here in the People's Republic of Massachusetts, we have a $25 per $1,000 auto excise tax. I received my excise tax bill a few days ago, and noticed that the Model S was valued at $130K. So I copied by Bill of Sale and call my Town Hall assessor, who said to come down with the paperwork and he'd do what he could.

Paul the Assessor was most helpful. We chatted a bit about the car, and he pulled and copied my excise tax bills from 2012 and 2013 and provided a number at the Mass Registry to call, and warned they were difficult to deal with and the wait might be long. He also explained what was and was not included in the excise tax calculation (e.g., MSRP - which i had a hard time explaining as they did not understand a direct from the manufacturer purchase - and that i should not be charged for the HPWC (which is GREAT!)).

We chatted some more about the car, and he asked me if it was outside and he could see it. Before long, i gave him a full test ride, along with a performance demo. He was beaming. By the time we got back to his office, the registry picked up and he took notes and coached me on what to do (actually, they were quite nice and helpful). I have to fax the paperwork to the registry and they will 'pull their papers' over the course of the next week. Paul also said he'd rebate any excess on my 2012 excise bills.

Net - i think the registry valued the Model S based on the first delivery here in August (i met the owner of a Silver "Founder's Edition" charging along with me at the Natick Store last week). I hope we get adjusted back to reasonable value, and hope this will help everyone else here in the PRM. I posted to the general forum in case the same issue manifests in other states.

Jack
 
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All,

This may affect your automobile taxes.

Here in the People's Republic of Massachusetts, we have a $25 per $1,000 auto excise tax. I received my excise tax bill a few days ago, and noticed that the Model S was valued at $130K. So I copied by Bill of Sale and call my Town Hall assessor, who said to come down with the paperwork and he'd do what he could.

Paul the Assessor was most helpful. We chatted a bit about the car, and he pulled and copied my excise tax bills from 2012 and 2013 and provided a number at the Mass Registry to call, and warned they were difficult to deal with and the wait might be long. He also explained what was and was not included in the excise tax calculation (e.g., MSRP - which i had a hard time explaining as they did not understand a direct from the manufacturer purchase - and that i should not be charged for the HPWC (which is GREAT!)).

We chatted some more about the car, and he asked me if it was outside and he could see it. Before long, i gave him a full test ride, along with a performance demo. He was beaming. By the time we got back to his office, the registry picked up and he took notes and coached me on what to do (actually, they were quite nice and helpful). I have to fax the paperwork to the registry and they will 'pull their papers' over the course of the next week. Paul also said he'd rebate any excess on my 2012 excise bills.

Net - i think the registry valued the Model S based on the first delivery here in August (i met the owner of a Silver "Founder's Edition" charging along with me at the Natick Store last week). I hope we get adjusted back to reasonable value, and hope this will help everyone else here in the PRM. I posted to the general forum in case the same issue manifests in other states.

Jack

Jack, I just received my MA Excise tax bill and it values the S at $54,950. (not $130K) Looks like you corrected it with the state. Thank You!
 
Hello everyone,
As I begin to watch all the videos, create numerous spreadsheets and veritably drool on my keyboard (not recommended unless you have a waterproof keyboard), I have a question regarding the value. The value the state estimates the Model S is worth is $54,950? Is this regardless of the purchase price? This, by the way, is the first forum board I've been on where the decorum is set to a very high standard. Way to go!
Drew
 
Welcome, Drew! When do you get your car - or are you still just planning for it?

I think you can thank the moderators as well as the participants for keeping the standard high, moving off-topic exchanges to new or other threads, and especially moving useless arguments and comments to a snippiness thread.

As for the sample of two posted here, it looks like they took the lowest base price as the estimated value. Any others get the same value on their bills? Jack, what was yours valued at in the end?
 
No, I don't have it as of yet. I'm stuck in a lease. However, I've been playing with the design studio and am glad I have. Still have to go for my test drive (which I know I'll thoroughly enjoy).
I'm trying to determine, hence my entry here, all of the costs. I don't believe there are many Model S here in Western Mass (Springfield area). Also, I want to have all facts ready to go in the event that there are any problems.
 
Bump. Just looking to see if someone can confirm those quoting $54,950 are owners of the 60kwh? MA uses a 90% of MSRP multiple, for current model year (new) vehicles. This also seems to confirm a heavily option'able car gets carried base values. Thanks.
 
I was registering my car in Maine. Model S doesn't show up, so my clerk calls someone to get the MSRP. She says to me, "whoa, that's an expensive car!" I ask, "how much did they tell you it was?" "$122,000" ....

We ended up at $77k, which is reasonable for a base price 85kwh, but doesn't rice in any options. My guess is that's true in most places.
 
I don't know what's going on.....I got a letter from MassDOT yesterday that they'd sent to my town's Board of Assessors with the "correct" MSRP for the car, saying that the Registry's records were in error previously............guess I'm about to get billed for more?!?