NJ - Texas relocation - Advice

Do you know what county in TX?
http://www.txdmv.gov/motorists/buying-or-selling-a-vehicle/out-of-state-and-foreign-vehicles

You'll need to pay sales tax based upon the vehicle's "presumptive value."

Motor Vehicle Sales and Use Tax

Not a lawyer, but it depends on resident status it appears.


Use: Texas residents — 6 1/4 % (.0625) of sales price, less credit for sales or use taxes paid to other states, when bringing a motor vehicle into Texas that was purchased in another state.

New residents — $90 new resident fee due in lieu of use tax on a vehicle brought into Texas by a new resident, if the vehicle was previously registered in the new resident's name in another state or foreign country.

The residency status is where you lived, when you bought the car.

If you are relocating it is $90. You don't need to show what taxes you paid to NJ.

If you lived in Texas, buy a car in NJ , and bring it to Texas you would only pay tax if NJ tax is less. This is designed to prevent Texans from going to other states with lower sales tax to buy their cars.

Since Texas has no income tax, it has to get all its operating money from other tax sources, such as real estate taxes and sales taxes.

I'm not familiar with how things work in the country of Texas but do they charge you any tax on the car every year like I know they do in Virginia?

Rockster said:

You'll need to pay sales tax based upon the vehicle's "presumptive value."

Motor Vehicle Sales and Use Tax

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Presumptive value only comes into play when you purchase a car in Texas , usually between private parties with used car. If I sell you my 2013 Tesla for $60,000, but give you a receipt for $10,000 then the state can claim that's ridiculously low and use presumptive value. When dealing with car dealers they pretty much always accept the dealers invoice as evidence of the price. Plus with dealers you can get the sales tax credit for trade ins , which you don't get with private party transactions.

brkaus is closest to being correct, but left out an important point -- you must complete the registration in Texas within the first 30 days of residency in Texas. If not, all bets are off and you will have to pay the 6.25% use tax (minus whatever you paid for tax in NJ, which I assume is zero).

If you do have to pay tax, it is 6.25% no matter where you move to in the state. There is no local tax allowed on motor vehicles.

MsElectric said:

I'm not familiar with how things work in the country of Texas but do they charge you any tax on the car every year like I know they do in Virginia?

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There is an annual registration fee and an annual inspection requirement before you can get registered. It varies by county because some have extra fees such as road and bridge assessments, and varies some by age and size of vehicle.

i have personalized plates so it's about $105. Regular plates in my area are about $65.

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BerTX said:

brkaus is closest to being correct, but left out an important point -- you must complete the registration in Texas within the first 30 days of residency in Texas. If not, all bets are off and you will have to pay the 6.25% use tax (minus whatever you paid for tax in NJ, which I assume is zero).

If you do have to pay tax, it is 6.25% no matter where you move to in the state. There is no local tax allowed on motor vehicles.

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Wow, that is amazing that all of my vehicles were exactly 29 days.

MsElectric said:

I'm not familiar with how things work in the country of Texas but do they charge you any tax on the car every year like I know they do in Virginia?

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There is a registration fee and a state safety/emissions inspection fee, but no tax. Registration fee is $50-60 and inspection fee is $14.50. Emissions depends on where you live and if that is in Houston, Dallas/Ft Worth, El Paso or Austin will be $11-32 additional, but only applies to gasoline powered vehicles (who says TX doesn't like electric vehicles -- saved you 30 bucks right there!)

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reddy said:

i have personalized plates so it's about $105. Regular plates in my area are about $65.

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Just to clarify, the personalized plate fee is IN ADDITION to the regular plate fee, not in lieu of the fee. So in Reddy's example, he would pay $170 in registration fees per year.

ksdprasad said:

Thanks a lot guys.

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Welcome Prasad to Texas...not sure what area you will be visiting..Good luck on getting Tesla:smile:

BerTX said:

Just to clarify, the personalized plate fee is IN ADDITION to the regular plate fee, not in lieu of the fee. So in Reddy's example, he would pay $170 in registration fees per year.

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Actually that's not right. That's my total. My particular personalized plates are the 'old' type that are $40 extra for a total of $105.

Also, the inspection fee dropped to about $7 if you don't need smog testing , but registration went up by $4 to cover the new inspection programs.

reddy said:

Actually that's not right. That's my total. My particular personalized plates are the 'old' type that are $40 extra for a total of $105.

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I find the current fee structure confusing and maybe even a little deceptive, so I was just trying to caution a new resident that there is CURRENTLY a separate plate fee and registration fee that is rather outrageous. I shouldn't have tried to use your fees as an example -- I have no idea what you actually pay.

I don't have personalized plates because I think the prices are extortion, but maybe I'm misreading the fee structure. Currently, to get plates like yours, the plate fee would be $150/year and the registration fee would be $65 (ish) a year, for a total of $215/year. It is possible to pay the plate fee in advance for up to 5 years, bringing the plate fee down to $90/year.

You can also get customized plate colors but still a randomized plate number and the prices are much better. I didn't like the standard white plate, and liked the look of the black plates (but didn't care about a personalized message). So I bought a 5 year plate for around $150 or so. $30-$35 per year was worth it to me.

Welcome!

MsElectric said:

I'm not familiar with how things work in the country of Texas but do they charge you any tax on the car every year like I know they do in Virginia?

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No, nothing like Virginia. Vehicle registration costs in Texas are like a moderate dinner out for two.

redi said:

No, nothing like Virginia. Vehicle registration costs in Texas are like a moderate dinner out for two.

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I just had a buddy move to Georgetown from Ohio, and to register his two cars in Texas it cost him something like $400. I was shocked....

JMG said:

I just had a buddy move to Georgetown from Ohio, and to register his two cars in Texas it cost him something like $400. I was shocked....

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I think what the OP was referring to is the annual Virginia vehicle personal property tax, which is around 4.6 percent per year. I believe VA still does this.