So we are both non-residents. They said that lots of expensive cars have Montana plates, and its all part of a tax scheme. If you need to register a vehicle for use on California roadways, waterways, or trailways, you've come to the right place to find out all you need to know. It's a strategy that you can agree with or not.. So how much can the affluent benefit from a Montana car registration? Once we have proof of ownership through one of these means, we handle the rest. Our Montana Registration Service is tried and true if you don't want to lift a finger. Montana license plates and Montana vehicle registration are not just for the super-rich, although they do benefit significantly. So place an order to renew your Montana vehicle registration before noon today and you'll have your new registration sticker tomorrow. We'd do this in my husband's name as I don't want to be committing tax fraud in some way as a U.S. citizen. Right off the bat, California will shank you for 7.5 percent. Taxes or fees in lieu of taxes are due, along with appropriate registration fees (U.S. funds only). I'm not military so it would be the latter. Its no wonder people are leaving this state in droves.! Another subreddit directed me here saying you folks know a lot about registering vehicles as non-residents. As of October 2017, Consumerist is no longer producing new content, but feel free to browse through our archives. There are three registration periods currently offered in Montana: 12-month, 24-month, and permanent. All rights reserved. Youve got to have it. You may order presentation ready copies to distribute to your colleagues, customers, or clients, by visiting https://www.parsintl.com/publication/autoblog/. When you sign the bill, complete the buyer section the same as you would a Montana title application. Once the vehicle is permanently registered, it is covered for life, with no more registration renewals. With the Vehicle Registration Service, you will now have a freshly minted South Dakota license plate, registration, and title for your car. View all online services Renew Your Vehicle Registration Renew your Driver's License or ID Card 2 mtchalcedony 1 yr. ago Still, proportionately the benefit is the same for everyone: Montana vehicle registration is not just about the wealthy individual saving taxes on his fifth Porsche Roadster. For somewhere around 1200$ there would be nothing to do from our side except fill out a form. The LLC registers and plates the vehicle in Montana. But the truth of the matter is that eventually, your car or truck will no longer pass emissions at some point in time. Want more consumer news? Many collectable cars are denoted as gross polluters in the state of California and do not pass emissions tests. So lets run the numbers according to these: The $150,000 light luxury car sales tax at 7.12 percent will cost $10,680. As noted, this maneuver is probably illegal in your state. But the interest was traditionally by the affluent looking for ways to keep costs down on high-end sports cars, or it was expensive motorhomes looking for the same. The second highest, Clay County, had just 7,241 registrations during the same time; however, that represented more than one-fourth of all vehicles registered in the county. Yes! This is because, with less than half the population of the borough of Queens, N.Y., it has no populated areasfederally classified as having non-attainment status tomeetthe Clean Air Act'sregulations. You will have to provide a passing smog check in selling your car. 1; 2; First Prev 2 of 2 Go to page. Or you could tell them anything other than the previous parenthetical sentence, which would be a lie. Off-highway legal fee: $61.25. Search for how to register my car in Montana and youll see a dozen sites offering services to help clients form LLCs. Several people I know of use South Dakota. New Registration. 3 min read 1. Even in a very modest state with a four percent sales tax, the tax bill for a $150,000 light luxury vehicle is still $6,000. This will allow you to save a ton of money in sales tax, especially if you purchase a very expensive vehicle. This process earmarks the vehicle to an owner and is necessary to score a license plate needed to traverse public roads. Terms Of Service. According to a 2018 report by the Rapid City Journal, when an expatriate named Aldis Barsketis emigrated from the United States to Mexico, he noticed there was an astounding number of cars sporting South Dakota tags. In addition to normal registration fees, individual counties in Montana may also impose a so-called local option tax of up to 0.7% of avehiclesretail value, providingdirect revenue. Drivers fill out an online form and provide the: State or province of the plate in question. So is this an extravagant workaround that benefits the people, or an unethical loophole being used as a revenue generator? As the attorney in this relationship, I have to be the one to tell you the bad news, and its twofold bad news. Resurrecting an old thread here but thought I should pass it on. You must be logged in to perform that action. Not sure about the insurance part. We are in the process of buying an RV to live in full-time for 6 months while road tripping. Check out some of our greatest hits below, explore the categories listed on the left-hand side of the page, or head to CR.org for ratings, reviews, and consumer news. Are state sales taxes and use taxes too high? You'll sign your name as the manager acting on behalf of your LLC. they can rightfully deny a claim in most states if it is shown that the underlying policy was obtained through fraud, even if the underlying fraud has nothing to do with your claim. It really is that simple. And guess what? Here you can find 12 years worth of articles on everything from how to avoid dodgy scams to writing an effective complaint letter. 9.14.15 4:48 PM EDT By Laura Northrup@lnorthrup, big lie country montana car registration sales tax use tax personal property tax. Our fast and easy app will get you there. Light vehicle registrations . Now if I got pulled for speeding maybe they would question me. Penalties for Vehicles Registered in California You may also have noticed quite a few South Dakota license plates, which is not a coincidence. Thanks for visiting Consumerist.com. Brace yourself because this is probably going to hurt just a little bit. The Montana LLC comes with real business responsibilities. Now lets have a look at South Dakota. You would then buy the vehicle in the name of that LLC. Ouch. It might be wise to check with the licensing and registration agency in your . Awesome? What was once a blue-collar state that made its mark on the world by producing things then transitioned to the mecca of technological development. Apparently accounting software and Microsoft Excel haven't reached South Dakota yet. This isnt even counting localized taxes and fees, which as we saw earlier can be substantial in California. Doing so, saves you sales tax. The fine people of Montana drive and register all kinds of vehicles, all of which are sales tax-free to register. 2022Recurrent Ventures. Its not a red flag; its something to note, he says. The third certainty in life besides death and taxes is insurance. 2 petiteminotaure 1 yr. ago Have you done this? So, if you have a car and hold the title, you do not need to undergo a smog check so long as it is 1) four years old or newer or 2) eight years old or newer and you have been paying your smog abatement fee. The following cars are exempt from smog testing in California: Vehicles 8 years old or newer when paying a Smog Abatement Fee, Natural gas vehicles weighing over 14,000 lbs. When going to get your registration handled, you will have to pay fees. The only question left is, what will you do? Whatever your views are on smog and emissions (we all think smog is gross), we all know that smog gear on cars makes them less reliable and less efficient, and smog gear is always failure-prone. According to Zip Recruiter, the average salary for Los Angeles is $68,118, a paltry 2.18% over the national average, whereas the average cost of a house is $915,000, 144% over the national average of $374,900. It is particularly beneficial for anyone living in heavily taxed states, not just the super-rich. Location where it was observed (including street and city). The only. This is the typical structure of the Montana scheme where somebody creates an LLC in Montana for the sole purpose of owning and registering the car in Montana and has no other connection with the state. This saves them A LOT of money on the initial purchase of a vehicle, be it a car, a motorbike, a boat, or even an RV. Its very difficult to get insurance. Most services are available online with the DMV or with a DMV-authorized partner! But regardless of which part of the state you may reside in, there is another option to save money on registration and kick the smog check to the curb. The vehicle is then legally an asset belonging to the LLC. The only downside is that you have to put an ugly Montana plate on your vehicle. People from states usually have staggering sales taxes and oppressive inspection requirements to contend with just to get on the road. The cool thing about making a military Light Medium Tactical Vehicle (LMTV) off-grid is that it will take you farther than you might even want to go. This post is part of our Out of State Series explaining the benefits of using our Montana LLC Program to register your vehicles out-of-state. RV Service: Registering a Converted School Bus Toy Hauler, Want to own Doug DeMuro's Audi RS2 but live in California? He teaches a popular bi-weekly webinar, Tax Tuesday, where business owners and investors can ask any tax question and get answers LIVE on-air. Four of the 100 Pagani Huayras ever made were registered in Montana. Now, you can look into registering your next vehicle in a sales-tax-free state with low licensing fees and no inspection requirements saving you hundreds of thousands in the long run. Have you done this? Your vehicles will be registered in Montana which has no sales tax. You might be passing for the first year or two, and it still might be a reasonably expensive used vehicle, and you end up flunking the smog check while you are still making payments, and you had a big tax bill laid on you when you bought it. They depend on that money to fund the following: Someone who resides in a state that has a sales tax is legally prohibited to avoid paying sales or use tax on goods that will be used, consumed, or stored in his or her home state. My sister has a residence there and I actually have history with that address as it was my last official U.S. residence. Likewise, we offer a New Mexico LLC for our South Dakota option, which affords the same sort of protection; the asset belongs to the LLC rather than you. Its diamond blue metallic painta hue so subtle that at some angles, it looked lavenderand throaty 3.3-liter flat-six engine were enough to bring $141,000 and more than 120 comments on its listing. If it mysteriously went from passing to failing, you guessed it; you have to get it fixed and pass the smog check before you can sell it. Vehicles between five and ten model years: $87. If youre going to use this strategy of buying your vehicle in Montana but residing somewhere else, most online law firms will tell you to set up a Montana LLC and then register your vehicle in the state of Montana. It has the second-most general coastline in the Lower 48 states. The Pitfalls Of The Montana License Plate Scam [The Garage]. From my exploratory research using the linked calculator, most counties and cities ended up averaging about ten percent in sales tax for an automobile. Individuals must bring their title and proof of vehicle sale to the county treasurer's office for Montana car registration regardless of the desired registration period. This will include the following: You'll submit your paperwork to the DMV/treasurer's office of the county where your registered agent is. Here is the breakdown of the California fee structure associated with your car or truck registration: Transportation Improvement Fee (TIF), which is based on your vehicle value: So, for your very-average priced new car, you can go ahead and tack on an additional $253 in assorted California registration fees. Though we find it hard to believe, the report claims that there isn't an exact figure that shows how much extra money the South Dakota Department of Revenue has earned from this practice, as the registration fee varies based on vehicle age, type, and weight class. If you cant afford the taxes to register your supercar in the state where you live, perhaps you cant afford the car, says Barry Ritholtz, a proud vintage Corvette and Defender owner and chairman of Ritholtz Wealth Management LLC. Since it has an entirely legitimate South Dakota title, you are not beholden to Californias asinine rulings regarding having a valid smog check at the time of sale. Thread starter LSUFan69; Start date Aug 30, 2022; Prev. Their cost of living is nuts, median housing costs are bonkers, and their car taxes and registration are ridiculous. You generally cant go wrong by doing that. Because once you cross over that sunset, you are going to have to deal with the probability that your emissions gear will need work anyway. So, an industry has sprung up to assist people from other states who want to take advantage of Montanas laws while living elsewhere. 2022 Dirt Legal. Copyright 2023 Anderson Advisors. This part of the smog check process is somewhat painless. If this alone were the determining factor, you still come out ahead titling and registering your car in South Dakota. How about the blue-collar guy who has grown his business over the years, has a fleet of work trucks, and is buying more? But it is also one of the most difficult places to title and tag your vehicles. Yes, I know, you are going to argue that you dont own the car - the LLC does. This is not chump change, even for those who can afford it. We at Dirt Legal have done extensive homework to bring you the very best out-of-state car registration options. Why Is Everyone Registering Their Cars in Montana? False statements which form the basis of the denial letter you will receive shortly in the mail. Frankly, it is nerve-racking to think about getting read the riot act when a cop finds that your drivers license does not match up with the state that your vehicle is registered in and/or the one you are driving in. You must have your bill of sale notarized. If you bought it from a private party or dealer, you'll need the title. This means you can own a car in another state. John McCoy is a lifelong car and truck enthusiast and has a strong mechanical background off the road. The exact name of your LLC has to be listed as the buyer. You must have JavaScript enabled to experience the new Autoblog. 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