SC also has a yearly property tax on cars.
We at an annual excise tax on our vehicles here in MA. Several of my colleagues have moved away during the past year, and continue to be billed for our local excise tax because they did not turn in their plates and/ or register their new in-state town of residence.
When I first moved from NY to MA, I didn’t bother to register my car in MA for many months. Then I had an accident, and my father read me the riot act because my insurance company could have declined to cover the damage and medical expenses. Fortunately, my father was an insurance exec and intervened, but boy, was he mad at me…
CT has car property taxes. But when we moved here…we had to change our car registration, licenses, etc…within 90 days…and pay the piper, even though we owned property in another state.
CT also has a vehicle property tax. It is confusing when you move to another state and the dot gov websites are not always user friendly. I would not necessarily blame the neighbor- my son’e friend in New Jersey was ticketed for an expired registration (NJ doesn’t have stickers and he didn’t receive a bill). He was discovered in his work parking lot. The cop had a hand held device to check license plates. Easy Pass usage could have raised a red flag as well.
CT and ME both have car taxes, which seems like a reasonable way to help finance the roads, to me.
I understand why you are steamed about the penalties, since you weren’t trying to evade the tax. I got a ticket for having an “unregistered car” up here–actually, it was registered and inspected, but that year’s fee wasn’t paid yet–because I was accustomed to getting a notice in the mail in CT. Also, since registration and inspection dates are usually not the same, you have two things to keep track of. I had no idea that the payment was due, and of course I went straight to Town Hall and paid it. But I was steamed about the ticket, because the guy could just have let me know, as it was obvious that I had just forgotten it. (Also he behaved like a storm trooper in training, but that’s another matter.)
We gifted a car to S1 4 years ago. We live in CT; he lived in MA at the time. Even though he was moving to CA in 3 weeks, we had him change title, registration and insurance in MA for those 3 weeks. We didn’t want to be the ones responsible for anthing that might happen to the car. We were also concerned that should he have an accident & the car was still in our names & insurance, that the insurance co. might not pay. It would be hard to justify to them that he was just “borrowing” our car.
The state of Virginia has had a Personal Property Tax for as long as I can remember. But when we moved from Montgomery County MD to NoVA 20 years ago we no longer paid county income tax. It was pretty much a wash.
While it was unfortunate that you were surprised by this, but I can’t see it having an effect on the Amazon decision. Lots of other businesses have relocated here.
obviously, it was an honest mistake. But I believe EVERY state has a law that says cars brought in state must be registered in that state within 30-60-90-xx days. They all want their money.
I’m not sure this qualifies as a warning for new residents. Most folks moving to Virginia (or any other state for that matter) will own the vehicles themselves, so of course they will be no excuse for not registering them. The intent of the law is to ensure that the OWNER of the car doesn’t keep the car registered elsewhere to avoid paying the tax.
The confusion here lies in the fact that the driver of the car is not the owner. The OP’s son neither owns nor leases the car, which is what the law describes. If I am the owner and am paying property taxes for the car in Maine, then I wouldn’t think I would need to pay taxes in Virginia. I would have the owner of the car go to Virginia (yes, I know it will be a hassle) with proof of ownership and residency. Then explain kindly and calmly that the OWNER was unaware of the law that required another driver to be paying taxes on the OWNER’s personal property. Then, either gift your son the car or have him buy it from you with the understanding that he will sell it back to you if he ever leaves Virginia or buys a car of his own.
This morning I took my car in for service. WIth this thread fresh on my mind, I checked the license plate as I was leaving. Lo and behold, my registration ran out in July! I know there’s a grace period, but not how long it is. I drove straight to the Town Hall, which turns out to be closed on Fridays. Hope I make it to Monday w/o a ticket. 8-X
Whenever I stop at a light, I look at the plates on the car in front of me. It’s amazing how much of the time the tag is expired!
Not necessarily - lots of people own cars which are registered in a different state from where they live. Snowbirds in particular. D’s car is registered in the state where she’s in college but leased under our name and insured under the same policy that covers all our other cars.
Adding to something you said earlier, our insurance agent really didn’t care where the car was registered. In fact she suggested registering the car in our home state to lower our rates. Maybe the lesson of the day is that people need to rely on the published motor vehicle dept policies for the state where the car resides and definitely not whatever an insurance agent might say.
Yeah, we get that
No matter. Look at it this way, the hubby-owner is essentially parking his car in Virginia and has been for two years. Virginia wants its cut.
I don’t understand why not. If you car ends up in another state for 2+ years, they are gonna want a cut unless you meet one of the state’s exceptions (such as military service, attending college…).
Key words: “YOUR car.” “YOUR vehicle.” In this case, it’s not his car or his vehicle.
I think the OP has a pretty good case against the penalties.
This is from the AAA website.
https://drivinglaws.aaa.com/tag/registration-for-non-residents/
I am firmly on the side of the tax is owed by the OP but based on the AAA detail above I have a question.
In looking at a map, if I were living in Harlan, WV and had a family member living in Kingsport, TN (about 60 miles) and I went to visit them once a week, would I then owe the tax? The logical route would take me through VA and I would then meet the clause “Any owner who operates or permits to be operated 1 or more of these vehicles either simultaneously or alternately as often as 4 times in any 1 month shall be considered to be regularly operating them in the Commonwealth.” This hardly seems legal or enforceable.
Another thought, if I were to live on the border and cose to do my grocery shopping in VA again would I owe the tax if I shopped weekly?
@iaparent - I’m pretty sure this code section defines what “operating” a vehicle means and I’m pretty sure your examples would be considered pleasure. There’s another Code section that exempts vehicles covered by state reciprocity. In your situations, you’re passing through Virginia - the OP’s son lives here, parks here, uses the roads here, uses Virginia services.
https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/chapter6/section46.2-658/
Most of the time when parents are inquiring about the need to register a vehicle, it’s because their son/daughter is bringing it to college. I live in a college town and we have a large number of New Jersey, PA, NY plates - these folks are not required to register or to pay personal property tax. I suspect there may have been a misunderstanding at DMV when making inquiry initially about the need to register the vehicle. I hope the next problem isn’t a penalty for failure to register the vehicle in VA.
No, you’re visiting once/week. Or even once/day (very common in New England or the DC area to cross borders routinely.) That’s actually just “pleasure,” whether or not you enjoy it. Or you’re simply transiting through one state to get to another.
And the AAA about business is incomplete. I believe it refers to “new” residents with a car registered OOS. Or the grey line where someone runs a business in VA, but resides elsewhere. Behind most of these regulations is “intent.”
It sure isn’t easy to find the regulations. We need the “.gov” sites. Here’s Louden County. https://www.loudoun.gov/vehicle
"Loudoun County levies a tax each calendar year on all motor vehicles, trailers, campers, mobile homes, boats, and airplanes with “situs” in the county. A vehicle has situs for taxation in Loudoun County if it is garaged, parked, or stored in the county, or if it is registered to a county address with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.
You are required to file a personal property return with the Commissioner of the Revenue within 60 days of acquiring or bringing such property into Loudoun County or one of Loudoun’s seven incorporated towns. This applies to all vehicles owned by individuals or businesses, whether titled in Virginia or out of state."
Update - DH spent the entire afternoon at the Fairfax County bldg, appealing up several levels, and got 2016 waived. So, we are down from $1400 to $900. Which we will pay.
Next, we will transfer ownership of car to son and register in VA. There’s quite a few steps involved and the car did not pass inspection due to one issue - so he is dealing with that.
I truly did mean the post as a warning to people who might be unaware. I wish someone had warned me. DH and I have lived in Maryland for 35+ years and were not familiar with the concept that other states have an auto tax. If we had moved more frequently, we would have known.