Being gifted a car but RMV told me I needed to pay sales tax anyway???

Submitted by Shrinking_Violette t3_11ekky0 in boston

My father gifted me a car he had previously owned and titled in New Hampshire. On the original title, it states this car is registered under “joes company” OR “Joe Smith” —he owns the company and also his name is also listed as an owner.

I filled out the appropriate RMV form for the gifting/donation of a vehicle but when I got to the clerk she said I would still need to pay sales tax. I said well my fathers name/personal info is ok to put on the registration form (foregoing any business information for the registration) but now for the donation part you say you do not accept his name. I pointed and said it says “or” in terms of ownership. The clerk says, we do not accept “or.”

She didn’t even ask me the relation to “joe” (we share the same last name) so I was a bit taken aback how quickly she denied it.

I literally had no idea what to say and I needed this done so I paid the couple grand in taxes owed. I didn’t even know what to argue with her about.

I come back home and look online and there’s two different versions/forms of gifting (family and not) and none of them state a business can not gift. Regardless how does my fathers name on the title not even qualify…because it’s listed second??

I emailed the RMV but am the meantime wondering if I’m the complete idiot that I’m missing something or did I just get fucked?

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modernhomeowner t1_jaekjlu wrote

There are a lot of rules at play here, including registering a car from another state which you have owned less than six months and the fact that no sales tax was paid on it in MA or another state. That's a lot of balls flying around, in addition to the business name.

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Samael13 t1_jaela70 wrote

I am not a lawyer, but, according to the Mass.gov website, transfers to family are only exempt from paying sales tax if the original owner paid MA sales tax on the vehicle.

https://www.mass.gov/guides/motor-vehicle-and-trailer-sales-and-use-tax

Under exemptions:

>Family transfer (Form MVU-26) – As long as the transferor paid any Massachusetts sales or use tax before, casually selling or transferring a motor vehicle or trailer to a:
>
>*Parent

*Spouse

*Child, or

*Sibling

Is exempt from the tax. A vehicle owned jointly by a married couple may be treated as owned by either.

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Shrinking_Violette OP t1_jaemebn wrote

That makes sense reading it from that webpage, but then on the actual gifting page it says,

“The person transferring the vehicle must have met the tax laws of the state they registered it.”

https://www.mass.gov/service-details/familygift-transfers

So if they paid tax in their state (NH=$0) doesn’t that statement conflict with what you posted above? Is it not bizarre that on the actual gifting page it doesn’t mention anything about the previous tax in MA?

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Samael13 t1_jaeod8y wrote

I mean, like I said, I'm not a lawyer, but the gift form also states:

>An exemption from the sales or use tax for a motor vehicle transferred as a gift is provided for in the Massachusetts regulations and statutes. In order to be exempt from the sales and use tax, you must meet the requirements of the law and complete the affidavit above. You must fill in all blanks and print or type your entries, except at the end of the affidavit where your signatures
are required.

​

My non-lawyer interpretation would be that two things must be true: the person gifting the car must have met the laws of the state they registered it in *and* the gift must also meet the exemption requirements set out in the MA regulations and statues.

This is likely a question that needs an actual lawyer to answer, unfortunately.

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ThatWendyGirl11 t1_jaewf40 wrote

5 or so years ago now, my parents drove here to give me their ~8 year old Honda (it's still going strong). My dad was the only name on the title, and the RMV let me register it in Mass in my name without any taxes. It still ended up being a snafu because Dad wrote the mileage down wrong on the title so we had to get a notary to sign off on it. A very helpful lady at the RMV ultimately got us all set on the family transfer, probably helped along by the fact my dad and I have the same last name and sort of the same face.

TLDR just find that one super helpful lady from several years ago at the RMV and you'll be all set.

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ct20132009 t1_jaer5hv wrote

Just go to your local insurance agency. They will register the car for you and fill out all the paperwork and give you a license plate all at once. I think they charged around 20 bucks or so in addition to the insurance that I had to pay. Your insurance could be a little higher but you can always switch after a year once your paperwork is all set.

I did this about 2 years ago, tho we paid (small amount) for the car from our parents.

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