I have leased a Lexus RX in MN and paid a big sales tax upfront. Now I am planning to move to WA. Should I pay WA tax every month as well?
What happens if I don’t let LFS know my address is changed?
Curious on this as well, if you just dont tell them and register the car some place else how would they know?
Call WA DMV and see if they have a reciprocal tax relationship with MN. If so, they should honor the tax you paid on the lease in MN. If not, you might still be okay. Normally the lender will start paying the tax that’s due to the other state. It sounds like your tax is paid, so LFS may not even bother to send any tax to WA. It’s not right to pay the same tax twice. So I’d call LFS first and see what they say. I’m sure they’ve seen this a thousand times. I think your obligated under your lease contract to tell them where the car is, anyway. I suspect LFS will find out the car has moved because the insurance company will probably notify them, who knows. Call your insurance…
I wouldn’t trust technical questions like these to guys like us on a forum. Do the right thing.
That’s right, it’s not fair. It’s also not fair that Warren Buffet’s secretary pays a much higher percentage of her income in taxes than he does (doesn’t seem fair to me at least, many Americans obviously view it as fair). Taxes don’t care about fairness, they care about the law.
You need to check the state law. A quick Google search indicates you might be in trouble. WA does pay monthly while MN does pay up front. If both did the same tax style you would be on good shape but they don’t. So you will need to do some digging and maybe call tax office or DMV for locality in WA you are moving to.
This is a pitfall of leasing, since you are renting a car there isn’t uniform recognition of sales tax like for purchases. The flip side to this is we can come out way ahead on taxes when he find a killer deal and pay taxes on a fraction of the actual vehicle usage.
Leasing | Washington State
Minnesota Department of Revenue | Minnesota Department of Revenue
This oft quoted quip is misleading. Perhaps the secretary pays a higher marginal rate on that last earned dollar. But I suspect that the average tax rate for the secretary is much less than the average capital gains plus net investment income tax (Obamacare tax) rate that Warren pays.
Our opinions differ. I’m a believer in the Oracle of Omaha. Although not his beliefs about leasing, he is a drive one car for many years sort of person.
Thinking about this, you probably need the pink slip to register the car in another state which means getting it from LFS and explaining to them why you need it.
Some states allow new residents moving into the state to register their cars without paying tax all over again.