She must be assigned to every relentless Leasehackr then… 
She is also thoroughly unpleasant to deal with so don’t bother calling 
In case it helps anyone in a similar struggle, I’m finally getting a refund directly from Kia Finance after taking them to small claims court last month. In short, Kia collected tax on my lease buyout, and their customer service simply dragged their feet for 8 months – neglecting to issue a refund or to sign the appropriate CDTFA paperwork. If you’ve paid tax and qualify for the 10 day exemption, but you get stonewalled by both CDTFA and a lessor/seller who collected the tax – take them to court!
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Is it possible to gift the vehicle to a family member with a lessor released title? Will DMV charge sales tax since it’s a gift? Has anyone done this before?
Scroll down to ‘Other Transfers’
https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehicle-registration/titles/title-transfers-and-changes/
I did this. However, if you want to also qualify for the 10 day exemption on the original buyout, I believe you must sell and transfer to a Family member (not gift). Gifting will negate your ability to get a refund for any tax paid on the buyout (see “Property Received as a Gift”). Sale amount between family members is irrelevant, as sale to family exempt from tax. To complete sale to family, DMV will require:
- Signed Title from lease buyout
- Signed Bill of Sale (detailing tax paid) from lease buyout.
- Signed DMV REG 262 (has security features, pick up or order from DMV or AAA)
- Signed DMV REG 256 (Section A and Section H only, form can be printed)
- $30 Title Fee
- As Family, no tax due on this transaction
So for example if one leases a 300k Urus, payoff the lease after one month, get lessor released title and immediately “sell” to wife/husband, no sales tax at all?
Better than Montana LLC? Too good to be true?
The first owner of the Urus does not pay sales tax. The person who registers the Urus for new tags at California DMV will pay a “use” tax, similar to sales tax directed to dmv.
other states no clue
Like the Montana LLC, that sounds like tax evasion.
Anyway, your 10 day exemption wouldnt be valid because youre not reselling it, youre gifting it.
The Wife/Husband will then pay the tax to get the proper title.
Someone pays the tax in CA, that’s for sure, (Unless you are a dealer and send it to auction out of state)
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The Urus is an extreme example, so I’m not sure – but you can sell to a family member to effectively stop the 10 day clock on the “sale for resale” tax exemption. I was able to do a lease buyout on my Kia at end of term (where Kia collected tax) and then sell to my wife within 10 days (who paid no tax as family). I then had to recoup tax from Kia since I qualified for the 10 day exemption, which was prolonged and required taking Kia to small claims. My wife did eventually sell the Kia to a third party, and the new buyer paid tax on the new transaction.
So if the leasing company does not collect sales tax upfront, then you could’ve “sold” the car to your wife without paying any sales tax on the buyout amount.
I don’t believe this is correct. See top of DMV REG 256 (Statement of Facts): “this transfer is exempt from use tax because it is a: Family transfer sold between a parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, spouse, domestic partner, or siblings (if both are minors related by blood or adoption).”
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That is correct, Assuming you paid the Tax.
If you request a refund of the tax, they go after the next person in line.
He can’t sell the car to his wife, he’s not on the title. His wife would either buy it from Kia, then she would pay tax.
There is a scenario where He pays the tax, sells the car to his wife, and tries to apply for the 10 day rule, but the person in charge of this at Sacto is pretty on the ball I believe.
Technically, I believe this is accurate. If Kia hadn’t already collected tax, I may have been charged tax by the DMV to first get the Title fully in my name (before then selling to my wife). I would have then applied for a refund from CDTFA.
Provided that you can demonstrate you sold the vehicle within 10 days, I have not read any stipulation stating you cannot sell to a family member. By selling within 10 days, your buyout is exempt from tax. Because of the separate rule regarding family transfers, your family member’s purchase is also exempt from tax.
In my case, the DMV did not require a new title to be issued into my name. To transfer ownership to my wife, they accepted the lessor (Kia) released Title transferring ownership to me, Bill of Sale (between me and Kia), REG 262 (between me and my wife), REG 256 (Sections A and H), and the $30 fee.
Perhaps I got lucky, or the DMV made an error. This post encouraged me to give it a shot.
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They made a HUGE error, and Congratz for exploiting it!
I wonder if this is repeatable.
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Anyone here who paid sales/use tax in CA during buyout from dealer/finance company (in my case, Hyundai) who has sued in Small Claims Court to recover?
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I did, and Kia/Hyundai paid out before the court date. I will PM you with the contact that reached out to me in their Legal Department.
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Was it Kia/Hyundai or the dealer that was party to the suit?