Getting lease tax money back from government

,

Any update here? I’m experiencing the same issue!! Lease originated in NJ in Sept. 2020, moved to FL in July 2021, and am now being taxed the full FL rate of 7% on top of the original monthly amount, even though NJ were already paid/built into the monthly (Payment was about $500, now it is $535. Chrysler never even notified me, and since I’m on Autopay, I’ve incurred 2 months of late fees!)

Any tips/advice is appreciated. So far all I see is the NJ Form A-3730 claim for a refund. What do I need to include in it?

I’ve taken over a few leases via swap that had tax already built in from NY/NJ and when the lease transferred to Florida I always had the additional 7% added…It seems like there’s a way to get this credited back, but the effort may not be worth it.

In other words, the 500 or so bucks you might get back will probably take 500 hours of your time😢.

2 Likes

Understandable, but it’s closer to $1000 for me…

That starts to become worth the bureaucratic battle😉

1 Like

well there’s 24 months left on the lease, so I may as well try. Just gonna dump every bit of evidence on them as I can… buyer’s order, contract, cancelled check (if I can get it from the dealer lol), new FL reg/DL, etc.

There are certainly exceptions but the general experience I have seen here is that if you move from an upfront taxation state (whether just on total amount of lease payments like NJ or on total value like VA) you generally get screwed.

A quick Google search doesn’t turn up any provision in NJ for getting the tax refunded. The DMV mentions the form you cite to but in relation to a canceled lease, not moving out of state. And this makes sense from a basic political perspective. Why would a state want to refund money to someone moving out of state. You aren’t a voter there anymore.

For purchased vehicles it is simple, almost every state honors sales tax paid in the previous state (note the state you left doesn’t refund the sales tax). Not sure why a similar system doesn’t exist for leases.

1 Like

Pretty sure even getting it back for a canceled lease is a PITA.

2 Likes

If you’re trying to get taxes paid back in NJ, good luck with that :joy:.

Good luck tho and keep us posted

1 Like

You should be able to get a letter from the leasing company showing all taxes were paid, with perhaps even more details as to payment and nature of payment.

I was thinking changing the reg state on one of my previous cars from NJ to another state, and called BMWFS to inquire about how I could the sales tax refunded from NJ. BMWFS told me something along the lines of that theoretically they are supposed to refund you the prorated balance, however good luck with getting it back and there’s no shot NJ will give the money back.

If you do manage to pull this off, keep us updated.

I started this thread.

The whole process is ridiculous, a PITA, and even after 1.5 yrs, I’m still waiting. See my original post. The state wanted “proof of payment to the NJ DMV.” How in the actual eff do you do that? I included everything I got when I leased the car. The lease agreement, NJ title receipt, and NJ registration receipt. When you buy or lease a car, NO ONE in NJ makes a check out to the DMV. The dealership takes care of that on their end. All we get are the plates and registration in the mail (and title if not leased). I had receipts for this, sent it all in, and NJ still denied me for not giving evidence of payment to NJ DMV.

So I appealed to the tax department. That’s the final step you can do. They’re gonna schedule me for a phone conference and after that, make a final ruling. I really hope to reach out to the them and tell them just how SIMPLE this case is, yet, how complicated NJ has made it.

gc2a,

It is an absolute PITA. Yes, the form you mentioned is the correct one. Fill it out. Send a copy of your NJ car lease agreement. Include your NJ DMV title receipt and registration receipt. If you have proof of car shipped to Florida, include that. Include Florida registration receipt, title receipt, plates, etc.

I’m still ongoing. See my first post and pictures.

I’ll update this thread after my appeal conference.

And I’m doing all this work for about ~ 450 dollars worth of tax owed back. My personal efforts have FAR exceeded 450 dollars worth. This isn’t even worth it. But I’m doing this on principle of the matter. The state owes me money back, and I want it. It was my money once I left NJ. You don’t get to tax an object no longer based in NJ that is now getting taxed in the new state.

3 Likes

PM your number. I did the appeal as well and I can give you some advice. I lost btw, maybe you can do better.

1 Like

Hi all - I heard back from NJ - I got refunded the sales tax ($853)! I actually got money back from NJ!

Got a letter today saying the refund will be sent as a separate check. Sometimes miracles do happen…

5 Likes

Still waiting for my “final” phone call conference.

An update to this original thread I started well over a year ago.

After almost TWO years from the original mailing, I have finally won and received a check from NJ for my sales tax refund.

Victory!

But this involved much more paperwork and time back-n-forth than I’d have cared for.

The phone conference wasn’t that good, and it became clear to me that the VERY people in the audit and appeal department in charge of making the final binding decision had no clue about car lease rules for taxes in the state of NJ. Two people on the phone, and the lady insisted that I should have had a monthly tax value in my lease. I had to explain to her that NJ doesn’t do it that way. You have to pay the entire tax up front, either as a due upon signing value or built into the capital cost of the vehicle (which is how it was done in my case).

After my appeal phone conference ended, I had to quote paragraphs from their own source material:

And I cited the proper sources, told them I was in fact correct, and wrote that denying my case would be unjust based on their OWN Dept of Taxation guidelines.

They then asked for: all my chase bank statements for 39 months showing lease was paid (never mind I already gave them a letter from Infiniti saying the lease was paid in full, all obligations met, and vehicle was returned with nothing more due). They wanted 39 months of payment statements from Infiniti, 39 months of my Chase account payments, they wanted DMV proof of CA when car registered here in CA (they already had that), and proof from Infiniti that I in fact had paid tax to CA once I moved here - which was in the Infiniti monthly statements after I moved.

The phone conference itself was about 1.5 hrs long, and gathering all the info they wanted, copy/pasting, making jpeg images of it all, then making it into one long pdf file, etc etc took no less than 5 hrs of my time.

From the time this process started 2 yrs ago, I kid you not that I have probably spent no less than 15-20 hrs dealing with this.

All for $442 and some cents. Not worth my personal time. But for me, it was the principal of the matter. The rules clearly state that I was owed a sales tax refund for the time the vehicle left NJ permanently. So I want my money back from the government.

Almost 2 yrs and I won. Check cashed and cleared!

16 Likes

To add some info in their defense, they made a point that the title receipt and the registration receipt showed only “Infiniti LT” as the name. Not my name. They held the position that it should be Infiniti filing for a tax refund and that I should then have to go through Infiniti. I had to get a letter from Infiniti saying they don’t have any stake in tax refunds, that Infiniti only collected the entire sales tax up front and submit it to NJ back in 2017 and that was that. And any refund due is solely between the lessee (me) and the state. And lucky for me, that NJ Dept of Taxation guide says exactly the same thing, and I quoted that exact passage… this ended up being the key that ruled in my favor.

4 Likes

Congratulations! Thanks for coming back to update us. I hope you have something fun planned for your rescued tax dollars.

1 Like

Thank you! Not much, just did a Disney cruise so I guess you could say it went towards that :slight_smile:

4 Likes

Nice job. It’s great you got back YOUR money. Most people said forget it, would take a miracle, but you held in there. Nice job. :+1:t3:

3 Likes

LH Hall of Fame Nominee for winning back $442 from the lovely state of NJ on sheer Principle, Heart and Determination for preserving the Leasehackr way. Well done!

4 Likes