There is no tax advantage in the dealer buying your lease as you technically do not own the vehicle.
Your equity amount should be applied directly to your financing, if that’s what you want to do
Never mind. Didn’t look at the dates lol
I had a different experience last summer in NC. I traded in (didn’t ground) my leased 2020 Taco for a purchased new 2022 Ram 1500. I owed 0 tax because the amount they gave me for the Taco trade-in was more than the cost of the new Ram. So they were doing the math the same as if it were a purchased vehicle. (Not sure if it’s a NC thing because we are paying the 3% use tax instead of a true sales tax).