I’m a Texas resident and I am assuming a Model S lease with 20 months left. Lease is through “Tesla Financial” and current lessee is in Florida.
I have been told by neighbors who assumed a lease from another state that they didn’t have to pay the 6.25% Texas Sales Tax on the assumption since there was no change of ownership (Tesla Financial).
I have called my local DMV 3 times only to get 3 different answers. One person said yes, you have to pay taxes on the Full Sales Price (there is no sale) or SPV with credit given for taxes either the Lessee or Lessor has paid to the State of Florida. The other one said "No, no additional taxes on a lease assumption since there is no change in ownership and lessor already paid FL taxes when they got he vehicle to lease to a lessee. 3rd person said he had no idea…
Has anyone in here assumed an out of state Lease in Texas? Please advise before I take the plunge here…
i’d call swapalease customer service, and ask them that question. Maybe they can guide you in the right direction.
As for the comptroller document, i want to point out that the link above is from a 7 year old document, maybe look into a more recent document.
As for the language in the document, it states:
When a motor vehicle is leased in another state and the lessee is a Texas resident or is domiciled or doing business in Texas and brings the motor vehicle to Texas, the lessee (as the operator) owes motor vehicle use tax. This includes the situation where a Texas resident assumes a lease on an out-of-state vehicle and brings it into Texas.
The use tax is based on the price the lessor paid for the motor vehicle. Credit is given for any tax the lessor or the lessee paid to another state, Puerto Rico or any U.S. possession or territory. Either the lessor or the lessee must document tax payment.
The way i’m reading the bold line is that you wouldn’t be responsible for all the taxes and receive credit for taxes already paid to another state. How that translates into a real life scenario, i don’t know.
When you read about someone that was not taxed on the lease, it is inevitably a New resident who transferred into Texas with an existing lease and payed the new resident tax on the registration which is a fixed fee. In your case, I think you will pay the sales tax.
Steevo, my neighbor was a Texas resident…last year he assumed a 7-series lease from a guy in NJ. He never even had to show the local DMV his lease or proof of taxes already paid at another state DMV…no taxes paid.
While the document might be clear, the people actually working there have no idea what they are doing. I got 3 different responses from 3 people at the local DMV.
Does US Bank (through tesla) pay Motor Vehicle tax to the state they are originating their leases in (when “buying” the car from Tesla) or are they exempt?
I am in the same boat as you. I am a resident of Texas and looking at taking over a lease on a car from different state. Did you end up paying sales tax? Thanks in advance!
There are two answers to your question, the legal answer and the practical answer. Legally, you owe the Texas motor vehicle use tax when the car is brought in the state and registered. Practically, the person sitting behind the desk at your local tax commissioner office when you register the car may not understand what is happening or not care and just charge you the $90 out of state fee for folks moving in from out of state.
leaser007. I just went through assuming Tesla lease from a guy in Florida. I was also worried, but Tesla financial was really good about proving everything I asked for. At the end I only paid less than $200 to get the car registered in Texas. Never paid any sales tax. Feel free to reach out to me directly for more info.
I live in Dallas and am taking over a lease from California. Did you title and register your car? How much did you pay? Did you pay the 6.25% tax? Any information you can provide would be very helpful. Thank you.
I actually ended up buying my lease for two reasons -
I got a good buyout discount from Nissan
I did not get good or accurate information on the sales tax issue in Texas. I reached out to @mambo but never heard from him back…may be he is not in the forums anymore
Hey Guys. Im a fan of leasing. My first lease was from Cali-Texas. I assume the lease, went to local DMV, they made me pay taxes of the SPV up front. I was pissed but I loved the car so much. Bmw buyout price is $45k plus tax. I called BMWFS they said Leasing & Buy-out is 2 separate transaction. I’m gonna return the lease in 2 months, their is no way im paying taxes twice on the same vehicle. Im assuming a Tesla lease right now from another Texan from US BANK, hopefully from what I hear, Texas to Texas lease you dont have to pay taxes, Because US Bank is already holding the car in Texas, just changing the name. Any info on Texas to Texas Leases?
