Been offline a while (6+ months) and it seems the market has changed a lot since. Got a lot of catching up to do…
I have a few questions for those of you familiar with DC/Maryland/Virginia car taxes/leases etc
We may be moving up there later this year from GA for my wife’s career.
We are currently a year into a 23’ BMW 3 series lease and we actually want to get something bigger and more electrified for our family (sharing one vehicle)
We will obviously be looking at suburbs of NOVA and MD as places to live and know both states are extremely unfriendly for leasing a car.
Will both states charge us for retroactive sales taxes on the existing out of state lease based on the full value of the vehicle? Or just VA – in that case MD and an existing GA lease would be the best scenario?
Is there a grace period after you move up there in order for us to drive up with the bmw and transfer it upon arrival to buy a car locally?
How bad are these car property taxes in VA? I’m a little confused on the overall system there.
In summary, what advice would you give me – I am trying to be in the least “unfavorable” car situation if I move there knowing we need to get into a new vehicle soon.
I also would really appreciate it if any of you long timers in that area could chat with me via DM/Phone about living in the DMV. Any non-car advice would be highly welcomed.
Hi. Moved from MI to VA for a year then moved to DC. I purposely kept my drivers license to MI while in VA for the reason of avoiding personal property tax and keeping the registration tied to my parents MI home. So no help there. Moved to DC then and there we get taxed 10% on the monthly. Kind of high but not as bad as VA or MD of course. It went into effect when I changed my address with the leasing company (US Bank). Have since been in DC and pay 10% on the monthly on all my leases. If you happen to buy (not lease) and EV, no sales tax for DC residents. Registration is pretty low for EVs regardless of price of the car (have a $113k Eqs and registration is pretty low… can’t remember the amount). Sorry I can’t help with VA and MD tax details but feel free to DM me on tips for the area. Love living in DC aside for the stupid crazy home prices.
Might not be of help but a detail here I can share. My girlfriend (now wife)lived in dc while I was in VA. I often stayed at her place over night (street parked) and shortly got a warning on my car to prove I’m not a resident or get dc plates in xx days. Point being is that they scan plates at night are pretty vigilant about getting your car registered locally.
Live near where you work. If work in NoVA, live in NoVA. If you work in MD, live in MD. DMV traffic can be atrocious. Beltway North into MD by Tysons is worse than usual now because of construction.
Crime in DC is atrocious. If you work in DC, live in MD or VA.
The taxes on a lease really don’t matter if you’re miserable sitting in traffic for hours a day. I live in NoVA and love it. Arlington is a phenomenal place to live. Easy metro into DC and to Tysons, walkable restaurants and grocery stores, and traffic within Arlington proper (aside from 29 and 50) isn’t that bad.
If you move to MD you have a 60 day grace period to register your vehicle and get credit for taxes paid at time of sales in GA. You pay 6% of the value of the vehicle less any taxes paid at time of sale in GA. There is no tax on lease payments or personal property tax in MD. Don’t worry, they will get plenty from you in State, Local and property taxes. It is primarily a Democratic state after all.
Also, if you dump the lease you are going to be upside down on a 1-year old 3-series unless possibly if it is a 340ix. Since you are coming from GAit might not be an X-drive. If not, dump it in GA before coming to MD. Most BMWs sold here are X-drive. People think we get much more snow than we really do, so they want AWD. Kind of crazy because schools shut down and everyone stays home at the first hint of snow.
Thanks @BoardWalkNJ wife’s work will most likely be hybrid with 1 or max 2 times weekly in DC. Idea would be to be close to metro and drop her there for the commute. One car would be more than enough.
Coming from Atlanta where we have been spoiled with space and a suburban feel in most of the city we would be looking outside DC for sure.
@Wtmeyer we are taxed on the total value of lease (not vehicle) in GA meaning I would owe a relatively large amount to MD. This frankly makes no sense to have to pay the difference for something that was purchased way before moving to the state. We have a solid lease on a 330i that should be easy to transfer before hand and thanks for the awd reminder didn’t think about that. Looks like may make more sense to buy a vehicle up in MD or VA then.
Can anyone comment on EV friendliness of the metro DC in terms of charging infrastructure and access to hov lanes etc…
Thanks
Depending on where her office is in DC, I think you should look along the Silver Line out by Reston. Quite suburban but a manageable Metro ride into DC. Much lower income taxes in VA vs MD.
The DMV has chargers everywhere for EVs and is one of the biggest EV markets outside of California. As a result, no HOV lane privileges. If they still had these, they’d be bumper to bumper because of the large number of EVs in the area.
