I always wanted to ask this…compared to rest of nation…how does nys compare with leasing cars?? No msds…tax on tax rolling it into payment…seems ny is very lease unfriendly
NYS is very everything unfriendly.
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didn’t we just pass a law giving illegal aliens driving licenses 
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When I assumed a lease on an bmw m3 2 years ago in nys I had to pay the taxes to bmw.
Sorry, I just saw this. Generally, you do have to pay the sales tax when assuming the lease. It’s partially because “sales” tax is commonly referred to as “sales and use tax” (and to make this less complicated, I will tell you that use tax is usually a separate item, but let’s not worry about that now) so you can think of it as a use tax on using the car.
From one of the publications from the state:
The following charges and fees associated with a long-term motor vehicle
lease are also subject to sales tax. However, the tax is due at the time the
charge or fee is actually paid by the lessee:
• excess mileage or use charges;
• excess wear charges;
• damage, repair and similar charges;
• lease transfer or lease assumption fees;
• the charge to purchase the vehicle at the end of the lease term, if the
*lessee decides to purchase the vehicle; and *
• any disposition fee or any other fee if the amount of the fee is charged
at the end of the lease term.
Also:
"Any tax due after the lease and sale/assignment (for example, tax due on the lessee’s payment of a lease transfer or lease assumption fee, or excess
wear charges) must be collected and remitted by the finance company."
This is why BMW collected the tax on a lease assumption.
This is taken from a case I mentioned in another post on sales tax in NY:
When the original lease is subsequently assumed by an assignee, this is a separate
taxable transaction. As stated above, title or possession of tangible personal
property has been transferred for a consideration. In this instance, the
consideration is the assumption of the lease payments and tax is due on the
remaining payments on this lease as indicated above.
Simply put, NY courts consider the original lease and the assumption of the remaining term separate and distinct retail sales under Tax Law § 1105 (a).
I can’t find anything that says you can provide proof that the tax is already rolled into the payments, but I’m also guessing that this is partially because NY assumes the tax is paid upfront and therefore already paid in full. It sucks for the person assuming the lease, but one reason leasing companies can charge tax on the finance charge and finance charges themselves is because they encompass a “transaction,” and the finance company is lending you the money, as it has already paid the sales tax (I just got a note that the tax on my car was paid full, for instance). The opposite to this is when you lease a car in another state and you can prove the tax was already paid, and therefore, either you only pay the difference between that rate and NY’s rate, or the rate exceeds that of your jurisdiction in NY. This is also dependent on how much of the lease has elapsed prior to bringing a car here, as well as how much time is left on the lease.
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Hours later and nothing? Kind of disappointed that I spent time on this and not even a like!
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Happy now? 
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Sorry at a wedding…but basically NY sucks … Thanks for helping me understand it much better … Doesnt look sensible to take over a lease unless the terms were incredibly better than what I can do at a dealer, since depending on the amount I can factor another 50-100 dollars per month
Sorry that’s incorrect. It would be better to say “assumed,” which is technically when someone transfers his or her lease to you.
As I mentioned, if you transfer your registration to NY (this is where the wording is important and you can’t generalize with “all transfers”), depending on how far you are into the lease and how much time is left, you may be able to prove tax paid to another jurisdiction. You may owe nothing, or you may owe the difference between that rate and the NY rate, such as moving from NJ (6.625%) to Westchester County (7.375%, except for White Plains and Yonkers).
Again, that is only if it is your own car that you transfer in from another state and register in NY. If you assume someone’s lease, it’s pretty clear you’ll owe tax, because NY considers it a separate transaction.
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Got it, thanks. I assumed we are specifically talking about lease assumptions here.
Say I were to assume an out of state lease (DC) while living in NY (where the car will be registered). Car has 15 months left on the lease through BMW. Would I be paying sales tax on 15 months worth of payments or would it be on the full 36 months? Will the taxes be due at the DMV the day I register the vehicle or would I get a nice bill in the mail ?
Thanks in advance!
It should only be on the remaining term, as that is the remaining balance of the loan.
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A buddy is going through this exact situation now and knew their would be a detailed outline from @AP919…Our LH tax guru!
Related but different question; since NYS will charge taxes on the remaining payments, is it advantageous to prepay a bunch of months prior to the transfer, especially if it’s coming from a lower taxed state that does monthly tax like PA?
One car he looked at on SAL oddly had a bunch of payments prepaid and got me thinking. Can NYS tax something already paid or they going to see there is “x” number of months left on the lease no matter if they are paid or not and tax you on that?
Since NYS & local tax all in is around 9%, there can be a significant cost savings.
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Idk that PA tax is much lower. It’s 11% in Philly, 10% in Pittsburgh and 9% the remainder of the state.
If it’s a buy, then yes, it would be 3% less than the numbers listed above (8%, 7% and 6% respectively)
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Thank you for the clarification…Didn’t realize PA had an extra lease tax.
Still interested to see if NY will tax the prepayment as there are other nearby states it could make sense with. I’m assuming they will tax you but worth a try.
It’s an interesting question. As I noted above, they tax the remaining payments. If the payments are prepaid, presumably it’ll still say there are X payments left, but you are taxed on the balance that is assumed. So if there is $10,000 remaining on the lease balance, but $4,000 is paid in advance as an incentive to the transferred, then technically, the balance remaining is $6,000. I know some leasing companies don’t let you pre-pay on a lease, so that’s something to consider, too.
On the other hand, the bank may let the transferor make a lump-sum payment at the time of transfer, which then lowers the balance of the remaining lease.
Pull up LexisNexis and search for legal precedent 
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Ahem, I work for their superior competitor! I also don’t need to, because we might have it in our system. Please hold while I search!
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