Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts announced in March an extension of up to 90 days past the original due date to pay the motor vehicle tax due on a motor vehicle purchase. With the continuing requirement to practice safe social distancing and the Governor waiving certain rules relating to vehicle titling and registration at the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, the Comptroller's office will continue the extension of the motor vehicle tax payment from the date of the most recent state disaster declaration from the Governor. Any tax penalty will be automatically waived if the tax payment is received within 60 days of the expiration of the state disaster declaration.
Note: The extension does not apply to seller-financed motor vehicle sales. In these cases, the motor vehicle tax is reported and paid directly to the Comptroller's office instead of a County Tax Assessor-Collector upon registration.
A person who purchases a motor vehicle in Texas owes motor vehicle sales tax.
A Texas resident, a person domiciled or doing business in Texas, or a new Texas resident who brings into Texas a motor vehicle that was purchased or leased out of state owes motor vehicle use tax, the new resident tax or the gift tax, as applicable.
Standard presumptive value (SPV) is used to calculate sales tax on private-party sales of all types of used motor vehicles purchased in Texas. It is also used to calculate use tax on motor vehicles brought into Texas that were purchased from a private-party out of state. For more information, please see Private-Party Purchases and Standard Presumptive Values.
The dealer will collect motor vehicle sales tax from the purchaser when a motor vehicle is purchased from a dealer in Texas, if the motor vehicle has a gross weight of 11,000 pounds or less. The tax is a debt of the purchaser until paid to the dealer. The dealer will remit the tax to the county tax assessor-collector.
A private party purchaser must remit the appropriate motor vehicle tax to the county tax assessor-collector as follows:
Motor vehicle sales tax is remitted to the local county tax assessor-collector's office with Form 130-U, Application for Texas Title and/or Registration (PDF). The form must be signed by the purchaser.
In 2015, the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 855, which requires state agencies to publish a list of the three most commonly used Web browsers on their websites. The Texas Comptroller’s most commonly used Web browsers are Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Apple Safari.
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