taxes

Motor Vehicle Tax Guide

Homemade or Shop-Made Motor Vehicles

No Initial Motor Vehicle Tax for Builder

No motor vehicle tax is due upon the initial titling or registration of a homemade or shop-made motor vehicle by the manufacturer or individual who actually built the vehicle, as no sale of a motor vehicle has occurred.

Motor vehicle tax is due on any sale by the manufacturer or original builder and on all subsequent sales by the vehicle owner.

Restored or Reconditioned

A motor vehicle restored or reconditioned for operable use is not a homemade or shop-made motor vehicle.

Motorcycle or Trailer Kits

The purchase of a complete motorcycle kit or trailer kit, that contains all the component parts of a motor vehicle, is not the purchase of a homemade or shop-made motor vehicle.

Custom Orders or Fabrication

Motor vehicle tax is due from the person who custom orders a motor vehicle to be built, since someone else is the actual builder. Standard presumptive value (SPV) procedures apply to the sale of a custom-ordered or fabricated vehicle if the actual builder is not a licensed motor vehicle dealer.

No motor vehicle tax is due when an individual purchases component parts (i.e., tangible personal property) and then hires another person to assemble them into a motor vehicle. All component parts purchased to construct the motor vehicle, including incomplete glider kits, are subject to limited sales or use tax. In this situation the labor to fabricate the motor vehicle is also taxable under limited sales or use tax. The county tax assessor-collector (CTAC) has no responsibility to determine whether the limited sales or use tax was paid on the component parts purchased to build the motor vehicle.

96-254
(09/2021)