CA Purchase to WA TTL Question

Looking to see if I can get some personal insight into this. I'm currently down in Socal, and have a deal on a '21 Platinum Tundra for $51729 (<-- $56118) including $1750 rebate before TTL. The truck is a gift and is being registered in WA state. Dealer insists I can pay tax here, wait 3 months and then re-register in WA (eat fees). This can't be the only option here. I had plans to get some things done on the truck here before driving it up to WA, so I wanted to have the truck here for a few weeks prior. Any suggestions?

Also, any comments on that negotiated price? Thanks in advance folks!

 

I am a Washington resident but live in California (military). If you buy in California you will have to pay taxes no matter what. I would recommend buying in Arizona (like I did) and have them do an out of state purchase. I would also call the DMV in Washington for advice.

 

I’m a WA resident, active duty stationed in CA. I bought and registered my truck down here, when it came time for renewal I registered in WA but had to prove I paid enough taxes by sending the bill of sale with the registration docs. I guess I paid enough tax cuz they didn’t ask for any more money, but it’s a step you’ll have to go through like @chasenicholas93 mentioned.

 

I don't know CA laws, but I bought my trailer in UT and asked they not charge me sales tax. When I got to WA, I had to show the bill of sale and pay state sales tax to register it. I was told that if I had paid a lower sales tax in UT, I'd only have to pay the difference between the UT and WA rates.

That was a couple of years ago, but if it's still the case you might as well just pay the CA tax and keep all your records to show the WA DOL when you register. I'd call the WA DOL to confirm, or maybe there's something posted online in their FAQ.

If you're going to be living in the Seattle/Tacoma area, you might want to check the WA section of this forum for a post about getting out of the Transit tax. Our trucks are heavy enough to be excluded from the tax, but you're set below the threshold by default. You've got to get a receipt from a truck scale, but the effort will save you $600+ per year.

 

Who’s buying it? Check with DMV on the “bona fide” gift bit of it’s actually a gift... I think it’s limited to a parent giving the already-owned and already-registered vehicle to their child.

Ultimately the way WA works someone’s gotta pay taxes on it somewhere and prove that they’ve done so. If the buyer is an out of state resident who MOVES residency to WA, and has had the vehicle registered in their other state for at least 90 days, then you can avoid paying WA taxes (this is probably what the dealer was thinking they could do), but it requires the buyer to not be a resident of WA when it was registered in another state, and then to move to WA more than 90 days later.

About the best you can do is 1) buy where you have to pay as little local sales tax as possible, 2) register in your local DMV if you’re not from the Puget sound area where tax is over 10%, and 3) trade in or otherwise get the dealer to show the actual price paid on the vehicle is as low as possible (knowing that they’ve also got to be careful from the perspective of their tax laws and audit requirements).

 

And welcome!

 

You messed up. Washington exempts sales tax for out of state military. Saved me 5k.

 

I didn’t know that, That’s cool. I didn’t pay any WA sales tax, it was all CA. I did purchase a 2012 rock warrior in Puyallup when I was on leave. but it was so long ago I can’t remember if I paid sales tax or not. I’m assuming I did if it didn’t stick with me that I saved a couple G’s.

 

They don't advertise it. Also, California doesn't allow it if you purchase new. You would have to leave the state buy in lets say Arizona then register it in Washington.

 

That’s some gooooood info right there. Thank you ALL!!!

 

You sir, are a GEM. Thank you for pointing out that post on the WA sub forum. Didn’t know it was there, and didn’t know that was a thing!!!