Purchasing New Bike - Out of State

MOTO120
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MOTO120
Edited Date/Time 2/18/2014 8:13pm
I know this has probably been discussed on here before so I apologize, but what's peoples opinion on purchasing new "off-road" (obviously motocross) motorcycles out of state? I'll be the first to say that when buying or selling used dirt bikes, titles have never been a priority to me…..should I think this same way with buying new? The obvious is if I purchased out of state I wouldn't have to pay state sales tax…..I would just get a COO from the dealer I assume? Your thoughts and opinions??

BTW, I'd be bringing it back to Illinois where it would find it's home :-)
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Trav138
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Trav138 2/18/2014 8:11am
2/18/2014 8:11am Edited Date/Time 2/18/2014 8:13am
Nowadays states and Canada are reporting out of state sales to your home state. You won't have to pay your sales tax the day of sale but don't be surprised if you get a notice that you owe from your state.
I bought a new rm250 from British Columbia and two years later i get a notice from PA that i owe sales tax. But thats the wonderful Commonwealth for you the biggest asshole state in the union.
I don't know how they can pull that shit and if its even legal but the guy i spoke with said their is a database that many states report sales to, and guess who winds up with the info. Also he said within a few years all states will be on board.
TheNewOriginal 2/18/2014 8:15am
2/18/2014 8:15am
Same thing happened to me on two different new MX bikes. Bought out of state, and about 2 years later, received notice of sales tax owed.
ToolMaker 2/18/2014 8:48am
2/18/2014 8:48am
When you apply for ownership papers (here in ca we have pink slips) in your state they will collect the tax. They may call it a "use tax vs. sales tax.
mxtech1
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mxtech1 2/18/2014 10:15am
2/18/2014 10:15am
Make a request to the seller and see if they are willing to break the bike down into pieces. If you can get them to work with you on this, you could buy the bike in different "parts" and avoid the large bill of sale.

What I have done in the past is had a seller ship me the main frame with engine & most parts attached (bill #1,) front end complete (bill #2) and then the swingarm assy + odd and ends (bill #3.) I ended up paying a little bit more for shipping, but they were able to write the bike up as a "parts" bike instead of a taxable used bike sale. They took the total price and created a "parts bill" accordingly for each shipment that still equaled their original asking price for the bike.

This may not work if the bike is new because they need to claim a sale and get that Vin # off the books. You could potentially work around this issue if the seller would claim the bike as a Demo model (that puts it in the used state in the books) but then turns right around and sells you the bike at new price.

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Team Ideal
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Team Ideal 2/18/2014 10:30am
2/18/2014 10:30am
I just bought two new bikes from OH, I received OH titles, if I want to put IL titles on them I will have to pay the sales tax as IL and OH don't report to each other. I'm not planning on putting IL titles on them. not sure how it's going to work when I sell them though.
Trav138
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Trav138 2/18/2014 10:54am
2/18/2014 10:54am
ToolMaker wrote:
When you apply for ownership papers (here in ca we have pink slips) in your state they will collect the tax. They may call it a...
When you apply for ownership papers (here in ca we have pink slips) in your state they will collect the tax. They may call it a "use tax vs. sales tax.
Yep thats it Use tax
Jbrandmx85 2/18/2014 1:02pm
2/18/2014 1:02pm
Trav138 wrote:
Nowadays states and Canada are reporting out of state sales to your home state. You won't have to pay your sales tax the day of sale...
Nowadays states and Canada are reporting out of state sales to your home state. You won't have to pay your sales tax the day of sale but don't be surprised if you get a notice that you owe from your state.
I bought a new rm250 from British Columbia and two years later i get a notice from PA that i owe sales tax. But thats the wonderful Commonwealth for you the biggest asshole state in the union.
I don't know how they can pull that shit and if its even legal but the guy i spoke with said their is a database that many states report sales to, and guess who winds up with the info. Also he said within a few years all states will be on board.
That's weird. Im from pa also and I bought a 2012 kx450 in Maryland and I haven't payed for tax. Nor have I gotten any papers about it. Only thing is I don't have a title for the bike just a certificate of ownership. And without a title shops wont trade it. I don't trade bikes in anyways
rocketsocks26 2/18/2014 2:14pm
2/18/2014 2:14pm
Im in nj n have bought about 30 new bikes between ny n pa. I will never buy a bike in state n pay taxes on an already extremly over priced item. We dont have to register are bikes either and i get the title when i pic the bike up.
Redrcr34
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Redrcr34 2/18/2014 6:12pm
2/18/2014 6:12pm
Team Ideal wrote:
I just bought two new bikes from OH, I received OH titles, if I want to put IL titles on them I will have to pay...
I just bought two new bikes from OH, I received OH titles, if I want to put IL titles on them I will have to pay the sales tax as IL and OH don't report to each other. I'm not planning on putting IL titles on them. not sure how it's going to work when I sell them though.
I take it that the ohio titles have the owner listed as the bike shop that you purchased from? If you live in illinois there is no way around paying the sales tax. The only way you can keep an ohio title is to have an ohio address. If not and your legal address is in illinois, this generous state gives you 30 days to title your motorcycles, even though they are dirt bikes they are classified as motor vehicles. If you insure them most companies will make sure you own the motorcycle and will run the vin number. Running the vin number now will show title and owner as the bike dealership or manufacture of origin. If your bikes were reported stolen anytime in the future and you wanted to make a police report, they would run the vin and the legal owner would still be the bike dealership, regardless of paperwork that shows you purchasing. I don't agree with with all this tax stuff but that's the way it is. I will quit rambling now.
Trav138
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Trav138 2/18/2014 6:59pm
2/18/2014 6:59pm
Trav138 wrote:
Nowadays states and Canada are reporting out of state sales to your home state. You won't have to pay your sales tax the day of sale...
Nowadays states and Canada are reporting out of state sales to your home state. You won't have to pay your sales tax the day of sale but don't be surprised if you get a notice that you owe from your state.
I bought a new rm250 from British Columbia and two years later i get a notice from PA that i owe sales tax. But thats the wonderful Commonwealth for you the biggest asshole state in the union.
I don't know how they can pull that shit and if its even legal but the guy i spoke with said their is a database that many states report sales to, and guess who winds up with the info. Also he said within a few years all states will be on board.
Jbrandmx85 wrote:
That's weird. Im from pa also and I bought a 2012 kx450 in Maryland and I haven't payed for tax. Nor have I gotten any papers...
That's weird. Im from pa also and I bought a 2012 kx450 in Maryland and I haven't payed for tax. Nor have I gotten any papers about it. Only thing is I don't have a title for the bike just a certificate of ownership. And without a title shops wont trade it. I don't trade bikes in anyways
Don't be surprised if you get a notice in the mail in the future. They label it a "use tax" and it can take awhile before it shows up. Hopefully for you Maryland may be different, i never bought anything there. Everything is changing from how it was in the past.
I don't know everything about it, but i was quite shocked when a few tax notices showed up years later and i didn't have a clue what for lol.
For the most part over the years i purchased from local dealers, but we ran up to Ontario once when our dollar was much stronger than Canada and my buddies and i got killer deals on new cr's.
Redrcr34
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Redrcr34 2/18/2014 8:13pm
2/18/2014 8:13pm
This all revolves around tax dollars. Bottom line is the state wants to tax us on everything purchased. Years ago you could get away with just having paperwork on a mx bike or atv purchase. All states are different but in Illinois any type of off road bike, atv or any vehicle with a vin number is classified as a motor vehicle, so pretty much consider that it would be like your car. If this being "like" your car, you would not drive around with a bill of sale to prove ownership, I know some will say it's not the same because you have to have license plates but the state does not differentiate. They give a "vehicle" owner 30 days to title the vehicle. If the vehicle is not titled in 30 days and you got stopped by the police you could get a citation for failure to register a motor vehicle. If the vehicle is never registered and application is not made for a title, it is considered an open title, a felony in illinois. I guess the bad thing is that being in illinois and Michigan is the same if you ever get in a position to have to prove ownership, title is the only legal document that will suffice. Not that this would ever happen say one day your out riding at your local track and someone comes over to you and says he thinks the bike your riding is his stolen bike and wants the police to check it out and run the vin. They will run the vin and if it doesn't register via title to you then they may impound it and it will be a big pain in the a&& to try and prove it's yours with your bill of sale, but that won't be the hard part, that will be trying to explain why you didn't title the bike in the first place. Not trying to be Johnny law here even though I'm retiredTongue but just trying to save someone the headache of going though all that bs.

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