Personal Property Taxes

[AZ-Tax]

I am curious, how many of you enter your clients total vehicle registration fees vs. only the Vehilce tax portion of the total registration fees?

[OtisMozzetti]

validated registration card in the vehicle

I just renewed my vehicle registration on an 11-year-old Ford Ranger small pickup truck. I had to pay $114, of which only $24 was the (vehicle) "license fee", a difference of $90, that is based upon the asserted value of the vehicle. One new item that I noticed is that on the "validated registration card", which many people do keep in the vehicle, the detailed numbers are hidden in the lower right corner of that California "card". No, I don't have any personalized license plates or anything like that.

The situation when a client shows up to itemize deductions is often that the client fumbles around and can dig up the gross amount paid for license plate renewal, or perhaps can go out in the vehicle and bring in the validated registration card. The correct procedure, of course, is to use the "vehicle registration renewal notice" which clearly enumerates the amount of the "license fee" and which states "may be a tax deduction". Another procedure, of course, is the infamous "what was it last year?". California has substantially raised the nondeductible registration (service) fee this year as part of its budget deficit reduction program.

[Mike Mac]

Ad Valorem Taxes

We just take the ad valorem portion of the MN tabs. Many of my clients forget to write the amount down on our questionnaire so luckily we can easily look it up on the MN Department of Motor Vehicle's website if the client can give us either their plate number or their actual driver's license number.

[Burke]

Only the TAX portion of the total charge is deductible on the federal return, Sche A. Some states may allow other fees. Regardless of what they call it, it is a tax if it is based on value. It is a fee if it is a flat amount charged regardless of valuation.

[Gary]

Vlt

I just use the vehicle license tax. In Arizona, this is almost all of the fee. If they know how much they paid but don't have the registration, i will estimate the VLT. I subtract more than is necessary, so I'm confident I'm not deducting more than allowed.

[erchess]

North Carolina

We have it easy because the fee that is based on the value of the vehicle and therefore deductible on Sch A is billed by the County of Residence (even if the person also lives in a municipality) and the license tag fee which is based on the license and nothing about the vehicle is billed by the State. People grouse about the latter not being deductible but most know it isn't.