Idaho Vehicle Sales Tax: Rates, Exemptions and Out-of-State Buyers

Idaho vehicle sales tax is the state's 6 percent sales tax applied to the purchase of a car, truck or other road vehicle, with a 6 percent use tax for a vehicle bought without Idaho tax and then used in the state. A dealer collects the tax at the sale. On a private sale, the buyer pays it when the vehicle is titled in Idaho.

This guide covers who collects the tax, how the taxable price is figured and which transfers are exempt, plus the cases this lane raises most: a buyer from another state, an Idaho seller with an out-of-state buyer, and a New York resident bringing an Idaho car home. The rules come from the Idaho State Tax Commission and its administrative rules, and, for New York, from the Department of Taxation and Finance.

How Much Is Idaho Vehicle Sales Tax?

Six percent. The Tax Commission's sales and use tax guide gives Idaho's sales tax rate as 6 percent and its use tax rate as 6 percent as well. Sales tax applies to a purchase in Idaho. Use tax is its counterpart for a vehicle bought without Idaho sales tax and then used here.

The tax reaches more than outright sales. According to the Tax Commission's basics guide for private parties and nondealers, sales or use tax is due on the sale, lease, rental, transfer, donation or use of a motor vehicle in Idaho unless a valid exemption applies. A motor vehicle here is one registered, or required to be registered, for use on public roads, which takes in cars, trucks, on-highway motorcycles and road-registered RVs. Off-road vehicles, snowmobiles, boats and truck campers are not motor vehicles under these rules and have rules of their own.

Who Collects the Tax on an Idaho Vehicle Purchase?

That depends on who sells the car. A dealer, which the Tax Commission describes as a business selling five or more motor vehicles a year, collects sales tax on the sales price at the time of sale unless an exemption applies. The state's sales and use tax rules (Rule 106) treat the dealer's completed title application, showing the Idaho tax collected, as evidence that the buyer paid.

Some sellers who are not licensed dealers still collect it. Under the Tax Commission's Types of Sales guidance, an Idaho business or individual that makes more than two retail sales in any 12-month period, or makes a sale while holding itself out as being in business, is a nondealer retailer. That seller collects the tax and gives the buyer a completed title showing its seller's permit number, along with a detailed bill of sale showing the tax paid.

A private seller collects nothing at the sale. You owe sales tax on the total sales price of a vehicle you buy from an individual unless an exemption applies, and the county assessor (DMV) or the Idaho Transportation Department collects it when you apply for an Idaho title. The vehicle has to be titled in the seller's name before it can be sold to you.

How Is the Taxable Price Figured?

On the total sales price. In a private sale, the seller writes the total price on the bill of sale and signs the title, both of you sign the bill of sale, and the original is your proof of price at titling. Rule 106 adds that a canceled check is not accepted in place of a bill of sale. Without a bill of sale or receipt, tax is collected on the average condition trade-in value in the most recent J.D. Power Official Used Car Guide for the same make, model, options, year, mileage and condition.

A trade-in lowers the taxable price only on a purchase from a dealer or retailer. The trade has to happen at the same time as the sale and show in the paperwork, and manufactured homes and park model RVs cannot be traded in. A private sale gets no trade-in allowance at all.

At a dealer, the Tax Commission's Sales Price page sets out what counts. Document fees, freight to bring the vehicle to the seller, and mandatory service or warranty agreements are part of the taxable price even when the invoice lists them separately. Government title and registration fees, optional service agreements, finance charges and optional insurance stay out, as long as the invoice states them separately. Dealer discounts reduce the price, and a manufacturer's rebate does too when it is paid to the dealer and subtracted from the price. If you take the rebate money yourself, it does not. A down payment never reduces the taxable price.

Which Idaho Vehicle Transfers Are Exempt?

Two exemptions cover most transfers between people who know each other. The first is the family sale. No sales tax applies when the seller is your parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, brother or sister, and that family member paid sales or use tax when buying the vehicle. Rule 107 limits this to blood or legally adopted relatives, not people related only by marriage, though a vehicle that is community property can be sold to a qualifying relative of either spouse. Buyer and seller both sign Form ST-133, Sales Tax Exemption Certificate, Family or American Indian Sales, and it goes to the county assessor when the vehicle is titled or registered. The form notes that the family exemption applies only to motor vehicles, not to boats, trailers or off-highway vehicles.

The second is the gift. A transfer is an exempt gift only if the giver receives no money, services or anything else of value, the relationship supports a gift, the recipient takes on no debts and no money is owed on the vehicle. Taking over someone's payments counts as assuming a debt, so it is not a gift. Giver and recipient both sign Form ST-133GT, Use Tax Exemption Certificate, Gift Transfer Affidavit, which goes to the county assessor with the title. If the giver cannot sign, the form accepts a letter signed by the giver stating the vehicle is a gift, or the title marked as a gift and signed by the giver.

Form ST-133 also covers a narrower exemption for a sale to an enrolled member of an Indian tribe, which requires the seller to deliver the vehicle within the boundaries of a reservation.

Can an Out-of-State Buyer Avoid Idaho Sales Tax?

Only by meeting every condition of the nonresident exemption. Under Idaho Code 63-3622R, a buyer who lives in another state claims it on the Tax Commission's Form ST-104NR, Sales Tax Exemption Certificate, Nonresident Vehicle/Vessel, and the form lists four conditions that all have to be true:

• Use outside Idaho. The intended use of the vehicle is outside Idaho, and it will not require titling in Idaho.
• Immediate registration elsewhere. It will be taken out of Idaho and immediately registered and titled in another state or country, if that place requires it.
• The 90-day limit. It will not be stored or used in Idaho for more than 90 days in any 12-month period.
• No Idaho residents on the papers. None of the buyers listed on the purchase, registration or title documents is an Idaho resident.

Each buyer completes a separate form with a nonresident driver's license number. The seller scans and emails the form and a copy of the license to the Tax Commission, or mails them to its Tax Discovery Bureau, and keeps a copy for its records.

The Tax Commission's exemptions page for dealers adds two cautions. Buyers likely do not qualify if they give an Idaho driver's license, Idaho address or Idaho contact information, and a resident of another state who buys a vehicle in Idaho for an Idaho resident who will use it here does not qualify. Rule 107 closes one more route: an LLC or other entity that an Idaho resident forms in another state mainly to own vehicles is not a nonresident. A dealer that should have collected the tax and did not can be held liable for it, so expect the paperwork to be checked before the tax is left off.

Service members have their own rule. A member stationed in Idaho whose home is in another state may qualify at the sale only with a copy of military orders to report to a duty station in another state within 90 days, according to the Tax Commission's sales tax page for active-duty military. Rule 107 adds that military personnel receive no special exemption for vehicles bought in Idaho while temporarily assigned here.

What If You Buy From a Private Seller in Idaho as a Nonresident?

The sale is still taxable unless an exemption applies. The Types of Sales guidance says a buyer owes sales tax on the total price of a vehicle bought from an individual unless an exemption applies, and that Idaho collects it when the buyer applies for an Idaho title. There is no dealer to collect it at the sale and no trade-in allowance to reduce it.

Buying from a private party does not change the conditions. Rule 107 says only a nonresident of Idaho can claim the nonresident exemption, and the four conditions above are what an out-of-state buyer has to meet. Your own state's rules then apply when you register the car at home, and New York's are covered below.

For an Idaho seller, the same conditions explain what a buyer from another state is claiming. Our guide to selling a car to a buyer in another state covers the rest of the handover, from cleared funds to the carrier's bill of lading.

How Long Can the Car Stay in Idaho Before It Leaves?

No more than 90 days in any 12-month period, and that limit counts storage as well as use. Rule 107 defines a day of use: a vehicle counts as used in Idaho for a day when it is in the state for more than 16 hours in any 24-hour period. The exemption also expects the vehicle to be taken out of Idaho and immediately registered and titled in another state or country if that place requires it.

That makes timing part of the plan. Days the car spends at the seller's house while transport is arranged still count, and the plan to remove it and register it elsewhere has to be real when the exemption is claimed. Shipping on a booked date also leaves a bill of lading recording when the car was picked up in Idaho.

What Do New York Buyers Need to Know About Idaho Tax?

New York taxes the car when it comes home, and it does not credit Idaho's tax. According to the instructions on Form DTF-804, a New York resident who buys a vehicle outside the state owes New York State and local sales and use tax, at the rate for the place they live, once the vehicle is brought into New York. Tax paid to another state reduces that bill only if the buyer was required to pay it, that state gives a similar credit for New York tax, and the buyer is not entitled to a refund from it. The form's motor vehicle chart lists Idaho under no New York State credit currently allowed.

So the order of events matters. A New York resident who qualifies for Idaho's nonresident exemption, and pays no Idaho tax, uses Form DTF-802 when registering in New York, and New York collects its tax at registration. A buyer who did pay Idaho tax gets no New York credit for it. The DTF-804 instructions say to apply to that state for a refund, and if the refund is denied, you may be eligible for a credit by filing Form AU-11 with proof of the tax paid and proof of the denial.

That is New York's published process, not advice on any particular purchase. Our guide to buying a car out of state as a New Yorker covers the New York side in more detail, including which sales tax form fits each kind of purchase.

Do Idaho Residents Owe Tax on Cars Bought in Other States?

Usually, yes. Idaho presumes that a vehicle an Idaho resident buys in another state was bought for use in Idaho. If the state where you buy has an exemption you qualify for, the Tax Commission says you must use it. Tax properly paid to the other state counts against Idaho's use tax when you have a receipt showing it.

Rule 107 adds detail on that credit. A registration or title issued by another taxing state is enough evidence that tax was imposed at that state's rate. The credit does not apply to states without a general sales tax, such as Alaska, Montana and Oregon, or when the other state exempted the vehicle from its tax.

Do New Residents Owe Idaho Use Tax on a Car They Bring?

Not if they owned it at least 90 days before the move. The Tax Commission's Form ST-102, Use Tax Exemption Certificate, New Resident exempts a vehicle you owned at least 90 days before moving to Idaho. One bought within 90 days of the move is presumed to have been bought for use here, and tax is then due on its value when it entered Idaho. Everyone listed on the purchase, title and registration documents must be a new Idaho resident, and the form is handed in when titling or registering. Someone moving back after living outside Idaho temporarily, for a job, school or a similar reason, cannot claim it.

How Does Shipping Fit an Out-of-State Purchase?

Shipping turns the departure into a date on a booking. The car leaves Idaho on an agreed pickup day, and the buyer does not have to fly in and drive it across several states.

Rivalane coordinates door to door transport from Idaho to New York with licensed, insured carriers. A carrier is usually in place between one and three working days after you book, and once the car is loaded it typically reaches New York in 6 to 8 days. Pickup and delivery dates are estimates, not guarantees, so leave room before the 90-day limit and before your own registration deadline at home.

Our Idaho to New York car shipping page covers the I-80 lane, our page on car shipping across Idaho covers pickups around the state, and the shipping calculator prices the move.

Frequently Asked Questions