Texas Car Sales Tax: Rates, Use Tax and the New Resident Tax

The Texas vehicle sales tax is 6.25 percent of the purchase price, less any trade-in. A dealer collects the motor vehicle sales tax at the sale, and on a private sale the buyer pays it to the county tax assessor-collector when titling the car. A Texas resident who buys a car in another state owes the same 6.25 percent as motor vehicle use tax, less credit for tax paid elsewhere. A new resident who brings a car already registered in their name pays a flat $90 new resident tax instead.

This guide covers the rate and trade-ins, private sales and standard presumptive value, use tax and the credit rule, the $90 new resident tax and how it differs from use tax, gifts and even trades, exemptions, deadlines and penalties, with a New Hampshire purchase worked through. The rules come from the Texas Comptroller's Motor Vehicle Tax Guide, the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV) and the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration.

What Is the Sales Tax on a Car in Texas?

6.25 percent of the sales price, minus any trade-in allowance. The Comptroller's page on motor vehicle sales and use tax sets that rate, and the tax applies to each retail sale of a motor vehicle in Texas, including installment and credit sales and exchanges for property, services or money.

A dealer licensed by TxDMV collects the tax when the vehicle's gross weight is 11,000 pounds or less and sends it to the county tax assessor-collector at titling. If you pay the dealer and the dealer fails to transfer the title and send the tax, the Comptroller's Motor Vehicle Tax Guide says the state will not hold you liable, as long as you can show a dealer invoice or sales contract that itemizes the tax.

A trade-in lowers the taxable amount. The guide taxes the trade difference, and the allowance is the value of the vehicle you trade in, not necessarily your equity in it. Its example is a $42,000 car bought from a licensed dealer with a $15,000 trade-in: the taxable value is $27,000 and the tax is $1,687.50.

The 8.25 percent figure many buyers expect comes from general sales tax. The Comptroller's sales and use tax page describes a 6.25 percent state rate on most goods, plus up to 2 percent from cities, counties, special purpose districts and transit authorities, for a maximum combined rate of 8.25 percent. Cars fall under the separate motor vehicle tax, and the Comptroller's motor vehicle tax FAQ gives its rate as 6.25 percent of the purchase price. The guide's worked examples apply that rate alone.

How Are Private-Party Car Sales Taxed in Texas?

The buyer pays the county tax office within 30 calendar days of the purchase, when titling and registering the car, and active-duty military have 60 days. The amount turns on standard presumptive value (SPV), which TxDMV sets from a nationally recognized regional value guide, based on the average price of private-party sales of used vehicles in the region. The car's condition is not part of it.

Under the Comptroller's SPV rules, the tax is based on one of three values:

• The price you paid, when it is 80 percent of SPV or more.
• 80 percent of SPV, when you paid less and have no appraisal.
• A certified appraisal, when you paid less than 80 percent of SPV and bring an appraisal on Form 14-128, done by a dealer licensed for that kind of vehicle or a licensed insurance adjuster and dated within 30 calendar days of the sale or the car's first use in Texas (60 for active-duty military). The appraised value is used only if it is not less than the price you paid.

The Comptroller's own example is a car with an SPV of $5,000 sold for $2,000. Without a valid appraisal, the buyer is taxed on $4,000, which is 80 percent of SPV. If you pay on SPV and then get a favorable appraisal within 30 calendar days of the purchase, you can claim a refund of the difference on Form 14-202.

For a dealer sale, the math is simple: multiply the taxable amount by 6.25 percent. To check a private-sale value before you buy, use the TxDMV standard presumptive value calculator, which asks for the vehicle identification number (VIN) and the odometer reading. It shows 100 percent of SPV, while the county works from 80 percent of that figure.

SPV does not apply to every private transfer. The guide excludes salvage and abandoned vehicles, vehicles sold through storage or mechanic's liens or by government bodies, vehicles eligible for classic, custom or street rod plates under Transportation Code section 504.501, even exchanges and eligible gifts. Dealer sales are taxed on the sales price.

Do You Pay Texas Tax on a Car Bought in Another State?

Yes, if you are a Texas resident, or a person domiciled or doing business in Texas, and you bring the car into Texas for use on public roads. The Comptroller's guide to motor vehicle use tax charges 6.25 percent, paid to the county tax assessor-collector when you title and register the car, within 30 calendar days of bringing it into Texas.

The tax base depends on the seller. On a purchase from a licensed dealer in another state, use tax is based on the sales price less any trade-in, with no deduction for depreciation or use before the car entered Texas. On a private purchase from an out-of-state seller, the SPV rules above apply.

Tax you paid elsewhere counts. The Comptroller's page on credit for tax paid allows a dollar-for-dollar credit for sales or use tax legally imposed by another state, Puerto Rico or a U.S. possession or territory, including taxes of a city, county or parish in that state, and it accepts taxes that some states call excise taxes, such as those of Oklahoma and New Mexico. The county must see a receipt, invoice or other document showing the tax paid with your name on it. No credit is allowed for property tax, value-added tax, tax paid to a foreign country, or customs, duty or import taxes.

The guide's example is a $15,000 car from an out-of-state dealer with a $6,000 trade-in: $562.50 of Texas use tax, less $180 already paid to the other state, leaves $382.50 to pay in Texas.

A New Hampshire purchase leaves nothing to credit. The New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration says the state has no general sales tax on goods purchased there, so a car bought in New Hampshire comes with no sales tax for Texas to credit. Our guide to New Hampshire car sales tax covers that side of the sale, including what a New Hampshire seller hands over. When a Texas resident registers that car, the county charges the full 6.25 percent: on the sales price less any trade-in for a dealer purchase, or on the price or 80 percent of SPV, whichever is greater, for a private one. For a $20,000 car bought from a New Hampshire dealer with no trade-in, that is $1,250 at the county. The exception is a car that qualifies for the new resident tax, explained next.

What Is the $90 New Resident Tax?

It is a flat tax a new Texas resident pays instead of use tax on a car bought outside Texas, when the car was already registered in the new resident's name in another state or country. The Comptroller's new resident tax page applies it under Tax Code section 152.023, and it also covers a car the new resident leased in another state before moving, when the lessor bought it out of state.

The Comptroller treats you as a new resident if you move to Texas intending to live here, which you can show by establishing a fixed dwelling, registering to vote or having a legal or economic constraint to live in Texas. The tax is due within 30 calendar days of the car's first use in Texas, or 60 days for active-duty military, and you pay it to the county tax assessor-collector when you title or register the car.

Timing decides whether the car qualifies. By Comptroller policy, a qualifying car brought into Texas within 30 days of becoming a resident gets the $90 rate, and a car documented to be in transit still qualifies if it arrives after those 30 days. A car brought in after you have lived in Texas for 30 days is presumed to have arrived after you became a resident, so it owes use tax on the purchase price or 80 percent of SPV instead.

Three other rules matter. A car never registered in your name in another state owes use tax, not the $90. When the $90 tax applies, no credit is given for tax paid to another state or country. And an antique brought in by a new resident pays the lesser of the $90 tax or use tax on its sales price, if it is at least 25 years old, a collector's item, used only for exhibitions, club activities or parades, and carries no advertising.

Military members follow their home of record. Under the Comptroller's military personnel guidance, a member whose home of record is another state pays the $90 tax on a car registered in their name, and a U.S. military registration counts. A member whose home of record is Texas is a Texas resident and owes use tax, with credit for tax paid to another state. Our guide to Texas vehicle registration for military members covers the registration side.

Moving With Your Car or Buying One Out of State: Which Tax Applies?

Both cases bring a car from another state, and one question decides which tax applies: was the car registered in your name in that state before you became a Texas resident?

Moving with a car you already own. If it was registered to you in New Hampshire before the move, it takes the new resident tax set out above. What you paid for the car and its SPV play no part.

Buying a car out of state. If you buy it after becoming a Texas resident, or it was never registered to you before the move, it takes use tax, worked out on the price or SPV as above. A New Hampshire purchase brings no sales tax to credit, so the full 6.25 percent applies.

A third case sits apart. If you move back to Texas with a car you titled and paid tax on in Texas before, and another state required you to title it there in between, the Comptroller says no additional tax is due when you show the earlier Texas tax receipt or another document proving the Texas title or registration.

How Are Gifts, Even Trades and Other Transfers Taxed?

A gift from an eligible donor costs $10. The Comptroller's gift tax page limits the $10 tax to transfers with no consideration, meaning no cash, assumed loan, services or property given in return. Eligible donors are a spouse (for separate property), parents and stepparents, children and stepchildren, grandparents and great-grandparents, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, siblings, in-laws in those relationships, a guardian, a qualifying 501(c)(3) nonprofit and certain trusts. The recipient pays the tax at the county when titling the car, and a car received outside Texas from an eligible donor can also qualify when it is brought into Texas.

Both the donor and the recipient sign Form 14-317, the Affidavit of Motor Vehicle Gift Transfer, which goes in with Form 130-U. It must be notarized or signed in front of county staff, and a notary in another state can notarize it, which helps when the donor lives in New Hampshire. A transfer for no payment between other parties, such as an uncle and a nephew, or a person and a company, is taxed as a sale, and SPV may apply.

An even exchange costs $5 per vehicle. The Comptroller's even exchange page applies it when vehicles are swapped and nothing else changes hands, with each side documented on its own Form 130-U. Add cash or take over the other owner's loan and it is no longer an even exchange: SPV may apply, and the vehicle you hand over counts as a trade-in. An out-of-state resident can make an even exchange with a Texan without getting a Texas title first.

Inherited cars owe no motor vehicle tax. Since September 1, 2025, the Comptroller's inherited vehicles page exempts a car passed from an estate to a person entitled to it under a will or the statutes of descent and distribution, or through a rights of survivorship agreement, and the gift tax does not apply to those transfers either. Community property passed between spouses is not taxed, but a family member who takes over another's car loan owes tax on the payoff plus anything else given.

Which Vehicle Purchases Are Exempt?

The Comptroller's guide lists exemptions by buyer and use, and many of them cover farms, timber operations, nonprofits, churches, public agencies and volunteer fire departments rather than individual drivers. Three can matter to a household:

• A car bought in Texas for use only outside Texas. Under the guide's out-of-state transport exemption, the buyer gives the seller Form 14-312 at the sale, drives the car in Texas only to take it directly out of state and does not register it here. Bring it back for use later and use tax is due, less credit for tax paid elsewhere.
• A vehicle for an orthopedically handicapped person. A specially modified vehicle that the person drives, or that is used to transport them, at least 80 percent of its operating time can be bought tax free with Form 14-318.
• NATO force members. Foreign military personnel attached to a NATO force, their dependents and military-employed civilians are exempt.

Military service is not an exemption in itself. The Comptroller says the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act does not apply to motor vehicle taxes, and there is no exemption for a car bought in another state, overseas or through a base exchange.

When Is the Tax Due and What Are the Penalties?

The Comptroller's motor vehicle tax page sets these deadlines:

• Dealer sale in Texas. The dealer collects the tax at the sale.
• Private sale in Texas. Within 30 calendar days of the purchase.
• Car bought out of state. Use tax or the new resident tax within 30 calendar days of bringing the car into Texas.
• Active-duty military. Within 60 calendar days of the purchase or first use in Texas.
• Gift or even exchange. At the title transfer.

Late payment costs 5 percent of the tax if you pay 1 to 30 days late and 10 percent after that, with a $1 minimum, according to the guide's penalty section. The penalty applies even when the delay was beyond your control. It is not charged on exempt transfers, the new resident tax, even trades or gifts.

For a car brought into Texas, the county dates its arrival from a document showing the delivery date in Texas or a document dated in Texas, such as a weight certificate, an identification certificate, a customs import document or a state inspection document. Registration has its own 30-day clock that starts on your move date, and TxDMV's page on out-of-state vehicles lists the fees. Our guide to registering an out-of-state car in Texas walks through that visit.

How Does Shipping Fit a Texas Purchase or Move?

The paperwork that sets your tax travels separately from the car, so keep it with you rather than in the glovebox. For a purchase, that means the bill of sale or buyer's order, the title and any receipt for tax paid in another state, because the county needs proof before it gives credit. For a move, keep the bill of lading with your title paperwork: it records when the car was picked up and delivered, which matters if the car reaches Texas late under the timing rule above.

Rivalane coordinates door to door transport from New Hampshire to Texas with licensed, insured carriers. A carrier is typically assigned within one to three working days of booking, and once the car is loaded, deliveries on this lane typically take 5 to 8 days. These are estimates, not guarantees, so line up Texas insurance and your county visit with room to spare. Our page on New Hampshire to Texas car shipping covers the I-81 lane, our page on car shipping in Texas covers deliveries across the state, and the car shipping calculator prices the move.

Frequently Asked Questions