Motor Vehicle Excise Tax

Under MGL Chapter 60A, all Massachusetts residents who own and register a motor vehicle must annually pay a motor vehicle excise. Also, under MGL Chapter 59, Section 2, it is important to note that every motor vehicle, whether registered or not, is subject to taxation, either as excise or personal property, for the privilege of road use, whether actual or future. The excise is levied by the city or town where the vehicle is principally garaged.

The rate is $25 per one thousand dollars of valuation. This is the standard rate for the entire Commonwealth.

The excise tax law (M.G.L. c.60A, s.1) establishes its own formula for valuation for state tax purposes whereby only the manufacturer's list price and the age of the motor vehicle are considered. The formula is as follows:

• In the first year: 90%
• In the second year: 60%
• In the third year: 40%
• In the fourth year: 25%
• In the fifth and succeeding years: 10%

If a new car is purchased a year preceding the model year, for example, a 2012 car is purchased and registered in 2011, the vehicle is valued at 50% for 2011 excise, then 90% for 2012 excise, etc.

Excises are prorated on a monthly basis. If a motor vehicle is registered after the beginning of any calendar year, no excise will be imposed for those months, if any, which have fully elapsed before the vehicle is registered. If a vehicle is registered for any part of a month, however, the excise will be due for all of that month. The annual excise due on a car registered after January 1 will be reduced, therefore, by one twelfth of the full year's excise for every month prior to the one in which the vehicle was registered.

The owner must pay the motor vehicle excise to the city or town in which he/she resided on January 1st.

If the owner moved to another city or town within Massachusetts prior to January 1st of the taxing year, then the owner needs to supply proof of residency as of January 1st, such as a copy of a utility bill or voter registration. Submit a copy of either document with an abatement application. If the owner’s new address appears on the bill, then the owner needs to supply the date of move with an abatement application.

If the owner of a vehicle moves out of Massachusetts and registers their vehicle in another state and cancels his/her Massachusetts registration, he/she can file an application for an abatement for that portion of the year after the month in which the motor vehicle was registered in the new state. A copy of the out-of-state registration is needed to file for an abatement. The license plate needs to be returned to the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, in which case the Mass. RMV will process a Plate Return Receipt to the owner. A copy of the Plate Return Receipt is needed to confirm to the Assessors that, by the generation of the receipt, an excise bill will not be processed for this motor vehicle to this owner with this registration in the following calendar year.

• Retrieve an Application for Abatement of Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (Fillable PDF Form)
• Retrieve an Application for Abatement of Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (Online Form)

You may qualify for an abatement if your vehicle has been sold, donated, traded, or junked, or if your vehicle has been totaled or stolen.

• Retrieve an Application for Abatement of Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (Fillable PDF Form)
• Retrieve an Application for Abatement of Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (Online Form)

If the vehicle was sold, donated, traded on junked: submit a bill of sale, donation or traded or junked document, and either a Plate Return Receipt or new registration if plates were transferred with an abatement application.

If vehicle was total loss or stolen: submit an insurance company settlement or plate return receipt or C-19 (affidavit of lost/stolen plate from the Registry of Motor Vehicles) with an abatement application.

• Retrieve an Application for Abatement of Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (Fillable PDF Form)
• Retrieve an Application for Abatement of Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (Online Form)

Abatements are prorated by the month. No abatement can reduce a tax to less than $5, and no abatement of less than $5 will be granted.

Under M.G.L. c.60A:2 as amended by Chapter 262, sections 10-11, of the Acts of 2004, abatement applications must be received by the assessors within three years after the excise bill was due, or one year after it was paid, whichever was later.

• Retrieve an Application for Abatement of Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (Fillable PDF Form)
• Retrieve an Application for Abatement of Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (Online Form)

• Limit: one vehicle for personal, non-business use (applied to vehicle of choice).
• Ownership: a vehicle owned jointly with his/her spouse or with some other person(s) satisfies the ownership requisite for a full exemption.
• Leased Vehicles: For each eligible taxpayer, the exemption from the excise for any excise calendar year is limited to one vehicle, owned or leased, for personal, non-business use at a time, i.e., the taxpayer cannot receive an exemption on two vehicles, whether owned or leased, at the same time in the same excise calendar year.

According to M.G.L, Chapter 60A, § 1, the following persons qualify for an exemption on motor vehicle excise tax:

Blind

1. Suffer a permanent impairment of vision in both eyes.
2. Submit either a certificate from the Division of the Blind or a physician’s letter.

Handicapped

1. Suffer a loss or permanent loss of use of both arms or both legs.
2. Submit a physician’s letter. If the exemption is being sought due to loss of use of both limbs, the letter must state that it is a permanent loss.

Veterans (with no special plate)

1. Suffer a loss or permanent loss of use of one foot, one hand, one eye, or permanent impairment of vision in at least one eye.
2. Submit a certificate from the Veteran’s Administration Office.

Veterans with Disabled Veteran Plate

The Medical Advisory Board within the Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) has determined that the veteran is permanently disabled and the RMV has issued a disable veteran license plate.

Prisoner of War and Surviving Spouse

1. Registers a vehicle with a POW license plate.
2. Surviving spouse may receive the exemption until remarriage.

Non-Domiciliary Military Person (50 USC. App. §571, Federal Service Members Civil Relief Act)

1. Military persons assigned to Massachusetts by the Armed Forces who are not Massachusetts domiciliaries.
2. Submit a letter from either the commanding or personnel officer certifying that s/he is a domiciliary of another state.

• Retrieve an Application for Abatement of Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (Fillable PDF Form)
• Retrieve an Application for Abatement of Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (Online Form)

When you fail to pay a motor vehicle excise, a tax collector can collect the delinquent excise by placing ("marking") your vehicle registration and operating license in non-renewal status at the Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV). You must pay the excise within 30 days of receiving the bill. If you do not pay on time penalties and interests will accrue.

If you do not fully pay a motor vehicle excise on or before its due date, you also have to pay:

• Interest (12% per year, from due date to payment date), and
• Collection costs for:
• Sending a demand for payment of the excise – Set locally, up to $30
• Issuing a warrant to collect the excise to a deputy collector, assistant collector or other officer - $10
• Sending a notice that a warrant to collect the excise has been issued to a deputy collector, assistant collector or other officer - $12
• Serving the warrant to collect the excise - $17
• “Marking” the taxpayer’s vehicle registration and operator’s license for non-renewal at the RMV - $20

If the total amount of interest and collection costs added to an overdue motor vehicle excise is $15 or less, a tax collector may (but is not required to) waive any or all accrued interest and costs. Once the total interest and costs owed is more than $15, however, the collector cannot waive any interest or costs for any reason. Visit the Motor Vehicle Excise website.