sales tax /registration fee , for interstate buying

[Jjrho]

i got my emira from naples lotus.... paid for full... i wanted to get the car and register it myself here BUT they insisted that they have to do it; that lotus NA told em customers can not do it on their own....so, i sent in the full sales tax amount, about $8500 plus another $1500 for their service charge through a co called "all state".... Here is the issue...

i got my calif plates and registration, that was sent to the FL dealership first then to me...and the registration paper work says Calif DMV was paid $4220....which is essentially half of what they were supposed to get.... AND i remember that on sales paperwork, they put some $4500 going to state of Florida....which made no sense, as FL is NOT suppose to collect any sales tax .... i am concerned now because Calif state might come after me for the rest of the tax cause "all state" did not send the full amount to Calif...

good thing is, if nothing happens now, my calif registration renewal fee is half of what it should be , on 2nd year....lol....
i have a paper trail so , if anything happens, i'm covered; as I 'paid full amount' to 'some body' that should have taken care of it correctly....

i've let the dealership know but their answer was not satisfactory to me....
i hope they are not doing something inappropriate ....i.e. reporting wrong figure$ for other purposes...

what do you guys think is going on ?!?

 

[Mark123]

I don't know the answer, but can help on questions to ask. This can be a quagmire. I've ran into these problems, even canceling a purchase over this issue once, as the dealer disagreed with their own states DMV (but I got one story from the DMV and dealer got another, dealer did not want to put in effort to help reconcile)

1. CA may say FL should not collect tax for car to be registered in CA.
2. FL may say they are required to collect tax as car was sold in FL, or delivered in FL.
3. #2 can sometimes be negated if car is delivered out of state as part of sale, thus sold out of state.
4. Some states have reciprocal arrangements. Meaning if you pay tax in FL, CA will give you credit. i.e. FL charged $1000 in tax, but CA charges $1200 upon registration. You pay FL $1000 and CA $200.

Start with the end, being CA tell them and ask what they need and what they do. Ultimately CA will have the say, as you will register the car there.

Mark
Lotus Ltd.

 

[Rapture]

Yea, this does not sound good. Does Florida have an agreement with California to collect and send sales tax? I had an issue with the sales tax on a purchase in Illionois, and I live in Wisconsin. I figured it out, but in the end your state will want to collect their full tax. If they have paperwork that states they have also received a portion, they will inevitably come looking for the rest. Find out where that $4500 is and get it to California. You should also try to reduce or eliminate that $1500 dollar fee if they did not process the transaction correctly.

 

[mlmarch]

I checked my paperwork Lotus Emira Configuration Final Order and the fees listed there do not match fees shown on worksheet for payment. Have forwarded that info to the dealer asking why the difference.