Could someone help me with a tax question?

[complain jane]

Let's just say I bought a used motorcycle from its' owner in Michigan via eBay. And I'm in New Jersey, and having the motorcycle hauled here.

Am I obligated to pay taxes to Michigan? Because this seller says that I am. He's an individual, not even a business. I've been searching online for the answer to this for 2 days and I find no clear-cut answers. It's too early to call but I'm going to call Michigan and New Jersey later today hopefully to get an answer.

If I understand this correctly, and if he is right, I would have to pay 6% sales tax to Michigan AND THEN PAY IT AGAIN to New Jersey when I register the fucking thing?

[ET Awful]

1. At a guess . . .

I'd say that you might be talking about 2 different taxes. You have to pay sales tax to complete the transfer in Michigan, then excise tax to complete the registration in Jersey.

That's just a guess though.

[complain jane]

2. Well

I'm not against paying it if I have to. But I just want to make sure that he's not "mistaken".

Thanks for the response, I'll go look up excise tax now. You'd think this info would be easier to find... maybe I'm just not looking in the right places.

[complain jane]

5. On the NJ DMV site it says I'll have to pay NJ sales tax which

will be another $300. Thanks for mentioning that, at least now I know for sure I'll be paying the 6% sales tax in NJ.

I've never heard of being expected to pay sales tax to two states. I'll be paying $600 in friggen taxes on a $5200 purchase.

[classics]

3. No

Michigan could levy a tax against the seller, i.e., income and sales taxes, but not the buyer since you are a non-resident.

If you want to title the vehicle in your home state, you will most likely have to pay sales tax at that time.

[complain jane]

4. But if they levy sales tax against him for this transaction

shouldn't that sales tax come from me? And yet with me being out of state, there should be none collected from me as far as Michigan is concerned (NJ, yes, but not MI), so there shouldn't be anything other than his own income tax based on his profit, which is zero.

So my taxes as far as Michigan goes should be zero I think?

However the INCOME tax he can go pound salt on. That's not my problem, right? And even so if I understand correctly, the income tax would be assessed based on what profit he made on the sale (which is 0), not on the entire sum, right?

In other words, if the bike was $5200, sales tax in NJ is 6% or roughly $300. That's going to be what I pay to NJ. In Michigan, sales tax is also 6% but that's not my problem. The only taxes levied in Michigan would be to him for the income he's making on the sale, and that's only on the profit, not even on the entire sum, and probably not even 6%.

He's telling me I owe him another $300 for Michigan taxes. He really did seem like a trustworthy and nice guy, I think he's just honestly mistaken and someone who really likes to go by the book. Or he's screwing me but either way the end result is still the same.

Thank you for the info.