Texas Motorhome Registration & Weight Certificate Requirement

[tkcas]

As a new TX resident I attempted to get my Monaco motorhome registered they told me I would have to have it weighed first. They said it was a State requirement - that they could not accept what was on my SD title and registration, or on the manufacturer weight placard.

 

I looked on the TXDOT website and found no such requirement. In fact, in the Motor Vehicle Registration Manual it clearly states that a motorhome is registered as a passenger vehicle and a weight certificate is only required if a weight DECREASE is being requested.

 

It seems to me the county tax office is misinterpreting the rules. I have written TXDOT for clarification. What have others found.

[Al F]

You might try again at a different tax office. If you get same response, give them the page number in the the manual you are quoting above. Also you might ask for a supervisor to clarify the information. If you have a laptop, bring it with you. Have the page you are quoted open and show it to them and politely ask them why there answer is different than what you found.

 

What county are you trying to register in?

[JC and Angie]

I just went to cat scales on an empty tank and got a 12.00 ticket. Easy.

[TreyandSusan]

Registration fee of this type of passenger vehicle is by weight, hence the need to submit a weigh ticket from a scale when registering for the first time to establish the fee. Weight can be adjusted but not lowered unless another weight scale ticket is submitted with a lower weight.

Fee Schedule

Edited July 4, 2016 by TreyandSusan

[Barbaraok]

As a new TX resident I attempted to get my Monaco motorhome registered they told me I would have to have it weighed first. They said it was a State requirement - that they could not accept what was on my SD title and registration, or on the manufacturer weight placard.

 

I looked on the TXDOT website and found no such requirement. In fact, in the Motor Vehicle Registration Manual it clearly states that a motorhome is registered as a passenger vehicle and a weight certificate is only required if a weight DECREASE is being requested.

 

It seems to me the county tax office is misinterpreting the rules. I have written TXDOT for clarification. What have others found.

 

You need to look at page 9-1:

 

The registration fees for passenger vehicles are based upon the gross vehicle weight.

Use the shipping weight shown on the manufacturer's certificate to determine the weight

of new passenger vehicles, add 100 lbs., and figure the fee on the next even 100 lbs. For

example, if the manufacturer's certificate of origin shows the shipping weight as 5,415

lbs., the addition of 100 lbs. would result in a total of 5,515 lbs. When rounded off to the

next highest 100 lbs., use 5,600 lbs. as the registration weight.

• If there is a question as to the correct weight of a particular vehicle, require the

applicant to present a weight certificate from a Public Weigher.

• The weight shown on a weight certificate is acceptable as the registration weight of the

vehicle. Do not add any weight to the figure shown on the weight certificate, but round

it off to the next highest 100 lbs.

• If the weight of a vehicle is in question and the evidence of ownership for the vehicle

is a manufacturer's certificate, do not lower the weight below the weight indicated

without a corrected manufacturer's certificate.

 

 

Don't tilt at windmills, just get it weighed. You'll need that to know if you are overweight anyway.

[LFDR3116]

So, if you are full-time and have all your stuff in your rig, you have to pay based on the weight of your stuff and not just the weight of the vehicle?

[Barbaraok]

Yup. We had ours weighed and registered when we first purchased her - before we went fulltiming, so she was bareboned as could be when weighed.

 

Barb

[SWharton]

Wow, TX has high registration fees..............We live in VA and just paid $133 for 3 years on our MH.

[Kirk W]

So, if you are full-time and have all your stuff in your rig, you have to pay based on the weight of your stuff and not just the weight of the vehicle?

Both of the class A's that we owned were registered based upon the GVWR but could have been lowered by weighing them, had I wished.

 

Wow, TX has high registration fees..............We live in VA and just paid $133 for 3 years on our MH.

But TX does not have a property tax on vehicles, like VA has.

 

The Personal Property Taxpayers Division assesses all vehicles including cars, trucks, trailers, motorcycles, motor homes, aircraft, and watercraft. Mobile homes on temporary foundations are also assessed as personal property.

[Barbaraok]

Wow, TX has high registration fees..............We live in VA and just paid $133 for 3 years on our MH.

 

All states tax, just they tax different things. As Kirk said no personal property tax, not to mention no state income tax. You have to look at all things to determine which state is the best for a domicile state while you fulltime.

[SWharton]

Someplace I read that essentially the taxes are about the same in all states, just which bucket it is taken from. We move from TX to VA. Real estate taxes a lot less, even with pp tax thrown in, low sales tax, have income tax. $$ works out about the same, quality of life much better from our viewpoint. Weather definitely better.

[Barbaraok]

I would think it would depend upon where in Tx you lived versus where in Va you live. Lots of places in each state that you wouldn't get me to live

[Kirk W]

Someplace I read that essentially the taxes are about the same in all states, just which bucket it is taken from. We move from TX to VA. Real estate taxes a lot less, even with pp tax thrown in, low sales tax, have income tax. $$ works out about the same, quality of life much better from our viewpoint. Weather definitely better.

State tax costs per tax payer do vary since some states are mineral rich and derive significant income from the mineral severance taxes that are federally collected but shared with the state the minerals come from, even on federal lands. TX benefits from that and it helps to keep things down, but isn't a pot of gold. States like WY that have low population and lots of minerals do very well and AK even pays money back to their residents in place of taking it from them. While tax burdens do have a wide difference at the high and low extremes, those middle states are usually more balanced comparing one to the next. But the thread was about vehicle registration cost, and that includes any and all taxes and fees on RVs and vehicles, but little else.

[SWharton]

We just got a little off topic. One thing that drove me crazy in TX was the sales tax. Each county/town had a different tax instead of one tax for the entire state.This came into play whenever we ordered online. Had to call and tell the vendor we were in the county and not the city, 2% difference in tax. Returns were another challenge also. If you didn't return in the same taxing area they wouldn 't credit you the correct tax.

 

Sure hope they have sorted that out at least.

Edited July 6, 2016 by SWharton

[TXiceman]

SWharton, the base sales tax is the same across the state. Each municipality can add on to this for a local sales tax or a mass transit tax. Most places are near the same tax rate. We rarely see more than a 1% difference.

 

Ken

[Dick Phalan]

I'm paying sales tax for my new motorhome in Virginia.  Will  I have to pay sales tax again when I move to and register my MH in Texas, or only the registration fee?

[chirakawa]

27 minutes ago, Dick Phalan said:

I'm paying sales tax for my new motorhome in Virginia.  Will  I have to pay sales tax again when I move to and register my MH in Texas, or only the registration fee?

As long as you have proof of previously paying sales tax, you will only have to pay the difference in Virginia's rate and Texas' rate, if Texas is higher.  Texas rate is 6 1/4%.

If your Virginia title lists your GVW, then you should not need a weight certificate to register in Texas.