Advice for new resident to CA and Taco registration

Looking for some help! Here’s my situation:

Live in CA part time now while I’m awaiting my new full time gig to kick in in CA. Spend the other half of my time back in TX working. Will be in CA full time starting in July.

Still have my TX driver’s license, but plan on switching it once I’m in CA full time. Holding off on that till absolutely necessary.

Buying a first gen Taco in Texas. Will be driving it to CA to use instead of renting a car.

Should I:

1. Register the Taco and pay the taxes in Texas and then register it in CA. Wondering if I’ll have to pay taxes on it again....

2. Register and pay taxes on it in CA (is that even possible without a CA driver’s license?)

3. Any other scenario y’all see fit.

Right now I’m driving my 3rd gen Taco in CA with Texas plates and have had no issue. I still don’t claim residency in CA so I do not think it would be an issue even if I were pulled over. That Taco is being sold though to make way for the first gen.

Thanks!

 

Carefully read the laws about registering out of state vehicles in California. It can be difficult due to strict California smog laws.

 

If buying out of state, then registering for the first time in Kalifornia, will need to smog, weight certificate from a certified weight master, vin inspection, wait hours in line at DMV. Kalifornia will let you register in the state, even though not a resident, becomes a issue if you then try to register elsewhere, as they say they want the Kalifornia title, though you may not have titled it also when registering in Kalifornia. So wherever you do this, title and register at the same time.

To clarify I hope, if titled elsewhere and you decide to just register in Kalifornia or some other state, but you dont change the title over to the new state, when selling, the state where it would then be titled by next person may ask for the other title, you would have to get a letter from "X" state, stating you did a registration only, no title issued. Gets complicated, did this for over 11 years. Then you can get into electronic titling, oh boy. Test later at 6.
Duane

 

Don't bother registering it until you move out here full time, even then I would just keep it registered in TX(if you have an address you can use). If you get pulled over for any reason, just say you're visiting or just here for work.

 

If you buy the truck within a year of registering it in California you will have to pay the different in sales tax. If you paid no sales tax (private seller) then you will have to pay sales tax on whatever you bought it for in Texas. If you paid sales tax on Texas California will credit you for the difference you paid if the sales tax is higher.

If I'm wrong on this someone please correct me. From what I remember when I moved because I couldn't prove I paid sales tax on my truck I had to pay California's sales tax on what I paid for my truck. Let's just say it was an expansive day at the DMV.

 

Sounds correct. You will only need to pay the difference between TX sales tax and CA sales tax. But make sure you have evidence of what you paid in TX. As far as registration, I think you would need to register in CA even if you recently registered in TX. Therefore, if you can hold off and wait till you move here permanently, you should.

 

For future reference in any SoCal guys buying a new Tacoma out-of-state, make sure you bring a smog cert and weight cert with you to the DMV. I had no idea about them and had to go get smogged and weighed, then go back to the DMV later on in the day, making my Tacoma registration an all day venture. I also paid AZ sales tax when buying, which happened to be almost exactly what CA tax was going to be (according to the DMV worker) so I didn’t pay any extra sales tax. Only title license processing stuff which wasn’t that much

 

No wonder registration fees keep going up. Nobody wants to pay their share

 

This sounds just plain horrible.

 

If you mean “Their share” as meaning the the state legislature, then you’re correct. They even tried to tax out of state retirements several years back.

 

Careful there buddy. I agree with your comments but be careful of getting political (skating on thin ice). The ban hammer has been pretty active lately for petty shit.

 

Duly noted.

 

Some might say get yourself a P.O. box in your home town in TX and keep the truck registered there... some people might say that cause CA registration and emission laws are the worst... but I wouldn't know.

Any exhaust/engine/intake mods you ever wanted to do in the future would have to be CA emissions legal. And plan on paying $70 a year for a smog test on top of the registration fees. Where there's a will there's a way. And I'd find a way to stay plated in TX.

 

California smog is not every year

 

Every two years. Thanks for catching that.

 

We are all on a team.

My parents live in Idaho. I’d love to get my address and what not switched to Idaho, registration is nothing. But I am required to carry a California drivers license and a few additional certificates from the California DMV for work, so I’m SOL. Plus I can’t find a way to make it work.