EXCISE TAX ON REGISTERED MOTOR VEHICLES IN LIEU OF LOCAL TAX

M.G.L. pt. Part I, tit. Title IX, ch. c. 60A

in effect

M.G.L. c. 60A, § 1 Excise tax on motor vehicles; assessment and levy; exemptions; abatement for theft of motor vehicle

c. 60A, § 1. Excise tax on motor vehicles; assessment and levy; exemptions; abatement for theft of motor vehicle Section 1. Except as hereinafter provided, there shall be assessed and levied in each calendar year on every motor vehicle and trailer registered under chapter ninety, for the privilege of such registration, an excise measured by the value thereof, as hereinafter defined and determined, at the rate of twenty-five dollars per thousand of valuation. For the purpose of this excise the value of each such motor vehicle or trailer shall be deemed to be the value, as determined by the commissioner, of motor vehicles or trailers of the same make, type, model, and year of manufacture as designated by the manufacturer, but not in excess of the following percentages of the list price established by the manufacturer for the year of manufacture, namely:-- In the year preceding the designated year of manufacture .... 50% In the year of manufacture .................................. 90% In the second year .......................................... 60% In the third year ........................................... 40% In the fourth year .......................................... 25% In the fifth and succeeding years ........................... 10% A motor vehicle dealer to whom a general distinguishing number or mark has been issued shall, for the privilege of such registration, pay to the collector of taxes for the city or town in which such dealership is licensed, a special excise in the amount of $100.00 for each registration plate issued by the registrar of motor vehicles under such general distinguishing number or mark. Such motor vehicle dealer shall otherwise be exempt from the excise imposed by this section on any motor vehicle owned by such motor vehicle dealer, which motor vehicle may be operated by such dealer, the spouse of such dealer, a co-owner of such dealer or dealership entity, the spouse of such co-owner or an employee of such dealer whose duties involve the sale of motor vehicles at any time for any purpose, including personal use, provided that such employee renders at least 20 hours of service each week to such dealer and provided that such co-owner holds at least 40 per cent proprietary interest in such motor vehicle dealer or any such dealership entity; provided, however, that a motor vehicle which is operated under such general or distinguishing mark or number shall, at all times, display all notices and stickers required by applicable law to be eligible for sale. [ Third paragraph effective until July 1, 2025. For text effective July 1, 2025, see below.] The term "year of manufacture'', as used in this section, shall mean the year used by the manufacturer of the motor vehicle or trailer in connection with the designation by him or it of the model of such motor vehicle or trailer. [ Third paragraph as amended by 2025, 9, Sec. 34 effective July 1, 2025. See 2025, 9, Sec. 138. For text effective until July 1, 2025, see above.] The term "year of manufacture'', as used in this section, shall mean the year used by the manufacturer of the motor vehicle or trailer in connection with the designation by him or it of the model of such motor vehicle or trailer. For the purposes of this section, a motor vehicle and trailer registered under chapter 90 shall include registrations in revoked, suspended or similar status as determined by the registrar. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the board of assessors or the commissioner of revenue, as the case may be, from granting an abatement in any case in which the valuation aforesaid is in their or his opinion excessive. The excise imposed by this section shall not apply to motor vehicles or trailers owned and registered by the commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof, or to motor vehicles or trailers owned and registered by a corporation whose personal property is exempt from taxation under clauses Third and Tenth of section five of chapter fifty-nine. Motor vehicles or trailers owned or controlled by a manufacturer, or farmer to whom has been issued a general distinguishing number or mark under section five of chapter ninety, and trailers owned or controlled by a dealer to whom there has been issued a general distinguishing number or mark, shall be exempt from the excise imposed by this section, upon application in writing filed with the assessors, if and so long as such motor vehicle or trailer is operated or propelled over the highways solely in connection with the business of the owner or controller as such manufacturer or farmer and in no way for his personal use or convenience or the personal use and convenience of his family or any other person; provided, that such application shall contain a statement subscribed under penalties of perjury by such owner or controller to the effect that such motor vehicle or trailer is and will be operated or propelled only in the manner aforesaid; and provided further that if any such motor vehicle or trailer is operated or propelled otherwise than in the manner aforesaid, there shall be assessed and levied on such motor vehicle or trailer the excise imposed by this chapter, and a penalty of one hundred dollars, which excise and penalty shall be assessed by the assessors and collected by the collectors of taxes, nor shall such excise be abated by reason of any subsequent transfer of such motor vehicle or trailer. If no application for exemption is filed with the assessors as aforesaid, any motor vehicle or trailer owned or controlled by a manufacturer and operated or propelled under a general distinguishing number or mark issued to such manufacturer shall be subject to the excise imposed by this chapter, which excise shall be assessed by the assessors and collected by the collectors of taxes. The excise imposed by this section shall not apply to motor vehicles leased for a full calendar year to a charitable organization when such vehicle is owned and registered by a lessor engaged in the business of leasing motor vehicles. The term "charitable organization'', as used in this section, shall mean an organization, other than a degree granting or diploma awarding educational institution, whose personal property is exempt from taxation under clause Third of section 5 of chapter 59. In any city or town that accepts this paragraph, the excise tax imposed by this section shall not apply to a motor vehicle owned and registered by or leased to a former prisoner of war defined as any regularly appointed, enrolled, enlisted, or inducted member of the military forces of the United States who was captured, separated and incarcerated by an enemy of the United States during an armed conflict, or to a motor vehicle owned and registered by or leased to the surviving spouse of a deceased former prisoner of war, until such time as the surviving spouse remarries or fails to renew the registration. The excise imposed by this section shall not apply to a motor vehicle owned and registered by or leased to a veteran, as defined in section 7 of chapter 4, who according to the records of the United States Veterans Administration, by reason of service in the armed forces of the United States, has suffered loss, or permanent loss of use of, one or both feet, or loss, or permanent loss of use of, one or both hands, or has been determined by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs to: (i) have a combined service-connected disability rating of 100 per cent; or (ii) be individually unemployable due to their service-connected disability; nor to a motor vehicle owned and registered by or leased to a veteran, as defined in section 7 of chapter 4, who is receiving a statutory award from the Veterans Administration for the loss of sight of one eye or who according to the records of the United States Veterans Administration, by reason of service in the armed forces of the United States, has suffered permanent impairment of vision of both eyes of the following status: central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye, with corrective glasses, or central visual acuity of more than 20/200 if there is a field defect in which the peripheral field has contracted to such an extent that the widest diameter of visual field subtends an angular distance no greater than twenty degrees in the better eye; nor to a motor vehicle owned and registered to or leased to any person who has suffered loss, or permanent loss of use of, both legs or both arms; nor to a motor vehicle owned and registered to or leased to any person who has suffered permanent impairment of vision of both eyes of the following status: central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye, with corrective glasses, or central visual acuity of more than 20/200 if there is a field defect in which the peripheral field has contracted to such an extent that the widest diameter of visual field subtends an angular distance no greater than twenty degrees in the better eye. This exemption shall apply to not more than one motor vehicle owned and registered for or leased for the personal, noncommercial use of such veteran or person. After the assessors have allowed an exemption under this paragraph no further evidence of the existence of the facts required by this paragraph shall be required in any subsequent year in the city or town in which the exemption has been so allowed; provided, however, that the assessors may refuse to allow an exemption in any subsequent year if they become aware that the veteran or person did not satisfy all of the requisites of this section at the time the exemption was first granted. The excise imposed by this chapter shall not apply to a motor vehicle owned and registered by or leased to a resident who is in active and full-time military service as a member in the armed forces of the United States or the national guard or reserves, army or air, of any state and has been deployed or stationed outside the territorial boundaries of the commonwealth for a period of at least 180 continuous days in the calendar year of the exemption. If the military member is wounded or killed in an armed conflict, the military member shall not be subject to the foregoing period of service qualification for the calendar year in which he is wounded or killed. This exemption shall apply only to a motor vehicle owned and registered by or leased to a military member in the military member's own name or jointly with a spouse for a noncommercial purpose. A military member shall qualify for this exemption for only 1 motor vehicle for each calendar year. The motor vehicle shall not be operated on the ways of the commonwealth and operation shall be subject to the penalties in section 9 of chapter 90. A person who qualifies for any calendar year for exemption from the excise imposed by this section on a motor vehicle owned and registered or leased by him shall be entitled to the exemption upon application to the assessors for that year as provided in section 2 for the procedure of an owner aggrieved by the excise assessed. An application for exemption may be made by such person; his spouse, if the motor vehicle is jointly owned and registered or leased in the names of the person and spouse; or, if the person is deceased, a surviving spouse, administrator, executor or trustee of the estate, will or trust, as the case may be. If a motor vehicle or trailer is originally registered after January thirty-first in any year, the excise under this section shall be that proportion of the excise for the full year which the number of months in said year following the month preceding that in which the motor vehicle or trailer is registered bears to twelve; but no excise shall be assessed on the same motor vehicle or trailer more than once in any calendar year by reason of the renewal of the registration of such vehicle within the calendar year, unless its ownership is transferred by sale or otherwise and its registration surrendered or it is registered after a surrender or expiration of registration upon removal of its owner to another state and registration in such other state. If during any calendar year ownership of a motor vehicle or trailer subject to an excise under this section is transferred by sale or otherwise and the registration of such motor vehicle or trailer is surrendered, or if during any calendar year the owner of a motor vehicle or trailer subject to such an excise removes to another state and registers such motor vehicle or trailer in such other state and surrenders or does not renew his registration in this state, the excise under this section shall be reduced upon application by an abatement equal to that proportion of an excise under this section on such motor vehicle or trailer for the full calendar year which the number of months in said year remaining after the month in which such transfer by sale or otherwise or such surrender or expiration of registration occurs bears to twelve; provided, however, that if in the month in which such transfer by sale or otherwise occurs, the person making such transfer registers another motor vehicle or trailer under chapter ninety and thereby becomes subject to an excise under this section on such other motor vehicle or trailer for such month, the excise under this section on the motor vehicle or trailer transferred shall be further reduced upon application as aforesaid by an abatement equal to one twelfth of a full calendar year's excise under this section on the motor vehicle or trailer transferred. If before an excise imposed under this section is assessed, notice of transfer by sale or otherwise and surrender of registration or of surrender or expiration of registration as aforesaid is received by the official or officials authorized to make the assessment, the excise shall be assessed in the amount to which it would be reduced by abatement as aforesaid. The excise imposed by this section shall in no event be less than five dollars; no abatement under this section shall reduce any such excise to less than five dollars; no abatement shall be granted in an amount less than five dollars; and no refund shall be paid in an amount less than five dollars. The excise imposed by this section shall not apply to the registration by an inhabitant of any state other than this commonwealth or by a partnership, voluntary association or corporation which does not have a principal place of business in this commonwealth, of any motor vehicle or trailer to be customarily kept in another state; provided, such motor vehicle or trailer is also registered in such other state during the period when registered in this commonwealth, and if such other state does not impose an excise, privilege or property tax or fee in lieu of or in addition to a registration fee, or does not impose a registration fee at a rate greater than that required for registration in this commonwealth, upon motor vehicles or trailers, as the case may be, customarily kept in this commonwealth and registered by an inhabitant of this commonwealth, or by a partnership, voluntary association or corporation having its principal place of business in this commonwealth. The commissioner shall determine what states do not impose such additional excise, privilege or property tax or fee, or registration fee or fee in lieu of such levies and his determination shall be final. If a motor vehicle or trailer is stolen, the owner of such motor vehicle or trailer may apply for an abatement of excise, provided: (1) The owner of the stolen vehicle or trailer has notified the local police authorities of the theft within forty-eight hours of discovery of the theft. (2) The owner of the stolen motor vehicle or trailer has surrendered the certificate of registration of the stolen motor vehicle or trailer and has obtained a certificate, setting forth the facts, and signed by the registrar of motor vehicles or his authorized agent. Such surrender shall not be made sooner than thirty days subsequent to the date of the theft. The excise may then be reduced by an abatement equal to that proportion of an excise under this section on such motor vehicle or trailer for the full calendar year which the number of months in said year remaining after the month in which such surrender of the certificate of registration occurs bears to twelve; provided, however, that should the motor vehicle or trailer be subsequently recovered and registered in the same calendar year by the same owner an additional excise which shall be that proportion of the excise for the full year which the number of months in said year following the month preceding that in which the motor vehicle or trailer is registered bears to twelve, shall be paid, notwithstanding any provisions of this section to the contrary. The commissioner or the assessors, as the case may be, may require that the owner of the stolen motor vehicle or trailer exhibit the certificate of surrender of registration and provide them with a written statement from the local police authorities certifying that such authorities were notified of the theft and that the stolen motor vehicle or trailer has not been recovered. Whoever falsely reports the theft of a motor vehicle or trailer for the purposes of securing an abatement of excise shall forfeit a sum not larger than three times the excise due on the vehicle for the entire year, such sum to be recovered in a civil action brought by the city or town to which the excise was payable.

M.G.L. c. 60A, § 2 Collection of tax; abatement

c. 60A, § 2. Collection of tax; abatement Section 2. Except as otherwise provided in section one, if the owner of the motor vehicle or trailer registered is an individual inhabitant of the commonwealth, or a partnership, voluntary association or corporation having a principal place of business in the commonwealth or if the owner of the motor vehicle or trailer registered is not such an individual, partnership, voluntary association or corporation but the vehicle or trailer is customarily kept in any particular municipality in the commonwealth, the board of assessors shall assess the excise imposed by section one, and commit the same to the collector of taxes with their warrant for the collection thereof. Otherwise the excise so imposed shall be assessed and collected by the commissioner. The excise shall be assessed to the owner of the motor vehicle or trailer registering the same, and the registrar of motor vehicles shall promptly transmit to the commissioner a notice of the registration of a motor vehicle or trailer subject to this excise, giving the name and residential address of the owner, if an individual, or the name and principal place of business in this commonwealth, if any, otherwise that outside the commonwealth, if a corporation, partnership or voluntary association, the municipality in which the motor vehicle or trailer is customarily to be kept if it is to be kept in the commonwealth, the name of the maker, the year of manufacture as designated by the manufacturer, the model and type of vehicle or trailer, the type of transmission and the operator's license number of the owner of the vehicle, if any. The commissioner may require from the owner such further information as may be necessary for the purposes of this chapter. If an application for the registration of a motor vehicle or trailer contains a statement that the motor vehicle or trailer is customarily to be kept in any particular district, section or part of a city or town, the commissioner shall determine in what city or town said district, section or part is located, and shall transmit the information to the assessors. The commissioner shall, within eight months of the receipt of such information, transmit to the boards of assessors the information received relative to registration with respect to motor vehicles and trailers locally assessable sent to him by the registrar of motor vehicles, and, under such provisions as he deems best, make available to the local assessors information showing the values as determined under section one. The excise hereunder shall be due and payable at the expiration of thirty days from the date upon which the notice was issued by the collector or the commissioner pursuant to this section and the due date shall be clearly indicated on the tax notice. The collector of taxes or the commissioner, as the case may be, shall seasonably notify the owner of the excise assessed and the due date, but failure to receive notice shall not affect the validity of the excise. The owner, if aggrieved by the excise assessed, may at any time within 3 years after the date the excise was due or 1 year after the date the excise was paid, whichever is later, apply for an abatement to the board of assessors, and from a decision of the board of assessors upon such application, an appeal may be taken to the county commissioners or to the appellate tax board, all in accordance with section 64 or 65 of chapter 59. If an abatement of an excise assessed by a board of assessors is ordered by a decision of the county commissioners or the appellate tax board, any overpayment with interest thereon at the rate of six per cent per annum from the date of payment shall be refunded by the city or town treasurer from any available funds, upon certificate by the collector of taxes and approval for payment as required by section fifty-two of chapter forty-one, without any appropriations therefor by the municipality. Owners who neglect to pay the excise assessed under this chapter shall pay interest at the rate of twelve per cent per annum from the time when such excise was payable until paid. The notice issued pursuant to this section shall bear on its face a statement of the time within which petitions for abatement of the excise may be filed. The provisions of chapter sixty-two C shall apply to the excises assessed by the commissioner.

M.G.L. c. 60A, § 2A Nonpayment of taxes; collection; nonrenewal of driver's license and vehicle registration

c. 60A, § 2A. Nonpayment of taxes; collection; nonrenewal of driver's license and vehicle registration Section 2A. If an excise assessed under this chapter remains unpaid for fourteen days after a demand therefor made more than one day after such excise becomes due and payable, and if the local tax collector or commissioner of revenue elects to utilize the services of a deputy collector, then said deputy collector or the local tax collector or commissioner of revenue, as the case may be, shall send a notice of warrant to the delinquent taxpayer. In the event that the delinquent taxpayer does not respond within thirty days to said notice of warrant then a service warrant shall be made. If the tax remains unpaid after the service of warrant then the deputy collector may, at the discretion of the local collector, return the uncollected warrants of those delinquent taxpayers to the local tax collector or commissioner of revenue. The local tax collector, the commissioner of revenue, or their designee, as the case may be, may at any time and from time to time not later than six years after the initial excise tax issuance was made, transmit to the registrar of motor vehicles, hereinafter in this section called the registrar, in such form as approved by the registrar, notice of such nonpayment, specifying the name and address of the person to whom the excise is assessed, the amount of the excise due and all interest thereon and costs relative thereto and such information as to the motor vehicle or trailer assessed as was transmitted by the registrar to the commissioner of revenue under section two; provided, however, that no notice shall be transmitted to the registrar under this section at a time when there is pending before the local board of assessors or the appellate tax board, as the case may be, a duly filed application for the abatement of such excise in whole or in part nor within thirty days after action upon any such application by the local board of assessors or the appellate tax board, as the case may be. Upon receipt of such notification of nonpayment the registrar shall place the matter on record and not renew the license to operate a motor vehicle of the registered owner of said vehicle or the registration of said vehicle nor allow an exchange of the registration of such vehicle nor issue a new registration of such vehicle to the person to whom the unpaid excise tax was assessed until after notice from the local tax collector or the commissioner of revenue that the matter has been disposed of in accordance with law. Upon such notification of nonpayment to the registrar, an additional twenty dollar charge payable to the registrar of motor vehicles shall be assessed against the registered owner of said vehicle. It shall be the duty of the local tax collector or commissioner of revenue to notify the registrar forthwith that such matters have been disposed of in accordance with law; provided however, that a certified receipt of full and final payment from either the local tax collector or commissioner of revenue shall also serve as a legal notice to the registrar that the matter has been so disposed of. Except as heretofore provided, the registrar shall approve such forms as he deems necessary to implement this section and said forms shall be printed and used by the cities and towns. On or before September first of each year, the registrar of motor vehicles shall certify for each city and town in the commonwealth the total number of charges to be assessed pursuant to this section based upon the number of notices received by the registrar that have been disposed of in accordance with law. The registrar shall include such assessments in the warrants prepared in accordance with section twenty of chapter fifty-nine.

M.G.L. c. 60A, § 3 Remedies of collectors

c. 60A, § 3. Remedies of collectors Section 3. In the collection of this excise, the collectors of taxes shall have all the remedies provided by chapter sixty.

M.G.L. c. 60A, § 4 Laws respecting registration of motor vehicles; effect of this chapter

c. 60A, § 4. Laws respecting registration of motor vehicles; effect of this chapter Section 4. The provisions of this chapter, other than those contained in section two A thereof, shall not be construed to alter or amend the provisions of law with respect to the registration of motor vehicles or trailers.

M.G.L. c. 60A, § 6 Where excise laid and collected

c. 60A, § 6. Where excise laid and collected Section 6. The excise locally assessable under this chapter shall be laid and collected at the residential address of the owner, if an individual, or at the principal place of business in this commonwealth, if a partnership, voluntary association or corporation, as determined by the owner's registration, except that if a motor vehicle or trailer is customarily kept in some other municipality, the excise shall be laid and collected in such other municipality.

M.G.L. c. 60A, § 7 Uncollectible tax; abatement

c. 60A, § 7. Uncollectible tax; abatement Section 7. If a collector is satisfied that an excise that has been committed to him or to any of his predecessors in office for collection, is uncollectible by reason of the death, absence, poverty, insolvency, bankruptcy, or other inability of the person assessed to pay, he shall notify the assessors thereof in writing on oath, stating why such excise cannot be collected. The assessors shall act upon such notification within thirty days, and, after due inquiry, may abate such excise or any part thereof, and shall certify such abatement in writing to the collector, and said certificate shall discharge the collector from further obligation to collect the excise so abated.

M.G.L. c. 60A, § 8 Unpaid tax; abatement

c. 60A, § 8. Unpaid tax; abatement Section 8. Notwithstanding the failure of the owner of a motor vehicle on which an excise was assessed under this chapter to apply for an abatement within the time set forth in section 2, the board of assessors may abate the whole, or any part of any such excise, or any interest thereon or costs relative thereto, that remains unpaid where, in the assessors' opinion it should be abated. No such abatements shall be granted unless they are in accordance with such rules, regulations and guidelines as the commissioner of revenue may prescribe and no interest shall be due in connection with any such abatement. Whenever an abatement is granted under this section, the assessors shall enter the same in their record of abatements. The assessors shall annually, not later than August 1, report to the commissioner, in the form and manner prescribed by him, the abatements granted during the prior fiscal year.

M.G.L. c. 60A, § 9 Deferral of excise due by Massachusetts National Guard members and reservists on active duty and dependents

c. 60A, § 9. Deferral of excise due by Massachusetts National Guard members and reservists on active duty and dependents Section 9. In any city or town accepting the provisions of this section and notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter to the contrary, any excise due under this chapter by a member of the Massachusetts National Guard or reservist or a dependent of a member of the Massachusetts National Guard or reservist shall be deferred while that member is on active service outside the commonwealth and for a period of up to 180 days after completion of that service. No interest or penalties shall be assessed for any period before the expiration of the 180 days.

Source: Massachusetts General Court (malegislature.gov)URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIX/Chapter60AFetched: 10/20/2026