Motor carrier taxes - Connecticut

Sales & use taxes

Connecticut imposes a sales or use tax on the gross purchase price of vehicles purchased and registered within the state.

Purchasers can receive credit for sales tax paid out-of-state by providing supporting documentation (purchase invoice and tax receipt) that show the sales tax was submitted and paid to the appropriate state agency. If a purchaser paid less than 6.35 percent sales tax in another state, the purchaser will need to pay the additional tax to the Department of Motor Vehicles when the vehicle is registered.

A motor vehicle purchased but not registered within Connecticut by a nonresident who does not maintain a permanent place to live may be exempt from the sales and use tax. The purchaser must complete CERT-125 to use this exemption.

Sales and use tax does not apply to the sales of and the storage, use or other consumption of commercial trucks, truck tractors, tractors, semitrailers, or combinations of those vehicles, that have a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 26,000 pounds, or that are operated actively and exclusively during the period starting with the purchase and ending one year after the date of purchase for the carriage of interstate freight according to operating authority issued by the FMCSA.

To qualify for the exemption, purchasers of such vehicles must present the retailer a copy of their FMCSA operating authority and a certificate certifying that the vehicle will be operated actively and exclusively for carrying interstate freight. If, during the period starting with the vehicle’s purchase and ending one year after the date of purchase, the vehicle is not used exclusively for interstate freight, the purchaser will be liable for the sales tax.