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#481801 - 01/25/08 12:27 AM Retroactive sales tax?????
61Oldsguy Offline
Member


Registered: 06/22/06
Posts: 97
Loc: Illinois
Anybody ever had an experience like this?

Early in 2007 I bought a 1961 Olds Ninety Eight convertible project. The car is somewhat operable & looks halfway decent if you don't know what you're looking at. The reality of the car is that it needs a lot of work: mechanically it's quite tired, the color's wrong, the paint's bad, the interior's wrong, nothing works on the car... get the picture?

I think I paid a fair price for the car. It had been on Ebay with a Buy it Now of around $13K with no takers, so I got it for somewhat less. In IL, the sales tax on a car over 11 years old & costing under $15K is $25. This is what I paid in tax when I titled the car in my name.

Regardless of age, if the car sells for $15K or more, a tiered sales tax kicks in, going from $750 for a $15K car all the way up to $1500 for one costing $30K or more.

Today I received a certified letter from the Illinois Dept. of Revenue with a bill for in excess of $1600 in extra sales tax, interest, & penalties on this car. Apparently, regardless of what I paid for the car, some flunky in Springfield has decided that my 47 year-old restoration project is worth in excess of $30K & I need to fork over all that extra sales tax.

Bear in mind that nobody from the state ever laid eyes on this car. For all they know it's in boxes.

I had this happen once before, but it was with a much more expensive car that arguably was worth the value the state was assessing it at. At that time, they were only after a few hundred dollars. I was astounded when my attorney told me that what they were doing was perfectly legal. Furthermore, he said that by the time I paid the cost to fight the state I'd probably come out ahead just paying the tax bill.

I'll be talking with my attorney tomorrow. I'm much more inclined to try to fight this time- it's a lot more money. Either way, it's probably going to cost me a bundle, but I'd rather give $1600 to my lawyer & an appraiser than to the damn corrupt State of IL.

What say you, SEMA people???

Chuck


Edited by 61Oldsguy (01/25/08 12:33 AM)
Edit Reason: Not mad enough
_________________________
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#481820 - 01/25/08 06:57 AM Re: Retroactive sales tax????? [Re: 61Oldsguy]
MCHinson Online
Member


Registered: 06/27/06
Posts: 757
Loc: Wilmington, NC
I'm not a SEMA person, but I would have a qualified appraiser appraise the car for you. I would send them a copy of the appraisal along with a letter from your attorney explaining what you paid for the car, explaining the condition of the car and inviting them to come look at the car in person to confirm that the value is not what they have apparently decided that it should be.

I would recommend IVAN appraisals.

http://www.i-van.org/

(Of course I would also recommend that you move to NC, where you pay an extra $10 each year for your antique vehicle license plate, and then the vehicle is only taxed at a maximum tax value of $500.)
_________________________
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1929 Model A Phaeton
AACA, MAFCA, MARC

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#481890 - 01/25/08 11:55 AM Re: Retroactive sales tax????? [Re: MCHinson]
ted sweet Offline
Member


Registered: 09/27/01
Posts: 941
Loc: albany NY
NY does the same thing, They can dispute the value of any car and bill the added tax.
_________________________
1974 Plymouth Cuda-360 Auto
1991 Chysler Lebaron Vert
1973 Dodge Dart Swinger-318 Auto
1970 Dodge Challenger R/T-440 Auto
1968 Chrysler 300 Convertible-440 Auto
1994 Ford Taurus SHO
1966 Chrysler Newport-383 auto

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#481900 - 01/25/08 12:11 PM Re: Retroactive sales tax????? [Re: ted sweet]
Packin31 Offline
Member


Registered: 10/09/01
Posts: 1907
Loc: Woodridge, IL
Wow I am sure glad I registered my car back in '96 when I inherited it.
_________________________
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Woodridge, IL
1931 Packard 833-468 Coupe
AACA Member # 900049
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#486942 - 02/12/08 10:19 PM Re: Retroactive sales tax????? [Re: Packin31]
tcwilson Offline
Member


Registered: 11/14/04
Posts: 41
Loc: south jersey
nj does the same thing with every car. if they can find the car on nada listings they are happy to send along a tax bill because they need the money. i use junkers because i work down the docks [ salt water ] they want tax money from the last truck i bought. its no use trying to talk to them.
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#490243 - 02/26/08 03:08 PM Re: Retroactive sales tax????? [Re: MCHinson]
ChopShopCustoms Offline
Member


Registered: 07/31/07
Posts: 53
Loc: Woburn MA
 Originally Posted By: MCHinson
I'm not a SEMA person, but I would have a qualified appraiser appraise the car for you. I would send them a copy of the appraisal along with a letter from your attorney explaining what you paid for the car, explaining the condition of the car and inviting them to come look at the car in person to confirm that the value is not what they have apparently decided that it should be.

I would recommend IVAN appraisals.

http://www.i-van.org/

(Of course I would also recommend that you move to NC, where you pay an extra $10 each year for your antique vehicle license plate, and then the vehicle is only taxed at a maximum tax value of $500.)


I agree an appraisal of the vehicle would ayt least provide a legal document as to the value of the car. Usually they use the Kelly BB if they dont have anything else to go by....too bad you arent in MASS- I do appraisals.


Edited by ChopShopCustoms (02/26/08 03:09 PM)
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#503599 - 04/19/08 10:39 PM Re: Retroactive sales tax????? [Re: ChopShopCustoms]
pistoncollector Offline
Member


Registered: 10/25/04
Posts: 68
Loc: South Carolina, USA
If you don't want to move to NC you can move to SC. Our tax is 5% up to $6000 cost and at that point it tops out at $300 no matter what you pay for the car. You can pay a million dollars for a car and the sales tax is still $300. And property tax is fixed on cars 25 years old also. Its less than $20 per year.

You need to move.

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#504929 - 04/24/08 07:37 PM Re: Retroactive sales tax????? [Re: 61Oldsguy]
BobOlds Offline
Member


Registered: 08/02/06
Posts: 48
Don't pay it. This is a revenue fishing expedition by the wonderful state of ILL. You have a legitimate bill of sale and that's what determines the tax which you already paid. This topic has come up recently on other forums.
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