Montana registration crack-down

For 25+ years I was a bank director for a couple community banks we started, so I have some experience in this area. Certain businesses are termed by the feds as higher risk for money laundering, mainly cash oriented businesses. Banking regulators are all over banks regarding those higher risk list firms especially banks that don’t have a good Camel rating (Camel 1= walk on water/outstanding and Camel 5 = bank being taken over), thinking that lower rated banks will “cut corners” to be profitable. Many of the risk listed firms you would not readily expect to be on the higher risk list. The tellers are required to make a “sars” report on certain transactions especially from those higher risk listed firms. So that is why you get all the questions when doing cash transactions, your firm may be on the higher risk lists. I bank with a couple different banks that I was not a director and I get those same questions from those banks. My banks never questioned my transactions as the feds/FBI did annual checks on all of the bank directors some years the checks were substantial other years not so much.

 

No property tax on the car, correct, but it’s not a flat fee for registration.

I just renewed two of the cars this month, and the 430 was double the cost of the Miata.

Still nowhere near the extortion rates I paid in California, but not a flat rate.

 

I should have stated the registration is flat based on vehicle weight classes...not across the board flat.

Cars under 2,500 (like a Miata): $14.50
2500-3500 (430): $22.50
3500 or more: $32.50

Looks like the fees actually went down since I last registered in FL years ago...

https://www.flhsmv.gov/fees/

 

Ahh! Yes. You are correct. It varies based on weight.

I recall now that when I went to the DMV to register the 328 after moving here, the lady at the counter asked me “How much does it weigh?”

 

Thanks for the info, Bank managers or director use to rely on the relationship and history of the client. One bank my company has been with since 1965, and the manager in the 80's could loan on his authority alone up to 250k. Now for any amount the loan has to go through many layers. This same bank questions my cash deposits even though they make 2 visits a year to the property's they loaned on. I know it is the regulators and the bank was warned to play ball if they wanted any new branches to open up.

 

In CA the VLF is tax deductible. It depreciates over time as well.

On my 2012 458 spider it runs $632 for this year. Here that’s not even a tank of gas per month. Hardly a burden.

You can completely opt out of the registration if you don’t run it on the roads at all! If you just want to collect and transport the car to tracks you don’t have to register it all!

Why is it that for some, the more they get the less they give??

SV


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Don't you mean "earn" "work for" sacrifice" / take, steal, theft. Nice brainwashing you got there must be collage brainwashed i mean edjumacated.

I give plenty to whomever I freely choose.

 

Stunning, really. I don't know when we became the frog in the pot of boiling water. Growing up in the '60s, it would have never dawned on anyone to tell someone else what they should do with their own money. It's your money. What is so hard about this that people don't understand? Oh well.

 

Back on point. Yes, I make money helping people hang onto their own money. I wish it wasn't that way, but I didn't create the system. Hate the game, not the player.

That said, doing stupid things is, well, stupid. Driving an expensive Ferrari in CA or VA or wherever with Montana tags is asking for it. You gotta float like a butterfly. Those idiots who went on YouTube deserve what they got. That was stupid. I don't like it, but you need to keep your eye on the bigger prize.

One quick story: I started with the IRS out of school. One day I walked into a lawyer's office for his audit, and there was sailing crap everywhere. Pictures of boats, trophies, you name it. I'm thinking I had a gotcha. (Back in those days you could write boats off as entertainment. but it almost never worked.) As I sat down, the first thing the attorney said was, "You won't find it." Now, step back a second. How many times in the history of IRS audits has someone told an IRS agent, "You won't find it." He then said, "I know you're thinking about my boat. You're not going to find any deductions related to my boat because I didn't claim any. I would NEVER take a client out on my boat. That boat is me. That boat is the reason I work."

Guess what? He was right. He didn't claim any expenses. I have told this story to clients over a hundred times. Sometimes it is better not to poke the bear. Just enjoy life. Enjoy your cars.

 

And doesn’t Florida have one of the highest dealer boilerplate associated fees as well in the country? I was looking at a car and comparatively the cost of buying there was a lot different compared to the quoted elsewhere.

 

You don't have to buy a car from a dealer in Florida as a Florida resident unless it's that weird Ferrari dealership deal and your address. For regular cars, you can buy wherever and drive/ship back to FL and register and pay sales tax then and avoid the $900+ south Florida dealer fees. My friend back in 2005 ordered his BMW M3 new via Costco and took delivery at Hank Aaron BMW in Georgia. Cost a lot less plus it came with an autographed Hank Aaron baseball.

 

I have to say though that the couple times I have driven in Florida I have never seen so many cars broken down and/or abandoned on the highways. With no vehicle inspection a person can drive the most dangerous piece of junk or even a decent car but with faulty equipment/tires.

As I recall there was vehicle inspection sometime in the late 70's or early 80's. I guess they did away with it.

 

Community banks and regional banks or larger are quite different in their approach to customers. Community banks generally make banking a "little" more enjoyable and officers have a bit more authority as least from my experience. But often community are not large enough to handle the transaction size necessary or international transactions. My commercial insurance brokerage firm banked with a large regional bank which was great (very easy to do business) but we had almost zero cash transactions. But the regulators have squeezed most of the "fun" out of banking.

Generally, government has got much more regulation intensive in the last 20 years whether it be banking regulation or vehicle registration etc. One of the reasons for CA residents to try to register the car outside of CA, other than tax reasons of coarse, is the smog tests for 1975 or newer cars. A couple of years ago I spent 2 days trying to smog my 1977 930 TC. The dealer could do it they no longer had smog equipment for that old of vehicle. Ended up with a smog shop that also had dyno tuning equipment and it passed no problem after being tuned.

 

if you have $1m plus in cars
taxes shouldn't be an issue
either you have it or you don't !

 

Just because you have $1 mil in vehicle value doesn't mean you want to pay more tax than you absolutely have to. I don't know anyone who wants to pay more in taxes. I imagine that lots of folks on the blog are paying around 50% or more income taxes already. This "fair share" stuff is just BS. Fair is in the eye of the payer. Nothing that I am aware indicates is the government is a “fair” arbiter of fair, if anything I would contend that the government wants more than their “fair share”.

 

One group here sees Montana LLCs as tax avoidance while the other sees it as tax evasion. Neither group will persuade the other.

 

the group with more resources wins........

 

obviously you didn't follow Vietnam well enough
we had the most resources and DIDN NOT WIN!

 

incorrect

 

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I think that is the justification argument but I dont really think there are two groups here. I think everyone knows it is tax evasion, the first group just hopes that they can get away with it by calling it something else and not get caught. It’s like Lori Loughlin arguing her daughters are student athletes because she made up pictures to prove it. A pig with lipstick is still a pig.

If caught I think ultimately it would end up something like davemqv said:

But of course there is a possibility that you will never get caught and never have to have such a discussion. That is what the first group actually believes and is counting on. It’s all about risk tolerance.

 

^ You really think davemqv's sarcastic "defense" would legitimately used by anyone with more than 1/4 of a brain?

 

Use the car as a Sunday driver. Avoid the toll roads. Just a few tips.

 

IMHO somebody with more than 1/4 of a brain wouldn’t be using that defense because they wouldn’t be in that situation in the first place.

 

It only appears sarcastic because I've reduced it down to it's essential argument. The "sincere" version would no doubt be much longer, more rambling, invoke several perceived rights and likely some creative personal interpretations of tax laws- but I find it hard to imagine that stripped of all the ornamental BS, what I described would not be the essential argument because I'm willing to bet that for 99.9% of people driving on Montana plates, with the possible exception of a few ski vacations here and there, those are the facts.

That said, have at it! I'm not judging anyone for doing it. I'm just agreeing with Ron H, that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. Who has never been to Montana.

 

What you describe as "ornamental BS" is, in the law, a very important point, IMO.

CW