QuestionJeff Im really stressed out I have no idea what to do and nobody will help me. Ok Im leasing a Jeep Liberty and it was priced to me about $23,000. Well I put $3,500 down and my payments were 202.73 a month. Well I did have michigan now i live in ohio and my payments are now 191.76 and I recieved my last bill and it says I owe Ohio taxes and its like $773.00 or more and my payments have been going towards my taxes. Well in my agreement it was $444.76 for taxes and others fees. but shouldnt that come out of the money I put down? like its a long story I just dont know what to do and I really need advice. im not sure if im being clear enough? thanks
AnswerGeez, why didn't I go to law school like my Mom and Dad wanted? :-)
Seriously, you're asking me to get into the tax regulations on leasing in two different states, and that's a bit beyond my expertise. Not to mention your $3500 down payment. Technically, a "down payment" on a lease is an amount of money used to reduce the monthly payment, and has nothing legally to do with taxes, registration and license fees, etc... (We've all seen the ads for "$1500 down, $199/ month" lease specials, only to find out we have pay a total of $4,000 out-of-pocket to get that $199 monthly payment.)
What makes this tough is that lease regulations vary from state to state, but let me try:
Your payment did drop about $11/ month when you moved from MI to OH, which is a savings to you of $240-$480, depending on the term of your lease (PLEASE tell me you didn't lease the Liberty for more than 48 months...). That savings goes toward what you owe Ohio. Now, I have to assume at this point that you paid all your taxes upfront in MI, and that OH wanted the same when you registered the Jeep there, but it seems taxes for the lease are higher in OH than they were in MI. The only advice I can offer at this point is to contact the Michigan DMV (www.michigan.gov/sos) to see if you can get a refund on part of the taxes and fees they collected. I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me that since MI collected taxes for the entire period of the lease, that they should refund that portion they no longer have earned, which you're paying to OH. You should never have to pay taxes on the same vehicle in two different states. If you can get a refund, combining that with the money you're saving on the lower monthly payment will make up the difference of what you owe to the state of Ohio.
If you need more help with this, just let me know. Like I said, I'm no lawyer, but I'll try to steer you in the right direction, and good luck!
