Maine Used Car Sales Tax: 5.5% Use Tax, Town Excise and Who Is Exempt

Maine charges 5.5% sales or use tax on a used car, and you pay it when you register, even on a private sale. Before that you pay excise tax at your town office, figured on the car's original list price and age rather than what you paid. A true gift is tax-free. Trading in a car cuts the taxable price. Buying out of a joint ownership, even from your spouse, counts as a sale.

I went through Maine Revenue Services' Instructional Bulletin 42 on vehicle registration, the 2025 Use Tax Certificate, MRS's excise tax page and the two statutes behind the rates on Oct 20, 2026. Figures below are a snapshot as of Oct 20, 2026, and the examples are my own math.

Two taxes, two counters

Maine is a little unusual. The state sales tax rate in 36 M.R.S. 1811 is 5.5% on sales from Oct. 1, 2019 on, and for a car bought from a Maine dealer it's collected by the dealer. For a private sale, IB 42 says use tax "is to be paid at the time and place of registration," backed by a bill of sale and a Use Tax Certificate (Form STMV6U). The same goes for a car bought from an out-of-state dealer that didn't collect Maine tax.

Excise is separate. It's an annual municipal tax, and MRS says it's paid at the local town office where the owner lives, before the car can be registered. Most people meet it the day they walk in with their title and bill of sale. Our Maine title transfer guide walks through that visit.

How the excise is figured

Under 36 M.R.S. 1482, excise is a mill rate times the maker's list price, which MRS defines as MSRP, not the price on your bill of sale. The rate drops with the car's age, stepping down each January 1:

• Year 1: 24 mills ($24 per $1,000)
• Year 2: 17.5 mills
• Year 3: 13.5 mills
• Year 4: 10 mills
• Year 5: 6.5 mills
• Year 6 and later: 4 mills, with a $5 minimum

MRS's own example is a 3-year-old car with a $19,500 MSRP paying $263.25. The page says the list price comes from guides such as JD Power or NADA, and that MRS only gives MSRP quotes to town tax collectors, so you'll get the number at the town office. My example: a 2015 sedan that stickered at $25,000 is well past year six, so the excise is 4 mills, or $100.

This part stings for buyers of cheap older luxury cars. A $6,000 used car that listed at $60,000 still pays on $60,000, which works out to $240 a year at 4 mills.

The 5.5% use tax on a private sale

For a casual sale, IB 42 says the taxable price is normally the negotiated amount paid to the seller, including anything you trade or a loan you take over. If the price isn't documented, fair market value is used. My example: a $9,000 private-sale car owes $495 in use tax. MRS warns that purchase prices and exemptions "are subject to audit or investigation," with interest and penalties if a price was understated, so a $1 bill of sale on a running car is a bad idea.

Trade-ins count only like for like. Under 36 M.R.S. 1765, when you trade a car toward a car, tax applies only to the difference. Trade a boat toward a car and you get no credit.

Gifts, joint owners, estates and divorce

IB 42 is clear on the edge cases, and some of them are counterintuitive:

• A true gift isn't taxed. The bulletin's example is a father giving his daughter a car. If she takes over his loan, though, that's consideration and it's taxable.
• A transfer between joint owners is a taxable sale, and the bulletin says being family, or husband and wife, doesn't change that.
• A car passed to a beneficiary under a will isn't taxed. A car sold by an estate's personal representative generally is.
• A transfer of equity between spouses under a court-ordered divorce decree isn't taxed.

Moving to Maine or buying across the line

The Use Tax Certificate lists the exemptions you can claim at registration. One covers a car bought and used by a permanent resident of another state who later moves here. Another covers a car the owner used outside Maine for more than 12 months. If you paid sales or use tax to another jurisdiction when you bought the car, the form says that tax is creditable against what Maine would charge, with a receipt as proof. I didn't find a general military exemption on the form, only one for amputee veterans who have a letter from the VA. If you're shopping in New Hampshire, which has no sales tax, see our New Hampshire guide. Maine still collects its 5.5% when you register at home. For other states, the used car sales tax overview has the list.

What the paperwork won't tell you

The town clerk and the BMV check that your paperwork matches. They don't check whether the car took on salt water in a coastal storm or was rolled back. Search the VIN in NMVTIS for title brands, pull a CARFAX or AutoCheck report, and if anything shows up branded, read our Maine salvage and rebuilt title rules.

On the report cost: CarVins resells CARFAX and AutoCheck reports and isn't connected with either company or with the state of Maine. As of late October 2026, a single report ran about $5.50 for a guest and $4.50 for a member, and both reports together were around $6.75. Buying direct was about $39.99 to $44.99. The price at checkout is the one that counts, so check it there.

Sources

• Maine Revenue Services, Instructional Bulletin 42
• MRS Use Tax Certificate (STMV6U), 2025
• MRS: Excise tax
• 36 M.R.S. 1482, excise rates and 36 M.R.S. 1811, sales tax rate