Utah and California are starting to crack down on supercar owners using loophole
They're taking action The post Utah and California are starting to crack down on supercar owners using loophole appeared first on Supercar Blondie.
Officials in Utah and California are cracking down on a Montana loophole that allows supercar owners to dodge paying taxes and registration fees.
Under current rules, motorists can register an LLC Limited Liability Company) in Montana and then use that LLC to purchase high-end vehicles without the need to pay sales tax, and then register it with local plates.
Hundreds of agents in Montana are helping folks use the loophole to save cash.
But now officials in Utah and California are clamping down.
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The Montana loophole is a way supercar owners save money
US residents who want to splash out on a supercar, but don’t want to pay sales taxes, registration fees, or face environmental rules, can use a legal loophole by opening up an LLC in Montana and using it to buy the vehicle.
Once the vehicle has been purchased, it needs to be registered with Montana plates.
And it seems that it’s become a popular choice for many motorists.
An investigation by Bloomberg revealed that there are 2.3 million cars registered in Montana, but only 879,000 licensed drivers – a ratio of 2.68 vehicles to drivers.
In 2024, there were 10,757 registrations of vehicles made by Aston Martin, Bentley, Bugatti, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Pagani, and Rolls-Royce.
To give those numbers some context, last year, 5,281 Ferraris were registered in Montana, compared to just 837 in Washington, a state that’s home to some of the richest organizations in the world.
This means that potentially hundreds of these vehicles could be registered in the state of Montana but are being driven and parked elsewhere.
And that means that those states are losing tax dollars.
Officials in Utah and California are cracking down
Now, officials from Utah and California are attempting to crack down on those using the loophole.
In March this year, Utah Governor Spencer Cox launched a data-sharing arrangement designed to locate and evaluate those not paying their fair share of tax, with a particular focus on cars and boats that were registered in Montana.
“This is really an abuse of our tax system. They pay nothing to support our state, just a small fee to Montana for the opportunity to evade taxes in Utah,” Utah tax commissioner John Valentine told Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in California has highlighted that 10,000 cars worth almost $2 billion were sold by California dealers to Montona LLCs since 2022.
The DMV is now reportedly using plate recognition technology and surveillance systems to try and spot cars with Montana plates and catch registration violators.The post Utah and California are starting to crack down on supercar owners using loophole appeared first on Supercar Blondie.
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