How to Calculate Sales Tax and Vehicle Registration Fees in Wyoming

County clerks office

When your temporary registration is about to expire, or it’s time to go pay sales tax and get plates/tags, you’ll be heading to your local county clerks office,

If you’ve recently purchased a vehicle and walk into the county clerks office to get plates, you may be thinking of a modified Teddy Bear Picnic song, “If you go down to the county clerks today, you’re sure of a big surprise. If you go down to the county clerks today, the fees will water your eyes”. Fret not, this article will help you calculate the fees before you go to the office so there’s no surprise.

Sales tax

The sales tax will be collected at the county clerks office when you go to get plates. The amount of sales tax you’ll pay will be determined by 3 factors; Factory cost (not blue book) of the vehicle purchased (MSRP), whether you traded a vehicle and the county tax rate of where you live. So for example, if you live in Natrona County, this would be 5%. If you live in Carbon county it would be 6%. County tax rates can be found here.

The factory cost is the amount determined by the vehicle manufacturer, it’s not the amount you paid the dealership or financed. This figure can be found on the vehicle title or a previous years registration.

If you trade a vehicle, your sales tax amount is the difference between the factory cost of the new vehicle and the trade allowance offered by the dealer.

Example:

With No Trade

Vehicle factory cost is $30,000,

You live in Natrona County (5% sales tax),

Sales tax for vehicle is = $1,500.00.

With Trade

Vehicle Factory cost is $30,000

You live in Natrona County (5% sales tax),

Trade allowance is $10,000,

$30,000- $10,000 = $20,000,

Sales tax for vehicle is 5% of $20,000 which = $1,000.

Registration Fees

County Fee

This figure is a little more complex. It is determined by vehicle FACTORY COST (found on title), and vehicle years of service (ie. how many years the vehicle has been registered for use), then multiplied by 0.03.

The year of service rate is calculated like the following;

Factory cost X years of service rate X 0.03 = county fee

Therefore, if a vehicle with a factory cost of $30,000 registered in it’s 2nd year, the calculation would be;

$30,000 X 50% X 0.03 = $450

State Fee

The State fee is $30 for cars (went up from $15.00 on July 1st, 2017). For trucks, it’s based on gross vehicle weight up to a maximum of $90 for over 6,001lbs. Commercial vehicle state fees are also calculated based on weight.