Motor Vehicle Excise Abatement

If you own a registered motor vehicle or trailer, you have to pay a tax, called a motor vehicle and trailer excise, each year. When you get your motor vehicle excise bill, you will also get instructions on how to pay it.

The excise rate is $25 per $1,000 of your vehicle's value. It is charged for a full calendar year and billed by the community where the vehicle is usually garaged. If your vehicle is registered in Massachusetts but garaged outside of Massachusetts, the Commissioner of Revenue will bill the excise.

If you own any motor vehicle that has been registered for less than a full calendar year, you will pay the excise based on the entire month when you registered that vehicle, as well as for the remaining months of the year. For example, a vehicle registered on April 9th will be billed an excise for April through December.

The minimum motor vehicle excise is $5. If your calculated excise is less than $5, you will be taxed $5. 

Vehicle Value

Your vehicle's value for excise purposes isn't the actual purchase price or "book value" of the vehicle. Instead, it's a percentage of the manufacturer's list price in the year of manufacture.

The manufacturer’s list price for any vehicle is the price the manufacturer recommends as the selling price of that vehicle (for vehicles of the same make, type, model, and year of manufacture) when new. 

Year before designated year of manufacture = 50%

For more information download The Excise Tax Manual by the Department of Revenue, or contact the Assessors' Office.