There is nothing unethical about legally minimising your tax obligations. If you or The Mayor want to donate money to state feel free
To the OP: I am in total disagreement with the commentary here. The situation is simple: you have found the car you want, and are willing to pay the additional finder's fee to have it now. Your bill of sale from the dealership will be for MSRP, sold to your Montana LLC - all legitimate, signed by a representative of the dealership and you. The finder's fee to the GM is his problem (with his employer, Ferrari and the IRS) and has zero legal impact on you. You may feel that there is an ethical issue with it, given the situation he has put himself into with his employer, but that only you can come to terms with. I can assure you that cars, new and used, of all makes, are sold this way every day across the country - yours might just be the first time the situation has been written about in a forum.
I always try to minimize my taxes, but only legally. I don't know what state the OP is in, but here in Massachusetts that would be a criminal offense. He would not only be evading sales tax, but every city and town has a yearly excise tax levied on vehicles. So he would also be evading this tax. We are next to NH which does not have sales tax. Some people who lived near the border were registering their cars up there. Then one year there was a big crackdown and they caught a number of people. The police were literally driving through neighborhoods in the middle of the night looking for parked cars with NH plates. And oh by the way, it is very unethical. He's evading taxes to his state while enjoying all the services that state provides him. If he wants to ethically minimize his taxes, then he can move to Montana. Nothing unethical about that.
Note bold text He didn't say that In Australia the states have different sales taxes. If I buy a car in one state it is 2%, but in another (my state) it is 6.5%. Guess which state I buy cars in? My state looses out because they are greedy - the other state wins - Capitalism in action PS: Once I own the car I transfer the registration to in my state
The OP asked about paying a finder's fee to the GM to secure the car, not the merits or ethics of registering his cars in Montana (which is perfectly legal).
$10K is a pretty good premium on the car given what's available. I think any other dealer would be asking a much bigger premium on the car off the floor. I'd do it, assuming I actually wanted it.
Buying an F12 thru a corporation ....that is an entitlement loophole I hope will get closed..slammed shut in your face. You are not better than the rest of us who pay taxes and its a shame you can skirt around an issue and think you are doing it "legally." Unless there is a direct business reason to have an F12 in your business you area tax cheat!!!
Unfortunately, it's actually more ethical nowadays to be a "tax cheat" considering how the morons who are in power waste the money they take from us. And that is true in so many countries.
I do not believe he is a tax cheat for using a Montana corporation any more than you are for taking an interest deduction on your mortgage. It may seem aggressive, but it would appear to be legal until someone closes the loophole. Yes, I understand states go after individuals that title cars in other states to avoid sales or property taxes, but if the Montana Corporation is a corporation to invest in collector cars and you are buying collector cars, I do not see the issue. Delaware has the same tax free provisions on yachts, ever go to a marina in Florida and wonder why so many boats have Delaware registrations? I know of several people that have Montana corporations and they title their motorhomes or collector cars there. As far as I know, it is legal, so they are not "cheating", I have not used a Montana Corporation, but I totally understand why people do. I do not think he is saying he is better than the rest of us, he is just careful and prudent with his money, so perhaps he is just a bit smarter than some of us...
Maybe something escapes me here. Is the argument that someone who is aggressive about using the tax law to lower his taxes should not be offended when a dealer tries to rip him off? One might revisit the meaning of "Non Sequitur."
