Did Texas treat a mobile home as a taxable motor vehicle each time it was sold, regardless of its later use?

Plain-English summary

Texas treated a mobile home as a motor vehicle and taxed each historical retail sale, including later resales.

The tax applied to the consideration paid or due, reduced by value the seller allowed for another motor vehicle traded in. The purchaser paid the county tax assessor-collector when the mobile home was titled and registered.

The letter found no exemption for mobile homes as such. It identified only a possible public-agency exemption and said the purchaser's intended later use did not matter because the tax attached to the sale transaction.

What this means for you

Under this historical letter, neither resale status nor the purchaser's plan to live outside a mobile-home park removed the transaction from motor vehicle tax.

Common questions

Q: Was tax due again when the same mobile home was resold?
A: Yes.

Q: Was there a mobile-home-specific exemption?
A: No.

Q: Did where the buyer planned to live change the tax?
A: No.

Citations and references

• Texas Tax-General Annotated art. 6.01(1)
• Texas Tax-General Annotated art. 6.09

Source

• STAR search: https://star.comptroller.texas.gov/search?doc_type_code=L&tax_type_code=MVT
• Opinion: https://star.comptroller.texas.gov/view/7905L2024B01

Original ruling text

COMPTROLLER OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
STATE OF TEXAS
AUSTIN, 78774

BOB BULLOCK
Comptroller May 17, 1979

Dear ***:

Thank you for your letter requesting information about the application of
Motor Vehicle Sales Tax to the sale of mobile homes in Texas.

I hope you will find the following answers to your questions useful in
pre-
paring your book. In addition, I am enclosing a copy of the Motor
Vehicle
Retail Sales and Use Tax Law for your further reference.

1&2. In Texas, a mobile home is a motor vehicle, and therefore its
sale is subject to Motor Vehicle Sales Tax. The tax is levied by TEX.
TAX-GEN. ANN. art. 6.01(1) on each retail sale of a motor vehicle in
Texas. Thus, if the same mobile home is sold and resold, the tax is
due on the initial sale and on each subsequent sale. The tax on each
sale is 4% of the consideration paid or to be paid by the purchaser
for the mobile home, less any value given by the seller for the trade-
in of another motor vehicle. It is the purchaser's obligation to pay
the tax to the County Tax Assessor Collector at the time the mobile
home is titled and registered in his name.

3. The exemptions from the Motor Vehicle Tax are set forth in TEX.
   TAX.-GEN. ANN. art. 6.09. As you will note, however, there is not an
   exemption applicable to mobile homes per se. The only exemption which
   might apply to the sale of a mobile home is the exemption of a public
   agency from Motor Vehicle Sales Tax on the purchase of a motor vehicle.

4. Since the Motor Vehicle Sales Tax is a transaction tax which is
   levied on the sale of a motor vehicle, it applies regardless of the sub-
   sequent use to be made of the mobile home. Thus the purchaser of a
   mobile home in Texas is subject to the tax whether or not he intends to
   reside in a mobile home park.

If you have any further questions, I will be glad to answer them. You
may write
the Motor Vehicle Sales Tax Division, or call 512/475-6987.

Sincerely,
Patricia Brockway
Motor Vehicle Sales Tax Division