Free calculator · Maryland
Maryland Car Tax, Title and License Calculator
Tax, title and license on a $40,000 new car in Maryland comes to about $3,032 — $2,600 of that excise tax and $432 government fees. Put your own price in below and every charge is itemized, with a link to the agency that publishes each figure.
Fill in two things and you have your answer. Everything below is prefilled with the most common case, so change only what applies to you.
Prefilled with $40,000, the median price of the 81 new models we track. Use the price on your quote.
Maryland taxes the price after your trade-in comes off, so this lowers your tax. Leave it at 0 if you are not trading a car in.
Maryland sets the yearly registration by weight, in three bands. If you are not sure, the number is on the sticker inside the driver’s door.
In Maryland, a fully electric car owes $125 a year and plug-in hybrids $100 a year to replace the fuel tax they do not pay. regular hybrids owe nothing extra.
Financing adds a small fee to record the lender’s lien on your title.
Tax, title and license in Maryland
$3,032
on top of the $40,000 price, so you drive away having paid $43,032.
Excise tax
$2,600
6.5% state rate
Title + registration
$432
One-time and first-year charges
Then every year
$192
To keep it registered
See every charge, itemized
| Charge | When | At signing |
|---|---|---|
| State excise tax (6.50%) | Once, at signing | $2,600.00 |
| Certificate of title | Once, at signing | $200.00 |
| Security interest filing (lien recording)Charged only when the car is financed, to record the lender on the title. | Once, at signing | $40.00 |
| Registration and license plate (Class A, by weight)Includes Maryland’s $40-a-year EMS/trauma surcharge, which the state bills as part of this line rather than as a separate charge. | Every year | $191.50 |
| Total due at signing | $3,031.50 |
What most calculators get wrong here: Maryland’s vehicle excise tax rose to 6.5% on 1 July 2025. Most calculators still say 6%, and its title fee is $200 — among the highest in the country.
What each charge on a Maryland car actually is
Four kinds of money change hands when you buy a car, and only two of them are fixed by law. Knowing which is which is the difference between paying the right amount and paying whatever the paperwork says.
| Charge | Who sets it | Can you argue with it? |
|---|---|---|
| Sales tax | Maryland law — 6.5% statewide | No. The rate is fixed. What you can change is the taxable amount, by negotiating the price down or the trade-in up. |
| Title fee | Maryland, to put the car in your name | No. It is the same figure for everyone. |
| Registration and plates | Maryland, to put it on the road | No, though the amount depends on the vehicle and where you live. |
| Dealer documentation fee | The dealership | Yes — this one is the dealer's, not the state's. It is not in the total above. |
First time buying? The short version: the price you agree on is not the money you hand over. Add roughly $3,032 in Maryland on a $40,000 car before the dealer adds anything of their own. Budget for it up front, because it is due at signing and it cannot be talked down.
The other cost due before you can drive it
Nothing above is insurance. Maryland will not let you put the car on the road without at least liability coverage, and over five years it usually costs more than the tax, title and registration on this page combined — but it is the one number here that depends on you rather than the vehicle, so there is no published figure to cite.
Want the whole picture instead of one line of it? What a car costs to own in Maryland puts insurance, fuel, maintenance and depreciation over five years next to the figures above.
What this calculator leaves out, and why
Everything above is a charge Maryland publishes. These are the ones it does not, so we do not guess at them — an invented number would be worse than a missing one.
- Maryland’s excise tax credit for plug-in electric and fuel-cell vehicles. The MVA’s own bulletin says fiscal-year-2026 funding is exhausted: the agency is still taking applications for a waiting list, but a buyer today has no guarantee of ever receiving the credit, so this model does not assume it.
- The book-value comparison and $640 minimum-vehicle-value floor ($41.60 minimum tax) that apply to used and 7-year-or-older vehicles. It is real, but it never binds on a new car — see the header note.
- The exact dealer documentation fee. Maryland caps it at $800 and taxes it as part of the purchase price (see above), but the amount varies by dealer and this tool has no field for it — add your quoted documentation fee to the vehicle price before estimating the tax, or the excise tax line here will undercount it.
- Used, private-party and lease transactions.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page is published by the agency that charges it. Nothing is estimated, averaged or copied from another calculator. Here is each document and the date we last read it.
| Document | Published by | Last verified |
|---|---|---|
| Fees & Payment Options (Titling tax 6.5% of fair market value, minimum tax $41.60; certificate of title $200; security interest filing $40; Class A registration $120.50 (3,500 lb or less) / $125.50 (3,500–3,700 lb) / $191.50 (over 3,700 lb) for one year, includes $40/yr EMS surcharge; zero-emission vehicle surcharge $125/yr; plug-in hybrid surcharge $100/yr) | Maryland Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Administration | 2026-08-07 |
| Taxable Price — Vehicle Dealers (Total purchase price is the dealer-certified retail value, including freight and dealer processing fee (up to $800), less an allowance for trade-in of a non-leased vehicle) | Maryland Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Administration | 2026-08-07 |
We re-check every state once a year and show the date here rather than quietly serving an old figure. Fee schedules move with legislative sessions, so if you are reading this well after the date above, confirm the total with your county tax office before you sign.
Frequently asked questions
- How much is tax, title and license in Maryland?
- On a $40,000 new car it comes to about $3,032 — $2,600 of excise tax and $432 of title and registration fees. The tax scales with the price, the fees mostly do not, so a cheaper car pays much less tax but roughly the same fees.
- What is the car excise tax rate in Maryland?
- 6.5% statewide. Maryland calls this a titling excise tax, not a sales tax, and as of July 1, 2025 the rate is 6.5% — up from the 6% figure most guides and calculators still quote.
- Does a trade-in lower the excise tax in Maryland?
- Yes. Maryland charges excise tax on the price after the dealer's trade-in allowance is deducted, so a $10,000 trade-in on a $40,000 car saves you 6.5% of $10,000. This only works when the dealer takes the trade in the same transaction — selling your old car privately first does not count.
- What is the title fee in Maryland?
- $200. It is charged once, to put the car in your name, and it is the same for everyone — it is not a dealer charge and it is not negotiable.
- How much is car registration in Maryland each year?
- About $432 is due at signing for the title and first registration, and roughly $192 a year after that for a gas car. Electric cars pay more in most states because of road-use fees that replace fuel tax.
- Is the dealer documentation fee included in this?
- No, and that is deliberate. The documentation fee is the dealership's charge, not the state's, and Maryland does not publish it — so there is no figure we could cite. It is also the one line on the paperwork worth questioning. Everything in the total above is fixed by law.
The same calculator for other states
We build these one state at a time, because each one is a different fee architecture rather than the same table with different numbers. 22 states are live so far — the national calculator compares all of them side by side on the same car, and tells you how to work yours out if it is not here yet.
Each link opens that state's own tax, title and license calculator.