Free calculator · Minnesota
Minnesota Car Tax, Title and License Calculator
Tax, title and license on a $40,000 new car in Minnesota comes to about $3,428 — $2,750 of that motor vehicle sales tax and $678 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.
Minnesota 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.
Minnesota charges no extra road-use fee on electric or hybrid vehicles.
Financing adds a small fee to record the lender’s lien on your title.
Tax, title and license in Minnesota
$3,428
on top of the $40,000 price, so you drive away having paid $43,428.
Motor vehicle sales tax
$2,750
6.88% state rate
Title + registration
$678
One-time and first-year charges
Then every year
$640
To keep it registered
See every charge, itemized
| Charge | When | At signing |
|---|---|---|
| State motor vehicle sales tax (6.88%) | Once, at signing | $2,750.00 |
| Certificate of title | Once, at signing | $8.25 |
| Title filing feeDue with every title transaction, including the one that accompanies a new vehicle’s first registration. | Once, at signing | $12.00 |
| Technology surcharge | Once, at signing | $2.25 |
| License platesPublished as $15.50 for the standard two-plate set a passenger vehicle is issued, or $13.50 where only one plate is required. | Once, at signing | $15.50 |
| Registration tax (base amount)The flat portion of the registration tax. The much larger portion is the value-based amount below. | Every year | $10.00 |
| Registration tax (value-based amount)For a vehicle first registered in Minnesota on or after November 16, 2020: 1.575% of the manufacturer’s suggested retail price, taxed at 100% of that value in year one. It falls to 95% in year two, 90% in year three, 80%, 70%, 60%, 50%, 40%, 25%, then 10% by year ten, and holds at a flat $20 from year eleven on — a published step schedule, not a constant annual percentage decline. The statutory base also excludes the destination charge for a vehicle registered on or after November 16, 2020, while the price entered above typically includes it, so this figure runs slightly high relative to the sticker price alone. | Every year | $630.00 |
| Total due at signing | $3,428.00 |
What most calculators get wrong here: Minnesota tabs are a value tax, not a flat fee: 1.575% of the full sticker price in year one. A $55,000 truck owes about $876 in its first year, not the $150 a flat-fee calculator assumes.
What each charge on a Minnesota 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 | Minnesota law — 6.88% 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 | Minnesota, to put the car in your name | No. It is the same figure for everyone. |
| Registration and plates | Minnesota, 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 $3,428 in Minnesota 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. Minnesota 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 Minnesota 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 Minnesota 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.
- The $20 one-time vehicle excise tax that Anoka, Beltrami, Carlton, Carver, Dakota, Goodhue, Hennepin, Kandiyohi, Otter Tail, Ramsey, St. Louis, Scott and Washington Counties and the cities of Rogers, Sauk Centre and Willmar charge on a retail vehicle purchase under Minn. Stat. § 297A.993. The Department of Revenue’s own list says plainly that other cities and counties impose this tax without the Department administering it, so there is no complete statewide table to cite — ask the dealer whether your county or city is one of them.
- The county wheelage tax, up to $20 a year, which any Minnesota county board may levy by resolution and which is collected together with your annual registration. It is common in the Twin Cities metro counties. There is no statewide list of which counties currently levy it or at what amount, so it is disclosed here rather than guessed at.
- The step-down in the registration tax and the EV/PHEV surcharges after year one. The percentages are published on a table (100%, 95%, 90%, 80%, 70%, 60%, 50%, 40%, 25%, 10% of MSRP across years one through ten, then a flat $20 for the base tax from year eleven on), not a constant annual decline, so a later year’s renewal cannot be read off this page by applying a single percentage.
- The drop in the EV and plug-in hybrid surcharge minimums after June 30, 2027 — from $150 to $100 for an EV and $75 to $50 for a PHEV — which only matters on an inexpensive electric vehicle where the minimum, not the percentage, sets the amount.
- The dealer documentation fee, consistent with every other state in this tool.
- Used, private-party and lease transactions, and any vehicle previously registered in Minnesota, where § 168.013, subd. 1a(g) caps the tax at the smallest amount ever paid on that vehicle — a rule this page does not need for a new car’s first registration.
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.
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 Minnesota?
- On a $40,000 new car it comes to about $3,428 — $2,750 of motor vehicle sales tax and $678 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 motor vehicle sales tax rate in Minnesota?
- 6.88% statewide. Minnesota calls this the motor vehicle sales tax, not sales tax — it is a separate 6.875% excise charged under its own chapter, and no city or county sales tax add-on applies to a vehicle, even in Minneapolis or St. Paul where ordinary retail purchases run well above 9% combined.
- Does a trade-in lower the motor vehicle sales tax in Minnesota?
- Yes. Minnesota charges motor vehicle sales 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 6.88% 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 Minnesota?
- $8.25. 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 Minnesota each year?
- About $678 is due at signing for the title and first registration, and roughly $640 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 Minnesota 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.