🧪 TEST MODE ACTIVE Use test card: 4242 4242 4242 4242
Ezel / Tax Rulings / TX
TX 7508L2006E09 Motor Vehicle Tax 1975-08-11

What did Texas's 1975 bulletin require for non-street-legal motorcycles and motor-assisted bicycles?

Short answer: Beginning September 1, 1975, the bulletin required non-street-legal motorcycles to be titled and subjected post-sale title applications to the historical motor vehicle tax. Previously owned units titled in the same owner's name were not taxed. It also taxed specified motor-assisted bicycles. The 4% rate and classifications are obsolete or unverified today.

Apply this to your situation

This page answers the general question as of 1975. Ezel answers yours, under current Texas tax law, with citations.

Currency note: this ruling is from 1975
Subsequent statutory amendments, regulation changes, court decisions, or later rulings may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current tax advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, rate, or position mentioned here.
Disclaimer: This is Motor Vehicle Sales Tax Bulletin 1975-D, general guidance to county tax assessor-collectors rather than a taxpayer-specific ruling. Its 4% rate, motorcycle and bicycle classifications, title and registration procedures, Form 40-2.09, and agency structure are historical and must not be used as current law. STAR's subject also names dirt bikes, three-wheel motorcycles, golf carts, race cars, ATVs, and go-carts, but the operative bulletin does not decide all those items. It provides no individualized reliance protection. This summary is informational only and is not legal or tax advice.
About this page: The plain-English summary, reader guidance, and Q&A below were written by Ezel based on the official state tax ruling. The original ruling (linked on this page) is the authoritative source for any reliance.

Plain-English summary

Texas Motor Vehicle Sales Tax Bulletin 1975-D announced new title and tax treatment effective September 1, 1975.

Non-street-legal motorcycles sold and then presented for title were subject to the historical motor vehicle sales tax. A person titling a unit owned before the effective date owed no tax if title stayed in that same person's name; a different name indicated a sale.

The bulletin also applied motor vehicle sales tax to specified motor-assisted bicycles that were registered but not titled. Street-legal motorcycles continued under the prior title, plate, and tax procedure.

The bulletin's 4% rate and administrative forms are obsolete. STAR's broader off-road-vehicle subject is not used to extend the holding beyond the items the body addresses.

What this means for you

Motorcycle dealers, owners, and title professionals

This bulletin is historical only; verify modern motorcycle, off-road-vehicle, moped, title, registration, and tax rules.

County tax assessor-collectors

The 1975 paper affidavit and agency procedures should not be assumed current.

Common questions

Q: Did the bulletin require title for non-street motorcycles?

A: Yes, beginning September 1, 1975.

Q: Did same-owner title of a previously owned unit trigger tax?

A: No, under the bulletin.

Q: Does the body decide every off-road item in STAR's subject?

A: No.

Citations and references

  • Motor Vehicle Sales Tax Bulletin 1975-D.
  • Form 40-2.09, Seller, Donor, or Trader's Affidavit — historical form required by the bulletin.

Source

Original ruling text

COMPTROLLER OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
STATE OF TEXAS
AUSTIN, 78774

August 11, 1975

Motor Vehicle Sales Tax Bulletin - No. 1975 - D

Subject: Non-Street Legal Motorcycles

To: All County Tax Assessor-Collectors

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Due to recent Legislation, effective September 1, 1975, you will be
required to title, but not register, non-street legal motorcycles. When
these motorcycles are offered to you to be titled after a sale, a 4%
Motor Vehicle Sales Tax will be due. In the past, because this type
motorcycle was not titled, a Motor Vehicle Sales Tax was no collected.

If a person wishes to title a non-street legal motorcycle that he owned
prior to September 1, 1975, no tax would be due on this transaction. It
must, however, be titled in his name as a different name would indicate a
sale had occurred and a tax would be due.

Motor-assisted bicycles that you register, but do not title, will also be
subject to Motor Vehicle Sales Tax. This is the type motor-assisted
bicycle that is currently being certified to you by brand name and piston
displacement.

Street legal motorcycles are handled exactly as you have in the past.
When title is applied for and license plates purchased, a 4% Motor
Vehicle
Sales Tax is due. A completed Form 40-2.09, Seller, Donor, or Trader's
Affidavit will be required on all transactions involving both types of
motorcycles as well as motor-assisted bicycles.

Also effective September 1st, the Motor Vehicle Sales and Use Tax will
be a separate operating Division separate and apart from the Ad Valorem
Division.

Yours very truly,
Robert T. Storey
Assistant Director

Get today's answer for your situation

You just read a 1975 ruling on this question. Ezel checks current Texas tax law and answers your specific situation, with citations.

Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer cites the authority it relies on.