Kentucky Tax, Title and License Calculator

How much is tax, title and license (TTL) in Kentucky?

On a $25,000 car, tax, title and license in Kentucky is about $1,530: $30 in fees and $1,500 in tax. The fixed fees stay about the same at any price; the tax is what moves with what you pay.

Use the full Kentucky calculator to enter your own price, trade-in and vehicle details. The table below shows the total at common prices.

Tax, title and license in Kentucky by price

Used vehicle, first registration in Kentucky, at the state tax rate. Not included: annual motor vehicle property tax.

Where the money goes

On a $25,000 car in Kentucky, tax is $1,500 of the $1,530 total and the fixed fees are $30. The tax scales with the price of the car. The fees do not, which is why tax, title and license is a much bigger number on an expensive car and barely noticeable on a cheap one.

Sales tax on a car in Kentucky

Kentucky does not call it a sales tax; it charges the Kentucky motor vehicle usage tax, which is the figure people mean by Kentucky car sales tax. The rate is 6%. source 4 It is the biggest part of the bill on an expensive car, and the calculator above works it into your total. How a trade-in changes it is covered in trade-ins below, and every state's rate is on the car sales tax by state page.

Kentucky usage tax on a new car, worked through

The 6% is paid to the county clerk before the plates are issued. On a new car it is charged on the price in the notarized affidavit of total consideration; with no affidavit, the clerk uses 90% of the sticker price. Say you buy a new $30,000 car, trade in one worth $8,000 and finance the rest: 6% of $22,000 is $1,320, and with the $9 title, $21 registration and $22 lien filing you pay $1,372 at the counter.

Keep the affidavit honest. A false one is a Class D felony with a fine of at least $2,000.

Does a trade-in reduce your tax in Kentucky?

Only if the car you are buying is new. This is the Kentucky rule almost every calculator misses, and it is worth real money.

Buy a new $28,000 car and hand over a trade-in worth $8,000 and you are taxed on $20,000. Buy a used $28,000 car with the same trade-in and you are taxed on the full $28,000. Same car price, same trade-in, $480 difference in tax.

So if you are choosing between a nearly new used car and a new one and you have something to trade, the tax gap is part of the comparison. It does not always tip the decision, but you should see it before you sign.

Kentucky charges 6% motor vehicle usage tax rather than sales tax, with no local rate on top. The trade-in rule splits on whether the car is new: since 1 July 2014 a trade-in allowance is granted on a new vehicle, so it comes off the taxable amount. On a used car Kentucky works differently, taxing the price on a notarized affidavit of total consideration, or the retail value from the reference manual where there is no affidavit, with a floor of 50% of the difference between the trade-in values of the vehicles involved. So a trade-in does not simply come off the price on a used purchase. source 4

Buying from a dealer? Put the doc fee and any add-ons on top of these figures with the out-the-door price calculator, set to Kentucky.

The Kentucky documentation fee, and what else is not TTL

Tax, title and license is money the state collects. The rest of a dealer's out-the-door figure is not, and the documentation fee is the line that trips people up most.

Kentucky does not cap it, but its advertising rule says every charge you are required to pay has to be in the advertised price, so a required doc fee belongs in that number rather than being added later. The size of the fee is left to the dealer. source 7

No state makes a dealer charge this, and Kentucky puts no ceiling on it, so of everything on the sheet it is the line with the most room to push back on.

For the full list of what belongs to the state and what belongs to the dealer, see what dealers add that is not tax, title and license, and how Kentucky's doc fee rule compares with the rest.

Motorcycles, leases and other cases

Three situations where the figure above does not apply:

• Motorcycles. Kentucky Transportation Cabinet registers them on a different and much cheaper schedule. The tax works the same way, on the purchase price.
• Leases. A lease is not a purchase, and several states tax the monthly payment rather than the value of the car. If you are leasing, the number on this page is not your number.
• Gifts and family transfers. No sale means no sales tax in most states, though the title fee still applies. The Kentucky title transfer page has the rule and the form.

Questions about Kentucky TTL

Work out the rest of the Kentucky bill

The generic explainers, on what tax, title and license means, how to check a dealer's quote, and whether to finance the tax, live on the tax, title and license hub. For Kentucky specifically, these are the pages worth having open:

How Kentucky compares at one price

The table above runs Kentucky at prices from $3,000 to $40,000. To see the same bill in every state side by side, there is tax, title and license on a $30,000 car, state by state.

Nearby states

Or compare all 51 on the tax, title and license by state page.

Where these numbers come from