All Autopac agents must ensure that Retail Sales Tax has been collected on a newly purchased vehicle before you can register it.
Dealer sale
If you purchased your vehicle from an authorized dealer, the dealer collected the Retail Sales Tax from you at the time of purchase. A copy of the document you received from the authorized dealer stating that you have paid the tax must be presented to an Autopac agent when you register your vehicle.
Where a trade-in is involved, you’ll be charged the tax based on the purchase price after deducting the value of the trade-in.
Private sale
If you purchased the vehicle privately, you will be charged the Retail Sales Tax when you register your vehicle. The tax will be based on the fair market value of the vehicle.
- For passenger cars and light trucks, this value is either your purchase price or the average wholesale price for western Canada (whichever is greater).
- For motorcycles, snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles, this value is either your purchase price or the current average resale value (whichever is greater).
Exemptions
The following situations would not require the purchaser of a used vehicle to pay the Retail Sales Tax.
Settler’s effects (new residents)
The Settler’s Effects exemption is allowed on a vehicle brought in to Manitoba from out-of-province by a new resident, providing all of the following requirements are met:
- The person lived outside of Manitoba for at least six months before moving here.
- The person owned the vehicle for at least 30 days before moving here.
- The person brought the vehicle into Manitoba within six months of moving here.
Gift from a family member
If you receive a gift, you must provide a written note from the previous owner as verification.
The “family member” giving the gift to you must be your:
- father
- mother
- son
- daughter
- grandfather
- grandmother
- granddaughter
- grandson
- father-in-law
- daughter-in-law
- son-in-law
- mother-in-law
- spouse
A “spouse” is someone married to you, cohabitating in a conjugal relationship with you for a continuous three-year period, or cohabitating in a conjugal relationship for more than one year and you have a child together.
Sibling and non-immediate family gifts are taxable.
Please note gifts between family members are only exempt if the Manitoba sales tax has been paid by the donor or the donor had received it tax exempt. For example, if a mother from another province gifts a vehicle to their child in Manitoba, the vehicle is taxable. However, if the mother had previously lived in Manitoba and had paid the Manitoba sales tax on the vehicle, the vehicle would be exempt.
Estate of a deceased person
No sales tax is required if you received the vehicle by a title transfer through the estate of a deceased person.
Won in a contest
You don’t have to pay sales tax if you can provide the purchase invoice or other document that proves the sponsor paid the tax on your behalf.
Exempt vehicles
Exempt vehicles are:
- Fire trucks and their equipment.
- Ambulances.
- Off-road vehicles purchased by a Status Indian living on a reserve, if the off-road vehicle was shipped from an authorized dealer directly to the reserve.
Indigenous people
Status Indians are not required to pay RST if these conditions are met:
- The vehicle title is transferred on a reserve.
- Purchase/gifting documents are signed on a reserve.
- Purchaser/recipient takes possession of the vehicle on a reserve (dealer or individual delivers it or ships it by common carrier to the reserve).
- Recipient received vehicle as a gift from another status Indian (including siblings).
Single proprietorship
In single proprietorships where the legal business name or the trading name is being changed to the proprietor’s own name, there is no “sale” and no tax is paid.
A change in name from an individual to a corporate name is exempt only if the transfer is made at the time of incorporation.
Homemade trailer
You are not required to pay sales tax when you register a homemade trailer you built yourself.
However, if you are registering a homemade trailer you purchased from someone else, you are charged sales tax.
Additional information
If you are unsure if your situation qualifies for one of the exemptions above please see Taxation Information Bulletin No. 054, or contact Manitoba Finance Taxation Division.
Retail Sales Tax forms are available from the Government of Manitoba Taxation Division.