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111 E. 17th St.
Austin, TX 78774-0100
111 E. 17th St.
Austin, TX 78774-0100
Attention: Miscellaneous Taxes
Motor Vehicle Rental Tax Guide
Obtaining a Motor Vehicle Rental Tax Permit
If you rent motor vehicles, including trailers, to others for consideration in Texas, you must have a Texas Motor Vehicle Rental Tax Permit (rental tax permit or permit) if any of these conditions apply:
- Your rental agreements are not longer than 180 days;
- Your vehicles will be re-rented, regardless of the period covered by the agreements; or
- You are the vehicle’s manufacturer, regardless of the period covered by the agreements.
The term "motor vehicle" does not include:
- A device moved only by human power.
- A device used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.
- Road-building machinery.
- A mobile office.
- A vehicle with respect to which the certificate of title has been surrendered in exchange for
- a salvage vehicle title or a nonrepairable vehicle title issued under Transportation Code Chapter 501, Certificate of Title Act;
- a certificate of authority issued pursuant to Transportation Code Chapter 683, Abandoned Motor Vehicles;
- a nonrepairable vehicle title issued pursuant to Transportation Code Chapter 501; or
- an ownership document issued by another state if the document is comparable to a document issued pursuant to the above-mentioned sub-bullets.
- A vehicle that has been declared a total loss by an insurance company pursuant to the settlement or adjustment of a claim.
- An oilfield portable unit (OPU).
Permit Application
To apply for a rental tax permit, please mail, email or fax Form AP-143, Texas Motor Vehicle Rental Tax Application (PDF), to the Comptroller’s office.
Mail completed applications to:
Comptroller of Public Accounts111 E. 17th St.
Austin, TX 78774-0100
By email to:
Or, fax applications to:
Attention: Applications
Fax Number: 877-882-8894
Allow four to six weeks for your application to be processed.
For questions about the application:
- Contact Taxpayer Services at 800-252-1382.
- Find or request Texas Tax Help online.
- Visit a Comptroller field office.
Rental Permit Accounts
Once your permit application has been processed, the Comptroller’s office will establish a rental permit account for your business under an 11-digit Texas Taxpayer Number. Permits do not expire, but you must notify the Comptroller’s office if you go out of business.
For registration of motor vehicles purchased for rental, rental permit accounts are either "qualified" or "non-qualified."
If your rental permit account is "qualified," you can defer payment of your minimum rental tax when you register or title a rental vehicle in your name.
To have a qualified rental permit account, you must:
- Be the title owner of at least five different motor vehicles that are held for rental within a 12-month period; or
- Be an authorized Texas automobile dealer licensed according to the Transportation Code.
If your rental permit account is "non-qualified," you must pay the motor vehicle sales tax when you register or title vehicles you purchase to rent.
If your rental permit account is "non-qualified" and you later become the titled owner of at least five different motor vehicles that are held for rental in a 12-month period, or you become an authorized Texas automobile dealer, please mail or fax a letter requesting your account be updated to "qualified." Your request must include your rental taxpayer number and the vehicle identification numbers of the five motor vehicles held for rental, or your Texas dealer number.
Send the request by mail to:
Comptroller of Public Accounts111 E. 17th St.
Austin, TX 78774-0100
Attention: Miscellaneous Taxes
By email to:
Or, fax to:
Attention: Applications
Fax Number: 877-882-8894
96-143
(06/2021)
Motor Vehicle
A vehicle described by Tax Code Section 152.001(3), Definitions. In general, a motor vehicle includes a self-propelled vehicle designed to transport persons or property upon the public highway and a vehicle designed to be towed by a self-propelled vehicle while carrying property. The term includes but is not limited to
- automobiles;
- buses;
- vans;
- motor homes;
- motorcycles;
- trucks and truck tractors;
- truck cabs and chassis;
- semitrailers;
- trailers and travel trailers;
- trailers sold unassembled in a kit;
- dollies;
- jeeps;
- stingers;
- auxiliary axles;
- converter gears; and
- park models, as defined by Rule 3.481, Imposition and Collection of Manufactured Housing Tax.
The term does not include a vehicle for which the certificate of title has been surrendered in exchange for a salvage vehicle title or a nonrepairable vehicle title issued under Transportation Code Chapter 501, Certificate of Title Act.
Title Owner
The person/entity named as the owner of a motor vehicle on the Certificate of Title. It also includes a person/entity who is the legal owner because of a lease/purchase or conditional sales contract where the seller retains title until full payment is made.