Texas vehicle inventory tax
Texas VIT rates, every county in one place
Every taxing unit in the Comptroller's 2025 rate files, by county. Check the units that tax the lot to get its VIT rate and 2026 unit property tax factor (UPTF).
- Rate year
- 2025
- Applies to sales in
- 2026
- Counties
- 254
- Taxing units
- 4,862
Source: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, 2025 Rates and Levies, files dated January 28, 2026: 2025 adopted rates, used for 2026 sales. Subject to change, per the Comptroller.
Official guidance: Texas Comptroller, Vehicle Inventory Tax (VIT) (revised 3/2026).
How it works
What the vehicle inventory tax is
A dealer prepays the inventory's property tax a little at a time: a set amount on each vehicle sold, into an escrow account with the county tax assessor-collector, which pays the year's bills from it.
Who pays: licensed Texas motor vehicle dealers. Heavy equipment, boat and manufactured housing dealers have their own rules.
Per sale: sales price × aggregate rate ÷ 100 ÷ 12. The aggregate rate is the combined rate, per $100, of every unit that taxes the location.
The January 1 rule: last year's rates at the location on January 1 of the sale year. So 2026 sales use 2025 rates.
Reading a rate: dollars per $100 of value; 0.5 is $0.50 per $100.
Worked example · hypothetical
A $150,000 truck
- Aggregate rate (the units that tax the lot, added up)
- 2.2664 per $100
- Monthly factor: 2.2664 ÷ 100 ÷ 12
- 0.0018886667
- Sale price × factor
- $150,000.00 × 0.0018886667
How the tax is figured and filed
- Legal basis
- A property tax on a motor vehicle dealer's inventory, prepaid monthly as vehicles are sold (Texas Tax Code §§23.121–23.122).
- Tax basis
- Figured on the net sales price in Box 38 of Form 130-U: the sales price after rebates passed to the buyer, including factory and dealer rebates. A $150,000 sale with a $5,000 rebate is figured on $145,000.
- Sales agreement
- When passed to the buyer, the tax is shown as a separate line, outside the sales price. Motor vehicle sales tax does not apply to that line.
- Tax filings
- Monthly: the Dealer's Motor Vehicle Inventory Tax Statement (Form 50-246), filed with the county tax assessor-collector with the prior month's tax paid into escrow. Yearly: the Dealer's Motor Vehicle Inventory Declaration (Form 50-244), filed with the appraisal district, declaring the prior year's sales.
Sources: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Motor Vehicle Tax Guide: Vehicle Inventory Tax (VIT) (revised 3/2026, read September 24, 2026); Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Publication 96-545, Motor Vehicle Dealer's Special Inventory Manual (read September 24, 2026).
Counties
All 254 Texas counties
Every taxing unit's 2025 rate, with a calculator.
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Official Texas VIT resources
The primary sources for the rules explained here. Texas VIT is independent of the Comptroller, TxDMV and every appraisal district and tax office.
- Motor Vehicle Tax Guide: Vehicle Inventory Tax (VIT)
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · revised 3/2026
The Comptroller's own explanation of the tax: who owes it, the price it's figured on, and the dealer forms.
- Form 50-246, Dealer's Motor Vehicle Inventory Tax Statement
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
Filed each month with the county tax assessor-collector, with the prepayment: on or before the 10th, except as Tax Code §23.122(g) provides. One per business location.
- Form 50-244, Dealer's Motor Vehicle Inventory Declaration
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
Filed each year with the appraisal district, with a copy to the county tax office: by Feb. 1, or within 30 days of starting business, except as Tax Code §23.122(l) provides.
- Texas Tax Code §23.122, Prepayment of Taxes by Certain Taxpayers
Texas Legislature
The monthly prepayment, and the definitions of the aggregate tax rate and the unit property tax factor.
- Texas Tax Code §23.121, Dealer's Motor Vehicle Inventory; Value
Texas Legislature
The dealer's motor vehicle inventory, its value and the yearly declaration.
- Special Inventory
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
How Texas law appraises dealers' inventories (motor vehicles, heavy equipment, vessels, manufactured housing), generally based on sales.
- Starting Your New Dealership
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles
TxDMV's checklist for new dealers, including the Motor Vehicle Inventory Tax Statement (VIT) and the inventory declaration.
- Publication 96-545, Motor Vehicle Dealer's Special Inventory Manual
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
The Comptroller's manual for the motor vehicle dealer's special inventory.
Links checked September 24, 2026.
Questions
Texas VIT questions, short answers
What is VIT in Texas?
Vehicle inventory tax: the property tax on a Texas motor vehicle dealer's inventory (Texas Tax Code §§23.121–23.122). The dealer prepays it on each vehicle sold, every month, into an escrow account with the county tax assessor-collector. It's separate from motor vehicle sales tax.
What is a VIT rate?
The combined adopted rates of every taxing unit (county, city, school district and special districts) at the dealer's location, per $100 of value. 2026 sales use the 2025 rate at the location on January 1, 2026.
Source: Texas Tax Code §23.122(a)(1)
What is the unit property tax factor (UPTF)?
The Tax Code's name for the monthly VIT factor: the prior year's aggregate rate at the location on January 1, ÷ 100 ÷ 12. Sales price × factor is the sale's unit property tax.
Source: Texas Tax Code §23.122(a)(12)
Which year's rates apply to a sale in 2026?
The 2025 adopted rates: the factor is the prior year's rate at the location on January 1 of the sale year ÷ 100 ÷ 12 (Texas Tax Code §23.122(a)(12)). 2026 rates will set it for 2027.
What is Form 50-246?
The Dealer's Motor Vehicle Inventory Tax Statement: the prior month's vehicle sales, filed with the county tax assessor-collector with the prepayment. One per business location, on or before the 10th day of each month, except as Tax Code §23.122(g) provides.
Source: Form 50-246 (Texas Comptroller)
Is there a worksheet for Form 50-246 or Form 50-244?
Yes. The tax forms page figures each sale's unit property tax, the Step 4 totals and the due date, and fills in the official Form 50-246 or 50-244 as a PDF. It runs in the browser; nothing entered is sent anywhere (statements are confidential, Tax Code §23.123). Each sale's tax is rounded to the cent; no official rounding rule exists.
What is Form 50-244?
The Dealer's Motor Vehicle Inventory Declaration: filed yearly with the county appraisal district, with a copy to the county tax office. One per business location by February 1, or within 30 days of starting business for a dealer not in business on January 1, except as Tax Code §23.122(l) provides.
Source: Form 50-244 (Texas Comptroller)
Can it find my taxing units from my address?
Partly. Census data places any Texas address in its county, city and school district. Where the lookup has the appraisal district's roll (listed on the About page), it reads the district's own record, special districts included. Elsewhere, check special districts such as MUDs against the appraisal district's property record for the lot.
What does "not reported" mean?
The appraisal district didn't report that unit's rate to the Comptroller. The unit still taxes property; get its rate from the unit or the appraisal district and enter it in the county page's calculator.
Is this the same as the motor vehicle sales tax?
No. Sales tax is the buyer's tax on the purchase. The vehicle inventory tax is the dealer's property tax on inventory, prepaid as vehicles sell.
Where do these numbers come from?
The Texas Comptroller's 2025 Rates and Levies files (Tax Code §5.091), published here as reported, from files dated January 28, 2026.
Source and date
Source: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, 2025 Rates and Levies, files dated January 28, 2026: 2025 adopted rates, used for 2026 sales. Subject to change, per the Comptroller.
General information, not tax advice; the county tax assessor-collector and appraisal district have the final word.
Looking for IRS Form 2290 or 720? Form 2290 and Form 720 are on irs.gov.