The tax imposed by this chapter shall not apply to:
(1) Motor vehicles owned or registered, or motor vehicles rented, by any state or province or any political subdivision thereof.
(2) Motor vehicles owned and operated by the United States of America.
(3) Motor vehicles owned or leased by religious or charitable institutions or volunteer fire companies.
(4) Motor vehicles owned and operated by a dealer and registered and operated under the provisions of 23 V.S.A. §§ 451-468 inclusive.
(5) Nonregistered motor vehicles other than tow or repairman vehicles.
(6) [Repealed.]
(7) Motor vehicles, title to which on the effective date of this chapter is in the owner seeking registration thereof.
(8) Motor vehicles transferred to the spouse, mother, father, child, sibling, grandparent, or grandchild of the donor during the donor’s life or following his or her death, or to a trust established for the benefit of any such persons or for the benefit of the donor, or subsequently transferred among such persons, including transfers following a death, provided the motor vehicle has been registered or titled in this State in the name of the original donor. Transfers exempt under this subdivision (8) include eligible transfers resulting by operation of the law governing intestate estates.
(9) Motor vehicles on which a state sales or use tax has been paid by the person applying for a registration in Vermont, or paid by a person who, at the time of tax payment to another state, was the spouse of the person now applying for Vermont registration. If the tax paid in another state is less than the Vermont tax, the tax due shall be the difference. An applicant for credit under this subdivision shall bear the burden of proving the amount of tax paid in the other state, and acceptable proof shall include a valid certificate of title from that state and a cancelled check to that Department of Motor Vehicles in an amount at least equal to the total purchase and use tax due to that state.
(10) Motor vehicles registered in Vermont by the transferor and transferred between that person and a business entity controlled by the transferor, if the transfer is exempt under 26 U.S.C. § 351, as amended.
(11) [Repealed.]
(12) One motor vehicle owned or leased and operated by a person with a permanent physical disability for whom the vehicle’s controls have been altered to enable the person to drive, or owned or leased by a person with a permanent disability or by a parent or guardian of a person with a permanent disability for whom a mechanical lifting device has been installed to allow for entry and exit of the vehicle, provided that the person with a disability has been certified exempt from the tax by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles under the provisions of section 8901 of this title.
(13) Motor vehicles obtained from the government as excess government property, or vehicles purchased with 100 percent federal funds and used for federally supported local programs.
(14) A motor vehicle acquired by a veteran with financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, or a vehicle obtained as a replacement to one acquired with such assistance, when accompanied by a copy of an approved VA Form 21-4502 issued by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs certifying the veteran to be entitled to the financial assistance.
(15) Motor vehicles registered in this State by nonresidents under the International Registration Plan.
(16) Motor vehicles registered or titled in Vermont and transferred from an individual to, or in trust for the benefit of, a former spouse if the transfer is incident to the divorce. A transfer of a motor vehicle is incident to the divorce if the transfer occurs within one year after the date on which the divorce becomes final.
(17) Any motor vehicle acquired by the owner for use in leases for a period of one year or longer, provided that the motor vehicle is not registered before it is leased.
(18) Motor vehicles, the titles of which have passed to the holder of a certificate of abandoned motor vehicle pursuant to 23 V.S.A. § 2156.
(19) Motor vehicles for which salvage certificates of title are obtained pursuant to 23 V.S.A. § 2092.
(20) Titles issued to the manufacturer of a vehicle that has been returned to that manufacturer pursuant to any proceeding brought under 9 V.S.A. chapter 115.
(21) [Repealed.]
(22) Motor vehicles that have been registered to the applicant in a jurisdiction that imposes a state sales or use tax on motor vehicles. An applicant for exemption under this subdivision shall bear the burden of establishing to the satisfaction of the Commissioner that the vehicle was registered in a qualifying jurisdiction.
(23) The following motor vehicles used for timber cutting, timber removal, and processing of timber or other solid wood forest products intended to be sold ultimately at retail: skidders with grapple and cable, feller bunchers, cut-to-length processors, forwarders, delimbers, loader slashers, log loaders, whole-tree chippers, stationary screening systems, and firewood processors, elevators, and screens. (Added 1959, No. 327 (Adj. Sess.), § 10, eff. March 1, 1960; amended 1966, No. 66 (Sp. Sess.), § 5; 1967, No. 116, § 5, eff. April 17, 1967; 1975, No. 96, § 1, eff. April 30, 1975; 1977, No. 258 (Adj. Sess.), § 4, eff. April 19, 1978; 1979, No. 202 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, Pt. VI, eff. Sept. 1, 1980; 1981, No. 201 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 1, 2, eff. April 22, 1982; 1985, No. 118 (Adj. Sess.), § 3; 1985, No. 124 (Adj. Sess.), § 3; 1987, No. 124 (Adj. Sess.), eff. Feb. 16, 1988; 1987, No. 241 (Adj. Sess.), § 11; 1991, No. 91; 1993, No. 26, § 1; 1993, No. 223 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 1, 2, eff. June 20, 1994; 1995, No. 19, §§ 8, 9, 11a, eff. April 17, No. 40, § 2, eff. April 17, 1995; 1995, No. 80 (Adj. Sess.), § 4, eff. Feb. 28, 1996; 1995, No. 112 (Adj. Sess.), § 15; 1997, No. 55, § 10, eff. June 26, 1997; 1999, No. 159 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 29, 30; 2001, No. 143 (Adj. Sess.), § 64; No. 144 (Adj. Sess.), § 31, eff. June 21, 2002; 2003, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; 2005, No. 188 (Adj. Sess.), § 9; 2013, No. 96 (Adj. Sess.), § 198; 2017, No. 194 (Adj. Sess.), § 10; 2017, No. 206 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 7, 13; 2021, No. 105 (Adj. Sess.), § 578, eff. July 1, 2022; 2023, No. 41, § 39, eff. July 1, 2023.)