City of Boston Excise Tax: Types, Payment Deadlines, and Abatements

Boston excise taxes fall into five main categories: an annual motor vehicle excise, a deed excise on real estate sales, a local meals tax added to restaurant bills, a room occupancy tax on hotels and short-term rentals, and a local tax on recreational cannabis. Each has its own rate and its own rules, and the motor vehicle excise is the one most residents actually have to pay attention to, because missing its deadline can block your driver’s license renewal.

Motor Vehicle Excise

Every vehicle registered in Massachusetts is subject to an annual excise governed by Chapter 60A. The rate is $25 per $1,000 of assessed value, or 2.5% per year, and the revenue goes to the city or town where the vehicle is ordinarily kept.¹ If you live in Boston, your excise funds Boston.

The value the city taxes has nothing to do with what you paid or what the car would sell for today. It is the manufacturer’s suggested retail price, depreciated on a fixed statutory schedule:

Year before the model year: 50% of MSRP
Model year: 90% of MSRP
Second year: 60% of MSRP
Third year: 40% of MSRP
Fourth year: 25% of MSRP
Fifth year and after: 10% of MSRP

That 10% floor is permanent. A 2019 sedan with a $30,000 MSRP is valued at $3,000 in 2026 and every year afterward, producing a $75 bill.¹ The assessment date is January 1 for vehicles already registered.²

Register a vehicle after January 31 and the bill is prorated from the first day of the month you registered through December 31.² Move to Boston in July and re-register, and you can expect a partial-year bill from the city.

A few owners are exempt. Government vehicles and vehicles owned by qualifying tax-exempt charities are not taxed, and dealers pay a flat $100 per plate on inventory.¹ Veterans rated 100% disabled by the VA, or deemed unemployable due to a service-connected disability, are exempt on one personal-use passenger vehicle or pickup.³

Deed Excise on Property Sales

When Boston real estate changes hands, the seller pays a deed excise when the deed is recorded with the Suffolk County Register of Deeds. The rate is $4.56 per $1,000 of the full sale price, roughly 0.456%.⁴ A $750,000 condo sale produces a $3,420 excise. The Register collects the money and stamps the deed before recording it.

Some transfers are exempt, including transfers between spouses, conveyances to or from a revocable trust where the grantor is a beneficiary, and deeds correcting a title defect. The sale price stated on the deed has to match reality; understating it invites penalties.

Boston has filed home rule petitions asking the legislature for authority to add a local transfer fee for affordable housing, and a broader statewide version proposed by Governor Healey did not advance in the most recent housing bond bill.⁵ As of early 2026, no additional local transfer fee applies in Boston. The $4.56 per $1,000 state rate is it.

Meals Tax at Boston Restaurants

The state charges a 6.25% sales tax on restaurant meals. Boston has adopted the 0.75% local option, so the total on a Boston restaurant check is 7%.⁶ The restaurant collects the full amount and splits it, sending 6.25% to the Department of Revenue and 0.75% to Boston.⁷

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Tax

Lodging in Boston is taxed in three layers on any stay of 31 consecutive days or less:

State room occupancy excise: 5.7%
Boston local option excise: 6.5% (Boston is authorized above the 6% cap that applies to most Massachusetts cities)
Convention center surcharge: 2.75%

That comes to a combined 14.95%.⁸ The operator collects it from the guest and remits it. Short-term rentals booked through platforms like Airbnb are taxed the same way, and the platform typically handles collection and remittance for the host. One narrow exception: if you rent your own home for no more than 14 days in a calendar year and file the required declaration with the Department of Revenue, no occupancy excise is owed on those stays.⁹

Recreational Cannabis Tax

Retail cannabis sales in Boston carry three taxes: a 10.75% state cannabis excise, the 6.25% state sales tax, and the maximum 3% local option, which Boston has had in place since July 2018.¹⁰¹¹ Total tax on a retail cannabis purchase in Boston is 20%. The licensed retailer collects everything at the register and remits each piece to the right agency.

Motor Vehicle Excise Payment Deadline and Late Consequences

Your motor vehicle excise bill is due 30 days from the date it is issued, not the date it arrives in your mailbox.¹² Boston takes payment through its online portal (electronic check or credit card), by mail to the Collector-Treasurer, or in person at City Hall and neighborhood municipal offices. Not receiving a bill is not a defense — the obligation is on you to keep your address current with the RMV.

Miss the 30 days and the escalation is fast. The collector can send a demand notice as early as two days after the due date, adding a fee of up to $30.¹² Interest accrues from the day after the due date at 12% per year.¹³ Still unpaid, the bill goes to a deputy collector on a warrant, adding more fees. Then comes the piece that catches people: the Collector-Treasurer notifies the RMV, which puts a non-renewal mark on your record. Until every dollar of excise, interest, and fees is cleared, you cannot renew your vehicle registration or your driver’s license.¹⁴ Once you pay, the office clears the mark electronically, but it is not always instant. Do not wait until the day before your license expires to settle an old bill.

Also worth knowing: Massachusetts tax collectors generally do not accept partial payments on excise bills. Be ready to pay the full amount, interest and fees included, in one shot. There is no formal hardship payment plan.¹³

Filing an Abatement If Your Bill Is Wrong

If your motor vehicle excise bill is incorrect, you can file an abatement application with the Boston Assessing Department. Typical grounds are a vehicle sold, stolen, totaled, or moved out of state before the assessment date, or an error in the MSRP or model year. Bring the documentation the situation requires:

Sold: bill of sale and the canceled registration or plate return receipt from the RMV.
Stolen: police report.
Moved out of state: proof of new-state registration and the date your Massachusetts plates were canceled.

The deadline is generous but hard: file within three years after the excise was due, or one year after you paid it, whichever is later.¹⁵ File even if you have not paid yet. Filing does not pause interest or halt collection on the underlying amount, so get it in as soon as your documents are together.

If the Abatement Is Denied

If the Assessing Department denies the application, or three months pass with no decision, you can appeal to the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board. File within three months of the denial notice, or within three months of your original filing date if no decision was issued. The filing fee scales with the amount at stake, minimum $65.¹⁶ For excise disputes the dollars are usually small, so most filers pay the minimum.

1
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 60A Section 1 – Excise Tax on Motor Vehicles
2
Mass.gov. A Brief Introduction to Motor Vehicle Excise
3
Mass.gov. Disabled Veteran Fee and Tax Exemptions
4
Suffolk County Registry of Deeds. Excise Tax Calculator
5
Brookline.News. Prospects Shaky for Real Estate Transfer Fee
6
Mass.gov. Sales Tax on Meals – Section: Local Option Meals Excise
7
Mass.gov. Local Option Excise Taxes – Section: Local Meals Excise Tax
8
Mass.gov. Room Occupancy Excise Tax – Section: Total Tax to Be Collected
9
Mass.gov. 830 CMR 64G.1.1 – Massachusetts Room Occupancy Excise
10
Cannabis Control Commission Massachusetts. Taxes and Fees
11
Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Local Tax Option Effective Dates and Rates
12
Mass.gov. Motor Vehicle Excise
13
Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Motor Vehicle Excise Information
14
Mass.gov. Non-Renewal Program
15
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 60A Section 2
16
Mass.gov. ATB Filing Fee Schedule