Help us fix a problem with the MA Environmental Police for Dual Sport riders.

[taxonomy]

It's very difficult for people that live in state and have street registered motorcycles to get an Off Highway Vehicle Permit because the state only accepts the form form ST-6 from the department of revue to prove taxes were paid, but we pay tax to the registry. It winds up as a crazy Catch 22. I know many people that have simply given up on the process.
I have been in touch with the chief of staff to the MA state senate president's office Steven Mahar about this issue. They want to help Please send an email to Steve Mahar at Stephen.Maher@masenate.gov.

Feel free to repost this to other interested forums.

Ideally they would put "OHV Registration" in the title and include wording to the effect:

Dear Senator Rosenberg,

I have street registered off road capable motorcycle and wish to register it with the MA Department Environmental Police (DEP) through their Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) program. Unfortunately, the DEP does not accept the registration as proof of tax paid, and will only accept a form ST-6 from the Department of Revenue. This makes it difficult for us to comply with the law. Attaining a form ST-6 is difficult because the paperwork to acquire that form requests information not commonly retained by owners once their motorcycles are registered. The form ST-6 and the Registration are both issued by the state of MA. We wish to comply with the law. The simplest course of action would be for the DEP to accept a registration as proof of tax paid.

Riders can add their own personal story as well.

[ducatirdr]

I shot him an email...

I have street registered off road capable motorcycle and I did register it with the MA Department Environmental Police (DEP) through their Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) program. Unfortunately, the DEP does not accept the registration as proof of tax paid, and will only accept a form ST-6 from the Department of Revenue. This makes it difficult for us to comply with the law. Attaining a form ST-6 is difficult because the paperwork to acquire that form requests information not commonly retained by owners once their motorcycles are registered. The form ST-6 and the Registration are both issued by the state of MA. We wish to comply with the law. The simplest course of action would be for the DEP to accept a registration as proof of tax paid.

I was refused the OHV permit by the Worcester OHV and told to visit the state tax office in the same building. Showing the state tax office employee my registration and stating I had to pay taxes to get the title did nothing to both the OHV and the state tax office. I had to fill out the ST-6 and then was quizzed by the state tax office employee some random questions on where I bought the bike and how much and what the tax paid was. I said he could simply look it up on the registry system. He then told me he had no access to that system. Why can’t we just give the OHV and the state tax office access to this online registry system? Even my insurance company and dealer has access!

The questions he asked he couldn’t even verify as truth. They were random and repeated questions that were used to see if I got my story confused. At the end he gave me approval that I had already paid tax on the motorcycle and I was able to go back to the OHV office with the approved paid taxes form. This bit of bureaucracy was unnecessary and I am sure that both the OHV people and state tax people would appreciate you giving them the tools they need to do their job.

Please help them get their jobs done in a timely manner by passing some type of approval that a registration can be a valid form of proving taxes are paid for an OHV permit. OR Give state tax office a way to perform a lookup on a VIN to see if state taxes were paid by current owner.

[RandyO]

sound like an attempt to get you to pay the tax twice

[number9]

Ivan (pontifex) and I were talking about this recently. If I register my KTM at the RMV, I have to pay taxes. Which is fine. But if I go and register it off-road, do I really have to pay taxes again? The off-road rate is 6.25% of the purchase price, which on a $3,000 bike is almost $200..

[Garandman]

I emailed my state rep.

[typeone]

Ivan (pontifex) and I were talking about this recently. If I register my KTM at the RMV, I have to pay taxes. Which is fine. But if I go and register it off-road, do I really have to pay taxes again? The off-road rate is 6.25% of the purchase price, which on a $3,000 bike is almost $200..

no, only once... the tricky part can be showing proof of tax paid to the DEP/OHV people. i've never had a problem but it seems some are.

[number9]

no, only once... the tricky part can be showing proof of tax paid to the DEP/OHV people. i've never had a problem but it seems some are.

Thanks Clinton! I'll probably be doing this tomorrow, i.e. I'll register it at the RMV and pay taxes & then get my off-road sticker the same day.