California Tire Fee: Rates, Retailer Remittance, and Penalties

The California tire fee is a $1.75 charge on every new tire sold in the state, added to your receipt as a separate line item and used to fund waste tire cleanup and recycling through the California Tire Recycling Management Fund.¹ A four-tire replacement adds $7.00. A set of six for a dually pickup adds $10.50. The rate is flat, so size, brand, and price don’t change it.

When the Fee Applies

The fee applies at the point of sale any time a new tire is sold at retail in California. Under Public Resources Code 42885, “new tire” covers any pneumatic or solid tire for motor vehicles, motorized equipment, construction equipment, or farm equipment.¹ Passenger car tires, heavy-truck tires, ATV tires, tractor tires: all covered. Spare tires that come with a new or used vehicle purchase are covered too.

Online orders shipped to a California address trigger the fee just like a walk-in purchase. Following the Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, California applies its economic nexus rules under Revenue and Taxation Code 6203 to out-of-state sellers, meaning a retailer without a physical California location may still have to collect and remit the fee.²

If you buy through a marketplace like Amazon or eBay, the platform itself handles the fee. Since January 1, 2022, registered marketplace facilitators have been required to collect and remit the tire fee on behalf of their third-party sellers under changes made by Assembly Bill 1402.³

Which Tires Are Exempt

The exemptions are narrow. Retreaded, reused, and recycled tires are not “new tires” under the statute, so no fee applies when you buy them.¹

Beyond that, the statute exempts tires on only three categories of vehicles:⁴

Self-propelled wheelchairs.
Motorized tricycles and quadricycles as defined in Vehicle Code Section 407, designed for people with physical disabilities.
Similar vehicles designed for use by people who cannot otherwise move about as pedestrians.

There is no general exemption for government agencies, nonprofits, or vehicles that don’t need DMV registration. Farm equipment and construction equipment tires are explicitly inside the fee, not outside it. If a seller tells you agricultural or industrial tires don’t carry the fee, the statute disagrees.

What Should Appear on Your Receipt

Retailers must list the $1.75 fee as a separate line item, distinct from any shop-specific disposal or recycling charge for hauling away your old tires.⁴ These are two different things. The state fee is set by law and goes into the Tire Recycling Management Fund. The disposal fee is whatever the individual shop charges to get rid of the old tires you’re leaving behind, and it varies from shop to shop. A receipt that lumps them into one number is out of compliance.

Of the $1.75 collected, the retailer is allowed to keep 1.5 percent as reimbursement for the cost of collecting it. The rest goes to the state.⁴

The Rate Is Scheduled to Drop in 2034

The $1.75 rate stays in place until January 1, 2034. On that date, unless the legislature acts to extend or change it, the fee drops to $0.75 per tire.⁴

How Retailers Remit the Fee

Retailers selling new tires in California collect the fee at the point of sale and remit it to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA). At registration, the CDTFA assigns each retailer either a quarterly or yearly filing schedule, with returns and payment due by the 15th of the month following the reporting period.⁵ A quarterly filer covering January through March owes the return and payment by April 15.

Marketplace facilitators register for their own tire fee account, file their own returns for facilitated sales, and must notify sellers on the platform that they are handling the fee. Individual sellers are relieved of the obligation for sales made through a registered facilitator.

Keep detailed records of tire sales. The CDTFA conducts periodic audits, and a retailer who can’t produce sales records showing how many tires were sold and how much fee was collected can be in trouble even when the underlying numbers were right.

Penalties for Late or Unpaid Fees

A missed payment deadline triggers an automatic 10 percent penalty on the unpaid amount, plus interest that accrues monthly at a rate the CDTFA adjusts periodically.⁶ For a shop moving hundreds of tires a quarter, even a short delay produces a real bill.

Continued noncompliance escalates. Under the Fee Collection Procedures Law, the CDTFA can place liens on a business’s assets, and it can revoke or suspend a retailer’s seller’s permit after written notice and an opportunity to respond.⁷ Losing a seller’s permit shuts a retail business down. Egregious cases can be referred to the Attorney General for civil or criminal action.

Disputing an Assessment

If the CDTFA sends a notice of determination saying you owe additional tire fees, you have 30 days from the date the notice is served to file a petition for redetermination. Miss the deadline and the assessment becomes final automatically.⁸ Include your sales records, any exemption documentation, and a clear explanation of why the assessment is wrong. If you request one in the petition, the CDTFA will schedule an oral hearing with at least 10 days’ notice.

A denied petition can be appealed to the independent Office of Tax Appeals. If that also fails, the remaining route is to pay the disputed amount, file a written refund claim with the CDTFA, and, if denied, sue in California Superior Court.⁹ Refund claims must be filed within three years of the payment’s due date or six months after the determination becomes final, whichever is later.

The Federal Excise Tax Is a Separate Charge

Buyers of large commercial tires may see a separate federal charge in the purchase price. The federal excise tax under 26 U.S.C. § 4071 applies to highway tires with a maximum rated load capacity above 3,500 pounds, at 9.45 cents per 10 pounds over that threshold. Bias-ply and super single tires get a lower rate of 4.725 cents per 10 pounds over 3,500.¹⁰ The tax falls on the manufacturer or importer but gets built into what the buyer pays.

Standard passenger tires don’t reach the 3,500-pound threshold, so the federal excise tax doesn’t touch most consumers. It matters mainly for fleet operators buying heavy commercial truck tires. The federal tax is currently set to expire on October 1, 2028.¹⁰

1
California Legislative Information. California Public Resources Code 42885 (2025)
2
Cornell Law Institute. Wayfair, Inc., et al. v. South Dakota
3
California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Special Notice – New Fee Collection Requirement for Marketplace Facilitators Beginning January 1, 2022
4
California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. California Tire Fee – Sec. 42885
5
California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Tax Guide for California Tire Fee – Getting Started
6
Justia. California Revenue and Taxation Code 55042
7
California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Sales and Use Tax Law – Section 6070
8
California Legislative Information. California Revenue and Taxation Code – Part 30, Chapter 3, Article 3
9
California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Fee Collection Procedures Law – Sec. 55222
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4071 – Imposition of Tax