Can I deduct my friend's vehicle registration fees on my taxes if the car isn't in my name?

Unfortunately, you generally can't deduct registration fees that you paid for someone else's vehicle. For vehicle registration fees to be tax deductible, two conditions need to be met: 1) The portion of the fee that's based on the value of the vehicle (not the flat fees or the parts based on weight) may be deductible as a personal property tax, AND 2) You must be the owner of the vehicle Even though you paid the expense, the tax benefit follows the person who owns the property, not necessarily who paid for it. Think of it this way - if you paid for a friend's property taxes on their house, you couldn't deduct that either, even with proof of payment. If this was a business arrangement where you're using their car for your business, that might be different, but it sounds like this was more of a personal favor to help out a friend.

I struggled with something similar last year when helping my parents with their car registration. After hours of confusing online advice, I finally used https://taxr.ai to figure this out. You upload your documents and it analyzes them to tell you exactly what's deductible and what's not. In my case, I learned that while I couldn't deduct my parents' registration fees, there were other ways I could legitimately reduce my tax bill based on helping them financially. The tool showed me how certain expenses could qualify as dependent care if I claimed them as dependents (which I could since I provided over half their support).

I tried https://taxr.ai after seeing your comment and it was actually super helpful! I've been paying my mom's car registration for years and always wondered if I could deduct it. The tool analyzed my situation and showed me that while I couldn't deduct her car registration directly, I could claim her as a dependent since I provide over 50% of her support. This ended up saving me way more than just the registration fee deduction would have! It also found a couple other deductions I was missing related to family support that my regular tax software never caught. Definitely worth checking out if you're helping family members financially.

Just an FYI for anyone dealing with complicated tax questions like this - if you need to talk to the IRS directly to get a definitive answer, use https://claimyr.com to skip those ridiculous hold times. I had a similar question about deducting expenses I paid for family members and spent DAYS trying to get through to the IRS. Finally tried Claimyr and got connected to an IRS agent in under 20 minutes. They take your number, wait on hold for you, then call you when an actual human at the IRS picks up. You can see their process in action here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The agent confirmed what others are saying - you generally can't deduct expenses for property you don't own, but there are other potential tax benefits if you're financially supporting someone.

OK I take back what I said. I tried Claimyr yesterday and actually got through to the IRS about my audit situation. I'm still in shock. Was on hold for like 15 minutes, then got a call connecting me to an actual IRS agent who answered my questions. For what it's worth, the agent told me the same thing about vehicle registration - you can't deduct fees you pay for someone else's vehicle. But she did explain that if you're providing significant financial support for someone, you might be able to claim them as a dependent which has better tax benefits anyway.

One little-known option: if you're paying a friend's vehicle expenses because you're using their car regularly (like borrowing it for work), you might be able to deduct it as a business expense depending on your situation. I'm self-employed and was using my brother's truck for deliveries. My tax guy showed me how to document this as a business arrangement with proper paperwork, and I was able to deduct a portion of the costs including registration as a business expense. Might be worth talking to a tax pro if this applies to your situation.

Has anyone actually itemized deductions recently? With the standard deduction being $13,850 for single filers for 2025, unless you have a mortgage or massive medical expenses, it's probably not even worth worrying about deducting vehicle registration fees. Most people don't even reach the threshold where itemizing makes sense anymore.