Nebraska / passenger vehicles
Nebraska Vehicle Registration Fee Calculator
A Nebraska passenger car renewal carries three state charges: a flat $15 registration fee, a motor vehicle tax on a $25 to $1,900 base set by value when new, and a motor vehicle fee on a $5, $20 or $30 base. For a car worth $28,000.00 new, they add up to $495.00 in its first year and $22.00 from its fourteenth, when the tax reaches zero.
Statutes rechecked October 6, 2026. Independent calculator, not a government service.
The calculation
A tax, a fee and a registration fee
The registration fee is a flat $15.00. The motor vehicle tax and the motor vehicle fee both start from the vehicle’s value when new and are then multiplied by an age fraction — but the two use different fraction tables. [1] [2] [3]
| Year | Registration fee | Motor vehicle tax | Motor vehicle fee | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $15.00 | $460.00 | $20.00 | $495.00 |
| Year 3 | $15.00 | $368.00 | $20.00 | $403.00 |
| Year 6 | $15.00 | $234.60 | $14.00 | $263.60 |
| Year 11 | $15.00 | $69.00 | $7.00 | $91.00 |
| Year 13 | $15.00 | $32.20 | $7.00 | $54.20 |
| 14 or later | $15.00 | $0.00 | $7.00 | $22.00 |
Worked example: a $28,000.00 vehicle in its third year falls in the $28,000 to $29,999 bracket, giving a base tax of $460. Multiplied by the third-year fraction of 0.80 that is $368.00, plus a $20.00 motor vehicle fee and the $15.00 registration fee, for $403.00. [2]
Every number, sourced
Nebraska parameters and the statutes behind them
| Parameter | Value | In force | Primary source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registration fee | $15, flat | Current text; last amended Laws 2018, LB909 | §60-3,143(2) |
| Motor vehicle tax base | $25 under $4,000 of value when new, rising in $2,000 bands to $1,900 at $100,000 and over | Current text; last amended Laws 2019, LB156 and LB270 | §60-3,187(3) |
| Motor vehicle tax age fraction | 1.00, .90, .80, .70, .60, .51, .42, .33, .24, .15 (years 10-11), .07 (years 12-13), 0 from year 14 | Same section | §60-3,187(2) |
| Motor vehicle fee base | $5 under $20,000; $20 for $20,000-$39,999; $30 at $40,000 or more | Current text; last amended Laws 2019, LB156 | §60-3,190(4) |
| Motor vehicle fee age fraction | 1.00 for years 1-5, .70 for years 6-10, .35 from year 11; none for the $5 base | Same section | §60-3,190(3) |
The statutes
What Neb. Rev. Stat. §§60-3,143, 60-3,187 and 60-3,190 say
Section 60-3,143(2) is the simplest of the three: “For every motor vehicle of ten-passenger capacity or less and not used for hire, the registration fee shall be fifteen dollars.” It does not vary with value, weight or age.
The tax is a bracket, not a percentage. Section 60-3,187(3)(a) sets the base tax for automobiles from a table of value-when-new bands: $25 up to $3,999, rising through $100 at $10,000, then $40 for each additional $2,000 band, to $1,900 at $100,000 and over. Because the bands are $2,000 wide, two vehicles that differ by a single dollar across a boundary differ by $40 of base tax every year they are registered.
Above $100,000 the tax stops growing. The final row of the table is “$100,000 and over — 1,900.” A vehicle worth $100,000 new and one worth five times that are charged identically.
The value never gets revalued. Section 60-3,188(2) provides that “the value when new is the manufacturer’s suggested retail price” determined by the department. Nebraska ages the charge through a fraction rather than by re-appraising the car, so market value, mileage and condition have no effect.
The tax expires; the fee does not. Section 60-3,187(2) multiplies the base tax by a fraction that runs 1.00, 0.90, 0.80, 0.70, 0.60, 0.51, 0.42, 0.33, 0.24, then 0.15 for the tenth and eleventh years, 0.07 for the twelfth and thirteenth, and “Fourteenth and older 0.00.” From the fourteenth year the motor vehicle tax is nothing at all. The motor vehicle fee has no such ending: section 60-3,190(3) bottoms out at .35 for the eleventh year and over and stays there.
An inexpensive car is carved out of the age reduction entirely. Section 60-3,190(3) applies its fractions “[e]xcept for automobiles with a value when new of less than $20,000,” whose base fee under subsection (4)(a) is $5. That $5 is charged in full for the life of the vehicle. The consequence is easy to miss: in year eleven a $15,000.00 car pays $5.00 in motor vehicle fee while a $45,000.00 car pays $10.50, because the expensive car’s $30 base has been cut by 65 percent and the cheap car’s $5 has not been cut at all.
The two age tables are not aligned. The fee changes at years six and eleven; the tax changes every year through the ninth and then at the tenth, twelfth and fourteenth. A renewal can therefore fall by a large step in a year when the fee does not move, and vice versa.
Read the sections at the Nebraska Legislature, Revised Statutes chapter 60.
Before you use the estimate
What counts as year one?
The first year of registration. The fractions in sections 60-3,187(2) and 60-3,190(3) are labelled “First,” “Second” and so on by registration year, not by how long you have owned the vehicle.
Why is my total so much lower than last year?
Check the year. The largest single drops are at the tenth year, when the tax fraction falls from 0.24 to 0.15, at the twelfth, when it falls to 0.07, and at the fourteenth, when the motor vehicle tax becomes zero. [2]
Does a high-mileage or damaged car pay less?
No. The charge is built on the manufacturer’s suggested retail price when the vehicle was new, which section 60-3,188 fixes, so condition and mileage do not enter the calculation at any point.
Why does my notice exceed this estimate?
Nebraska counties and municipalities levy their own wheel taxes, and plate, title and lien charges sit outside these three sections. This page computes only the state amounts those statutes set.
Is the $15 registration fee ever different?
Yes. Section 60-3,143(3) charges a vehicle of ten-passenger capacity used for hire six dollars plus four dollars per passenger seat beyond the driver, and autocycles are sent to section 60-3,153. This calculator covers the not-for-hire case in subsection (2).
Updated · Published by DMV Fee Calculator Editorial Team.