Does Lessor Collect Sales Tax in Buyout Payoff?

[woodstock1]

Good afternoon,

My lease with MBFS ends later this year and I'm planning to purchase (not finance) the vehicle directly from them.

Covid of course has complicated things. In reviewing my DMV's Covid information, it seems that everything I'll need to do to transfer the title to my name can take place via the mail. EXCEPT, it seems, payment of sales tax. (There's some potentially conflicting information on this, but for the sake of preparedness I'm going to assume that sales tax payment does indeed require a DMV visit.)

My question is this: when I send the payoff to MBFS, will they collect sales tax from me? I hope so, because then all I'll need to do is mail the bill of sale to the DMV showing that tax was paid. 

Otherwise, it looks like I might need to go to DMV in person to pay the tax, and I'd stronly prefer to avoid that.

Many thanks in advance!

[Curious_George2]

I encountered similar ambiguity recently when I bought a Hyundai at lease end.  The only way I was able to get a clear answer was by calling the Lease End specialists and asking them, point-blank, if the payoff quote included sales tax.  Their answer happened to be yes.  I got the sense it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer.  Not sure if it also varies from state to state.  Good luck!