One sheet of tick-box declarations covering the things a transfer needs explaining. For a private seller two sections matter: A, which claims the use tax exemption on a family transfer or a gift, and B, which claims the smog exemption. The rest of the form is for other situations entirely.
Written against REG 256 (Rev 8/2008), issued under California Vehicle Code 4750.5, 9257 and Revenue and Taxation Code 6285. This form is where a gift becomes tax-free or does not. Get the relationship and the market value right the first time, because amending a use tax claim afterwards means dealing with the CDTFA rather than the DMV.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank REG 256 from the dmv.ca.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our REG 256 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.
This is all 2 pages of the actual REG 256, rendered from the PDF the California Department of Motor Vehicles publishes and completed end to end: letterhead, every field, and the blocks at the foot.
Plate or CF number, VIN and year/make, at the top of each page you use.
Watch out: The instruction at the head of the form is to complete the appropriate sections in full including the vehicle description. A section without it is not usable.
Tick it where the car is moving between a parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, spouse, domestic partner, or siblings who are both minors related by blood or adoption.
Watch out: That list is closed. An aunt, an uncle, a cousin, and adult siblings are all outside it, however much it feels like a family transfer.
For a genuine gift with nothing given in return.
Watch out: The form's own parenthesis excludes vehicles traded between individuals, transfers of contracts and other valuable consideration. If money moved, this is not the box.
A dollar figure under section A.
Watch out: Required even on a gift, and it is the number the exemption is measured against. It also cannot be claimed at all where the relative sells that kind of vehicle for a living.
Why no smog certificate is attached - a certification obtained in the last 90 days, an electric or diesel vehicle, a car outside California, or one of the listed relationships.
Watch out: Every one of the relationship options carries an asterisk meaning it still needs a certificate if biennial smog is due. And Nevada and Mexico are named exceptions to the outside-California box.
For a car that has not been driven, moved, towed or left standing on a California highway.
Watch out: Ticking it certifies exactly that. Do not use it to dodge a fee on a car that has been on the road - it is a statement of fact under penalty of perjury.
Wheelchair lift and carrier decals.
Watch out: Nothing to do with a sale. Left empty.
Market value, cost of changes, and the boxes for a change of unladen weight, motive power, body type or number of axles.
Watch out: These are for a vehicle that has been altered, not sold. Skip them unless something on the car has actually changed.
One and the same person, a misspelled name, or a change of name.
Watch out: Useful when the title spells your name differently from your licence - which is a surprisingly common reason a transfer stalls.
A large free-text block for anything the tick boxes do not cover.
Watch out: Write in plain sentences. Whoever reads it is deciding whether to accept the transaction on the strength of it.
Last, first and middle name, with an area code and phone number.
Watch out: One signature block covers every section you completed, whichever page they were on.
Sign and date, under penalty of perjury.
Watch out: The form tells you to sign section H and nowhere else. An unsigned statement of facts states nothing.
| On the form | What to put in it |
|---|---|
| The vehicle strip at the top | Plate or CF number, VIN, year and make. The instruction at the head of the form is to complete the appropriate sections in full, including the vehicle description, and sign section H - a section completed without the vehicle strip is not usable. |
| Section A, use tax exemption | Five tick boxes: family transfer, addition or deletion of a family member, gift, court order, inheritance. Family transfer is defined narrowly - parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, spouse, domestic partner, or siblings where both are minors related by blood or adoption. |
| Current market value | A dollar box under section A. It is required even on a gift, and it is the figure the exemption is measured against. |
| Section B, smog exemption | Where you say why no smog certificate is attached: a certification obtained in the last 90 days, an electric or diesel vehicle, a car located outside California, or one of six listed relationships and leasing arrangements. Every one of those six carries an asterisk meaning it still needs a certificate if biennial smog is due. |
| Section C, transfer only or title only | For a car that has not been driven, moved, towed or left standing on a California highway. Ticking it certifies exactly that, so do not tick it to avoid a fee on a car that has been on the road. |
| Section D, window decal | Wheelchair lift and carrier decals. Not part of a sale. |
| Section H, signature | One signature covers whichever sections you completed, under penalty of perjury. The form tells you to sign section H and nowhere else. |
Every line here was read off REG 256 (Rev 8/2008) itself — the PDF is here — and off the California Department of Motor Vehicles pages. This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ, theirs governs.
Back to all California seller paperwork, or what selling a car in California involves.