Connecticut sells registrations three years at a time, which means a car sold eighteen months in has real money sitting on it. This is the form that gets some of it back. It is one sheet with four boxes and two ticks, it costs nothing to file, and it has a deadline that catches people out: the application has to be in before the registration period would have expired, not before some period after the sale.
Written against F-82 (Rev 2-2021), issued under Conn. Gen. Stat. s. 14-49(z) - the form's own certification still cites the repealed s. 14-49(aa).
Two things on this form are out of date on its face - the statutory citation in the certification and the reference to two-year registrations in the title. Neither stops it working, and neither is a reason to hesitate: the department processes it as the s. 14-49(z) application it now is.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank F-82 from the portal.ct.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual F-82, rendered from the PDF the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles publishes and completed end to end: letterhead, every field, and the blocks at the foot.
Amber — you write it
Grey — not yours to fill
Numbered — explained below
Filled in by a seller who terminated the registration online first and is now claiming the balance of a three-year fee. The alternative tick, authorising the DMV to cancel the registration, is greyed here because it had already been done. Every name and number is invented for the sample.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Name
The registered owner's name, last name first, as the department holds it.
Watch out: The refund follows the registration record rather than the person filing, so a name that does not match the record is a returned application.
2
You fill this in
Registration (Plate) Number
The plate the registration was issued against.
Watch out: If you already cancelled online, this is the number printed on your plate disposition receipt. Copy it from there rather than from memory.
3
You fill this in
Is vehicle leased?
YES or NO. On an owned car it is NO.
Watch out: On a lease the registration fee was paid by the leasing company, and the refund follows the money rather than the driver.
4
You fill this in
Registration Status, and the signature underneath it
Either the registration has already been cancelled, or you are authorising the DMV to cancel it as part of processing this refund. One signature and a date go on the printed rules below.
Watch out: Pick one tick. Both, or neither, is the commonest reason this sheet comes back - and the second option is genuinely useful if you have not cancelled yet, because it saves a separate transaction. Then date it and post it well inside the registration period, because the deadline is the expiry date printed on the registration rather than a number of days after the sale.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Name (Last, First, Middle Initial)
The registered owner. The refund is posted to the owner's address on file, not to whoever files the form.
Registration (Plate) Number
The plate the registration was issued against.
Is vehicle leased? YES or NO
A leased vehicle's registration fee was paid by the lessor, which changes who the refund belongs to.
Registration Status, one of two ticks
MY REGISTRATION HAS BEEN CANCELLED, or I AUTHORIZE DMV TO CANCEL MY REGISTRATION. The second one is the useful one - it lets a single form do both jobs.
Certification and Signature
By submitting this form, I certify that I have cancelled my registration or authorize DMV to cancel my registration. I request a refund, as provided by law in Section 14-49(aa) of the Connecticut General Statutes.
Signature of Vehicle Owner or Lessee, and Date Signed
One signature. There is no second signature line even where the certificate carries two owners.
DMV Office Use Only, across the top
Refund amount, registration expiry date, branch location and processing date. Shaded and not yours.
What gets this one rejected
•An application filed after the registration period ended. The instruction is explicit - all refund applications must be submitted prior to the expiration of the registration period - and there is no discretion in it.
•A registration with less than a year left. Section 14-49(z) starts at one year remaining on a triennial registration; below that there is nothing to refund.
•A request for the fees around the registration. The form says what it covers: the refund is only for the registration fee. The plate fee, the administrative fee, the Clean Air Act fee and the Passport to the Parks fee do not come back.
•Wanting the cheque sent somewhere new without filing a change of address. The refund is mailed to the address of record, and moving it needs an official B-58 Change of Address/Voter Registration form enclosed.
•Filing it on a leased vehicle you were only the lessee of. Answer the leased question honestly; the fee was not yours.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•The maths is in thirds. Section 14-49(z): one-third of the registration fee where at least one year but not more than two remain at cancellation, and two-thirds where two years or more remain. Nothing on this form works the arithmetic out for you - it comes off the registration fee printed on the certificate you are cancelling.
•One form can do both jobs. Tick I AUTHORIZE DMV TO CANCEL MY REGISTRATION and the department's note applies: if you have not cancelled your registration; DMV will cancel your registration and process the refund.
•The cheque comes from the Comptroller. Not from the DMV. The cancellation page's wording is that checks will be mailed to you from the Connecticut Office of the State Comptroller, which is why it takes longer than a counter refund would.
•The form cites a subsection that no longer exists. The certification names s. 14-49(aa). Public Act 19-165 redesignated subsections (y) to (aa) as (x) to (z) with effect from 1 January 2020, and the refund rule has lived at s. 14-49(z) ever since. The form was revised in February 2021 and the citation was not updated.
•The title is behind the body too. It is called an application for a one year or two year refund while its own instructions describe a three-year registration. Connecticut moved passenger registrations from two years to three under the same 2019 act.
Every line here was read off F-82 (Rev 2-2021) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Connecticut 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.
