Eleven lines on half a page, and the shortest document in the whole Iowa set. It records that a plate has been handed in to a named county treasurer and cancelled and destroyed, and it gives the reason. A seller who has taken the plates off a sold car and is not buying another one meets it at the counter, ticks the first reason and walks out.
Written against 411122 (12-03), issued under Iowa Code s. 321.34, plates assigned to and retained by the owner.
Cancelling the plate and claiming the refund are two different acts and the second one has a six-month clock on it. If you hand the plates in and file nothing else, the unused registration stays with the state. Ask for Form 411047 at the same counter.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank 411122 from the iowadot.forms.govos.com copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual 411122, rendered from the PDF the Iowa Department of Transportation, Motor Vehicle Division 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
Rendered from the department's own published form. Amber marks what a seller with no replacement vehicle writes; grey marks the four reasons that belong to somebody else's situation. The plate number and the name are invented for the sample.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Plate Number
The number on the plate you are handing over, in the gap in the printed line.
Watch out: Both plates from a car carry the same number, and you hand in both. Iowa issues two for a passenger vehicle and one for a motorcycle, moped, autocycle, truck tractor, trailer or semitrailer.
2
You fill this in
County
The county treasurer you are standing in front of.
Watch out: It does not have to be the county the vehicle was registered in. Iowa lets a plate be surrendered to any county treasurer under s. 321.34(1).
3
You fill this in
Owner's Name
Your name, as the person the plate was assigned to.
Watch out: If two people were on the registration, use the name that any refund should be paid to - the refund claim is a separate form and the two want to agree.
4
You fill this in
Tick No Replacement Vehicle
The first of six reasons, and the one that fits a straightforward sale where you are not buying another car.
Watch out: If you are buying a replacement within thirty days, do not cancel at all. Transfer the plate instead and the unused registration comes across as a credit.
5
You fill this in
Leave the other five reasons blank
Storage, personalised plates, call-letter plates, duplicate, and other.
Watch out: Ticking two reasons is how a straightforward surrender turns into a question at the counter. One box, once.
6
You fill this in
Ask for the refund form before you leave
Form 411047, Claim for Refund, is a different document and the treasurer has it.
Watch out: You have six months from the date of sale, and the unused portion has to come to ten dollars or more. Below that Iowa pays nothing.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Plate Number
The plate you are surrendering, in the gap in the printed sentence.
County
Which county treasurer took it. The sentence around the box already says the plate has been turned in, cancelled and destroyed.
Owner's Name
The name the plate was assigned to - which under s. 321.34 is a person, not a vehicle.
Reason: No Replacement Vehicle
The seller's box. You sold the car and are not putting the plate on another one.
Reason: Storage
For a vehicle taken off the road rather than sold.
Reason: Personalized Plates
For a personalised plate being given up rather than kept and moved.
Reason: Call Letter Plates
The amateur radio plates issued under s. 321.34(3), which carry a licensed operator's call sign.
Reason: Duplicate
Where a replacement was issued and the original has turned up.
Reason: Other, with a line to explain
A free line, and the only place on the form there is room to write anything.
What gets this one rejected
•Using it to keep the plate. The form's own sentence says the plate has been cancelled and destroyed - it is a record of surrender, not a release.
•Filing it instead of a refund claim. Cancelling the plate does not pay you anything; Form 411047 is what asks for the unused registration back.
•Filing it when you are moving the plate to another vehicle. Under s. 321.34(1) plates transfer to a replacement vehicle within thirty days, and a transferred plate is not a cancelled one.
•Using it for a plate that was left on a car you sold. You do not have it to hand in, and Iowa's answer there is to tell the county what happened rather than to certify a destruction that did not occur.
•Expecting it to end the registration. Iowa registration runs to the last day of the owner's birth month whatever happens to the plate; what a cancellation ends is the plate's life.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•It is a receipt for something you already did. Every verb in the printed sentence is past tense: has been turned in, has been cancelled and destroyed. The form is completed at the counter, not posted ahead of the plate.
•The reason box decides whether money follows. No Replacement Vehicle is the one that sits behind a refund claim under s. 321.126(1)(f). Storage sits behind the military storage claim under s. 321.128.
•It is the oldest form in this set. Its masthead reads 12-03. Nothing about surrendering an Iowa plate has needed changing since 2003, which tells you how settled the rule underneath it is.
•Special plates are treated separately for a reason. Personalised and call-letter plates carry a name or a call sign rather than a random sequence, so cancelling one releases a combination somebody else can then apply for.
•There is no fee. Nothing on the form asks for money, in either direction. The money is on Form 411047.
