How to fill out Kentucky TC 96-182

One sheet carrying four documents at once: the application for a new certificate, the odometer disclosure, the affidavit of total consideration that decides what the buyer is taxed on, and two separate notary blocks. A seller whose certificate was issued after February 2000 may never touch it, because the same four things are printed on the back of the title. A seller whose certificate is older has to complete it, and so does anyone whose title has run out of assignment space.

Written against TC 96-182 (Rev 06/2026), issued under KRS 186A.215 and KRS 190.990(5). The application type you tick changes what the clerk does with the sheet. Transfer is the private sale. Title Only produces a certificate with no registration behind it, which is what you use when the car is not roadworthy - and it means the plate has to be surrendered rather than kept.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank TC 96-182 from the transportation.ky.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank TC 96-182 — Application for Kentucky Certificate of Title or Registration PDF at transportation.ky.gov · new tab

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual TC 96-182, rendered from the PDF the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Division of Motor Vehicle Licensing 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

Kentucky form TC 96-182 filled in for one private sale: the Transfer box ticked, a 2015 Subaru Outback with vehicle identification number 4S4BSANC4F3291746, an odometer reading of 118,436 miles with neither caution box ticked, a sale price and net cost of 13,400 dollars, Delphine R. Hoskins of Bardstown in the seller column and Emmett J. Pruitt of Owensboro in the buyer column, a date of transfer of 12 August 2026, and the seller's signature with the attesting official's block completed underneath. — The seller's half completed and the buyer's half left grey, which is how the sheet actually crosses a kitchen table. Note the trade-in rows and the lienholder block: empty on a cash sale between two people, and a clerk reads empty as a statement rather than as an omission.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
You fill this in
Select the type of application
Transfer, for an ordinary sale between two people. The row underneath only opens up if you ticked Duplicate.
Watch out: Title Only is the box people tick by accident. It produces a certificate without registration, which is right for a car being sold off the road and wrong for one the buyer intends to drive.
2
You fill this in
Section 1: vehicle identification
The vehicle identification number, then year, make, model, body style and colour, copied off the front of your certificate.
Watch out: Copy it from the certificate rather than from the door pillar, and read it back a character at a time. A single wrong character is the most common reason a Kentucky application comes back.
3
You fill this in
The odometer reading, in miles with no tenths
The figure off the dash on the day of the handover, and then nothing else unless one of the two statements is true.
Watch out: Read the caution line before you touch either box. Ticking one writes an odometer discrepancy onto the buyer's certificate and every certificate after it.
4
You fill this in
Date of sale, sale price, net cost
The day the keys changed hands and the money that changed hands with them. Trade-in and tax are for a dealership transaction and stay empty on a private sale.
Watch out: The sentence under this row warns that leaving the sale price incomplete exposes the buyer to additional tax with penalty and interest. It is the buyer who gets that letter, not you.
5
You fill this in
The seller column
Your name exactly as the certificate prints it, a second name line if the front names two owners, then address, county, email and the date of transfer.
Watch out: The dealer number line beside your name is not yours. If your name on the certificate differs from your identification, an affidavit reconciling the two goes in with this sheet.
6
You fill this in
The owner/buyer column
Their name, their Kentucky licence or Social Security number, their date of birth, and both a mailing and a residential address.
Watch out: Copy it off their identification while they are in front of you. Their county decides which clerk's office the application is filed at.
7
You fill this in
Sign it in front of the attesting official
Signature (Seller 1), and Signature (Seller 2) if the certificate names two owners.
Watch out: Not before. A notary attests to a signature made in their presence, and a sheet that arrives already signed goes home again unstamped.
8
You fill this in
The attesting official's own block
Signature and title, the sworn-or-affirmed date, and the commission number and expiration underneath.
Watch out: Glance at the expiration date before you leave the desk. A commission that lapsed last month is the difference between a completed transfer and a car still in your name.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
Select the type of application	Six boxes across the head of the sheet - Duplicate, Title Only, Transfer, First time, Salvage, Classic - and a second row that only matters if Duplicate is selected: Lost, Destroyed, Damaged, Illegible, Other.
Section 1, vehicle identification	Vehicle identification number on its own wide rule, then year, make, model, model number, body style and colour.
Engine type and cylinders	Gas, Hybrid, Plug-in Hybrid or Electric, a cylinder count, a truck weight in pounds, and a motor number line used only for a motorcycle.
Title brand disclosure	Rebuilt, Water-Damaged, Hail-Damaged, Unrebuildable. The printed instruction underneath: if a box is selected and the title does not include the brand, name the jurisdiction and the title number where the previous brand was issued.
Section 2, the odometer certification	A reading in miles with no tenths, and two numbered statements - the mileage stated is in excess of its mechanical limits, and the odometer reading is not the actual mileage. The band beside them reads WARNING - ODOMETER DISCREPANCY if Box 1 or 2 is selected.
Date of sale, sale price, trade-in, net cost, tax	Five money and date boxes on one line, followed by two trade-in rows carrying year, make, model, a vehicle identification number and a title number each.
Joint ownership	OR or AND, with the printed consequence beside it: if neither box is selected, the title transfer shall require both signatures.
Seller column	Two name lines, a dealer number line that a private seller leaves alone, street address and phone, city, county, state and ZIP, an email address and the date of transfer.
Owner/buyer column	The same block from the buyer's side, but with three extra demands per name - a Kentucky driver licence, Kentucky ID, Social Security or federal employer number, and a date of birth - plus an alternate mailing address.
The loan declaration	Four tick boxes in one sentence: I have or have not applied for a loan in connection with the vehicle, and if not, I will or will not apply for a loan within 30 days of this application.
Lessee and first lienholder	Lessee name, federal employer number and date of incorporation on the left; the first lienholder, its address and the county the lien is filed in on the right.
Four signature lines and two attesting officials	Seller 1, Seller 2, Owner/Buyer 1, Owner/Buyer 2 - then a separate attesting official block under each side, each with its own sworn-or-affirmed date, commission number and expiration.
County clerk use only	Application type, issuance date, title number, plate number, and the issuer's certification that the documents supporting the application are present and consistent with it.

What gets this one rejected

•An erasure. The line across the foot is unambiguous: do not accept title or application showing any erasures, alteration, or mutilations.
•Pencil, or a colour that is not blue or black. The same line requires it be completed in blue or black ink if not completed online.
•One signature where the certificate joins two owners with AND, or where neither joint-ownership box was ticked - the form itself says that then takes both.
•A sale price left empty. The instruction printed under the money row is that the buyer may be billed for additional tax, plus applicable penalty and interest.
•A seller's signature with no attesting official under it. The block is not optional decoration; the clerk cannot process the application without it.
•A birth date or identification number missing from the buyer's column. The clerk keys those, and the application stops at the counter without them.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•Two notary blocks, not one. The seller's signatures and the buyer's signatures are sworn separately, each in front of a notary, each with its own commission number and expiry. Your notarisation does not cover theirs.
•It is a tax document as much as a title document. The seller-and-buyer certification above the joint-ownership line ties the total consideration information to the penalty provisions of KRS 190.990(5). Both of you are certifying the price, not just recording it.

Every line here was read off TC 96-182 (Rev 06/2026) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Division of Motor Vehicle Licensing 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 Kentucky seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Kentucky involves.

How to fill out Kentucky TC 96-182

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

Select the type of application

Section 1: vehicle identification

The odometer reading, in miles with no tenths

Date of sale, sale price, net cost

The seller column

The owner/buyer column

Sign it in front of the attesting official

The attesting official's own block

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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