A short, sworn request to switch a registration off. It is the form for a plate you are stepping away from rather than moving to another vehicle - the car has gone, nothing is replacing it this season, and you want the Bureau's record to say so. The sheet explains its own status in the top corner: once it is signed and dated by BMV staff it serves also as a Plate Cancellation Order under the section of Maine law that makes plates the property of the State in the first place.
Written against MVR-60 (Rev 1-2013), issued under 29-A M.R.S. section 463.
Cancelling is not the same as transferring. If you are buying another vehicle in the same registration year, moving the plate and its number across keeps the registration alive and costs a fraction of a new one - and this form does the opposite of that.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MVR-60 from the maine.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our MVR-60 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.
This is the actual MVR-60, rendered from the PDF the Maine Bureau 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
The second registrant lanes are greyed here because the registration named one person. Where a Maine registration names two, both print and both sign, and both appear in front of the notary, because the sworn statement covers everything above it. The class code box is blank on purpose: the Bureau publishes no list of its registration class codes anywhere, so that one is copied off your own certificate rather than guessed at here.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Class code and registration number
Both are on the registration certificate.
Watch out: The class code is the two or three characters that tell the Bureau what kind of registration it was. Without it the number alone can be ambiguous.
2
You fill this in
Vehicle identification number
The vehicle the plate was registered to.
Watch out: Copy it off the registration rather than the title, so that the number and the registration record agree.
3
You fill this in
Print and sign, everyone named
First registrant, and second registrant if there is one.
Watch out: Both a printed name and a signature are asked for on each row. A signature on its own leaves the Bureau matching handwriting against a record.
4
You fill this in
Date the request
The request date box beside the signatures.
Watch out: This is the date you are asking from, not the date the car sold. If those differ, expect a question about the gap.
5
You fill this in
Attach the registration
A copy of the current registration, if it is available to you.
Watch out: The sheet says if it is available, so a lost certificate is not a blocker. Attaching one still saves a fortnight.
6
Somebody else fills this in
Take it to a notary
A notary or attorney completes the block, naming a county and a state.
Watch out: Do not sign before you get there. A notarisation certifies that the person appeared and swore to it, which is difficult if the ink is already dry.
7
You fill this in
Hand it in or post it
A BMV branch office, or Augusta by post marked for Registrations.
Watch out: Leave the strip at the foot alone. Date cancelled, branch supervisor signature and main office processed are the Bureau's boxes and completing them helpfully invalidates the form.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Class code
The registration class off your certificate, in a short box before the number.
Registration number
The plate number as issued.
Vehicle identification number
The vehicle the registration was against.
Every registrant signs
The instruction above the block says all persons listed on the registration must sign below, and there are two printed-name and signature pairs for that reason.
Request date
Its own box beside the signatures.
Notarization
A full block under the capitalised line THIS FORM MUST BE NOTARIZED, taking the appearer's name, the day, month and year, a county and a state, and the signature of a notary or attorney.
BMV use only
A strip at the foot the Bureau completes: date cancelled, branch supervisor signature, and main office processed.
What gets this one rejected
•One signature where the registration names two people. The instruction is that all persons listed on the registration sign.
•Signed but not notarised, which the form forbids in capitals across the middle of the page.
•A registration number with no class code, which is how the Bureau finds the record.
•Sent with no copy of the registration where one is available - the sheet asks for it to be attached.
•Used to move a plate onto another vehicle. That is a transfer at a municipal office rather than a cancellation.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•Your registration has already expired anyway. Maine registration expires when the owner transfers or assigns title or interest in a vehicle. This form does not end the registration; it records the end of it and takes the plate out of service.
•The plate was never yours. Section 463 opens by stating that registration plates issued by the Secretary of State continue to be the property of the State, which is why there is a form for handing one back and none for keeping one.
•Where to send it. To a BMV branch office, or by post to 29 State House Station in Augusta marked for the attention of Registrations.
•There is a matching form for switching it back on. A plate cancelled here is reactivated on the Bureau's activation request, which is the same sheet with one word changed.
Every line here was read off MVR-60 (Rev 1-2013) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Maine Bureau 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.
