How to fill out Maryland VR-103

The form that turns a transfer with no money in it into an excise-tax-free one, and it works only inside a printed list of relationships. Handing a car to a son, a daughter-in-law or a grandparent uses this; handing one to a cousin, a friend or a partner you are not married to does not, and the MVA charges the tax on book value instead. Its reverse carries something no other Maryland form does: a completed picture of the back of a certificate of title.

Written against VR-103 (04-26), issued under Maryland Transportation Article, Section 13-810(c). There is a separate form for one narrow case this one nearly covers. An aunt or uncle aged 65 or over giving a vehicle to a niece or nephew is excise-tax exempt, and where proof of the relationship is not available the MVA asks for a VR-299 instead of documents.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank VR-103 from the mva.maryland.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our VR-103 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank VR-103 — Application for Maryland Gift Certification PDF at mva.maryland.gov · new tab Step 2 · how to fill it in Our filled-in VR-103 guide PDF · print and keep beside you

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual VR-103, rendered from the PDF the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration 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

A Maryland VR-103 gift certification filled in: the Daughter box ticked, a 2016 Honda CR-V with a title number and VIN, giver Rosalind T. Purnell, receiver Marguerite A. Purnell described as her daughter, an odometer reading of 118940 with neither exception box ticked, and both giver and receiver signing and dating the two separate certifications on 12 August 2026. — The actual VR-103 at revision 04-26. Only one box in the relationship grid is ticked, because only one relationship can be certified - and both halves of the sheet are signed, because the giver's certification and the receiver's are separate documents printed on one page.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
You fill this in
The relationship grid
Tick the one word in the grid that describes what the receiver is to you.
Watch out: Read the list before you promise anybody a tax-free car. Cousins, nephews under the aunt-or-uncle rule, unmarried partners and friends are all absent from it, and there is no discretion at the counter.
2
You fill this in
Vehicle Year, Make, Title Number
Three boxes on the vehicle row, copied from the face of the certificate.
Watch out: The title number is the eight-digit figure at the top right of the certificate, and the MVA's own guidance is not to use the red control number printed above it.
3
You fill this in
Vehicle Identification Number
The wide box at the end of the vehicle row.
Watch out: Take it from the title. The plate riveted to the dashboard is the same number, but a title that has been mis-keyed once will keep being mis-keyed if you copy from the car instead.
4
You fill this in
Giver - Full Name(s)
One wide rule. Every owner printed on the front of the certificate goes on it.
Watch out: If the title names two people, both are givers here and both sign below. A gift signed by one of two joint owners is not a complete transfer.
5
The buyer fills this in
Receiver - Full Name(s) and Relationship to Giver
The names of everyone taking the car, and the relationship word from the grid.
Watch out: Where surnames differ, put the proof in the envelope now - a marriage certificate or a birth certificate - because the form asks for it and an application without it stops.
6
You fill this in
Odometer Reading
Whole miles, no tenths, with the two exception boxes beside it.
Watch out: The federal disclosure applies to a gift exactly as it applies to a sale. Nothing about the absence of money makes the mileage optional.
7
You fill this in
Signature of Giver and Co-Giver
Two signature and date pairs under the giver's certification.
Watch out: The sentence you are signing says no money or other valuable consideration is involved in this transfer. If there is a price, however small and however friendly, this is the wrong form and a bill of sale is the right one.
8
The buyer fills this in
Signature of Receiver and Co-Receiver
The matching pair under the receiver's certification, at the foot of the sheet.
Watch out: Both certifications have to be signed. It is genuinely common for one half of this form to come back empty because it looks like a repeat of the block above it.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
The relationship grid	Twenty-four ticks across four rows: spouse, father, son, daughter, sister, grandmother, mother, stepfather, adopted son, adopted daughter, half sister, grandchild, stepmother, father-in-law, stepson, stepdaughter, brother, uncle, mother-in-law, grandfather, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, half-brother and aunt. Aunt and uncle carry an asterisk pointing at the instructions on the reverse.
Vehicle Title Information	Vehicle year, make, title number and vehicle identification number, on one row.
Giver - Full Name(s)	A single wide rule for everyone named on the face of the certificate.
Receiver - Full Name(s) and Relationship to Giver	The person taking the car, and the word from the grid above that describes how they are related.
Odometer Reading	A box marked no tenths with the federal warning above it and the two exception statements beside it.
To be completed by giver(s) of vehicle	A perjury certification, and inside it the sentence that defines a gift for Maryland's purposes: no money or other valuable consideration is involved in this transfer.
To be completed by recipient(s) of vehicle	The identical certification, signed by the receiver and any co-receiver.
The instructions on the reverse	Six blocks of guidance - financed vehicles, adding a name, deleting a name, an individual-to-individual transfer, which plates may move across, and the inspection exemptions - printed above the MVA's own picture of a completed certificate of title.

What gets this one rejected

•A relationship that is not one of the twenty-four printed on the sheet. The form says so in its first sentence: if you are not a member of the immediate family as noted below, this form cannot be used.
•Different surnames with no proof of relationship attached, which the form asks for on its face.
•A signature from the giver and none from the receiver, or the other way round. Both certifications are separate and both are required.
•A gift where money did change hands. The certification both parties sign says no money or other valuable consideration is involved, and the transfer is not being made contrary to Maryland Vehicle Laws.
•An open lien with nothing from the lender. Where the lien is unsatisfied the MVA wants a statement from the lienholder authorising the transfer, and lien release letters have to arrive with photo identification of whoever is presenting them.
•An odometer box left empty because it feels like a formality on a family transfer. It is the same federal disclosure as any other sale.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•Plates move on a gift only between certain pairs. The instructions on the reverse list them: between spouses either way, between a parent and child either way, and from an individual into joint names with their own parent or child. Every other family gift means buying new plates, and the transfer fee where it is allowed is $15.00.
•Inspection follows the same short list. Generally, any transfer between spouses or between a parent and child are exempt from inspection. All other transactions require a Maryland safety inspection, in the form's own words - so a car gifted to a grandchild needs one and a car gifted to a daughter does not.

Every line here was read off VR-103 (04-26) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration 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 Maryland seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Maryland involves.

How to fill out Maryland VR-103

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

The relationship grid

Vehicle Year, Make, Title Number

Vehicle Identification Number

Giver - Full Name(s)

Receiver - Full Name(s) and Relationship to Giver

Odometer Reading

Signature of Giver and Co-Giver

Signature of Receiver and Co-Receiver

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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