The form for a sale that came undone. If a Massachusetts buyer returns the vehicle and gets their money back, this affidavit is how the sales or use tax they already paid is recovered - and it is signed by both of them, which is why a private seller ends up filling in half of it weeks after they thought the car was gone.
Written against MV-AB2 (Rev 4/99), issued under 830 CMR 64H.25.1.
This form recovers tax. It does not undo the title. If the buyer already had a new certificate issued in their name, the vehicle has to be assigned back to you on that certificate like any other sale - and if the assignment on your old one was written and then the sale collapsed, the Registry's answer is a notarised affidavit of correction or a duplicate title, never a crossed-out entry.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MV-AB2 from the mass.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual MV-AB2, rendered from the PDF the Massachusetts Registry 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
Questions 3, 4 and 5 are greyed here because the form says so: private parties must complete 1 and 2, and dealers must complete 1 through 5. It is the only Department of Revenue vehicle form that splits its own questions between the two.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
The buyer fills this in
Part 1, the vehicle and the dates
Year, make, model, identification number, title number, the date of sale and the date the vehicle came back.
Watch out: Two dates, and the gap between them is the point of the form. Take the date of sale from the back of the certificate so the two documents agree.
2
The buyer fills this in
Part 1, the purchaser
The buyer's name and address - the person who paid the tax and wants it back.
Watch out: This half is written by the buyer, because the abatement is theirs. The seller's half starts at Part 2.
3
You fill this in
Part 1, the seller
Your name, telephone number and address, in the block headed I purchased the motor vehicle described above from.
Watch out: A telephone number is asked for here and nowhere else on the form. The Department of Revenue uses it if the two halves of the affidavit disagree.
4
You fill this in
Part 2, question 1
Whether every dollar has gone back, and if not, why not.
Watch out: Registration fees and taxes are excluded from the question by its own wording, so keeping those does not make the answer No.
5
You fill this in
Part 2, question 2
The date the vehicle was returned to you.
Watch out: Stop here. Questions 3 to 5 are the dealer's, and a private seller who answers them has claimed to be one.
6
You fill this in
Both signatures
Seller signs and dates, purchaser signs and dates.
Watch out: Sign it once the money has actually moved. The declaration covers everything above it, including the answer that all monies have been refunded.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Part 1, motor vehicle returned
Year, make, model, vehicle identification number and title number; the purchaser's name, the date of sale and the date the vehicle was returned; the purchaser's address; then the seller's name, telephone and address.
Part 2, question 1
Have all monies been refunded, not including registration fees and taxes? A space follows for an explanation if the answer is no.
Part 2, question 2
The date the vehicle was returned to you. Private parties complete this and question 1 and stop there.
Part 2, questions 3 to 5
Returned to stock, complete rescission, accepted as a trade-in. The form states that dealers complete 1 through 5 - a private seller does not.
Declaration
Seller signs and dates, purchaser signs and dates, under the pains and penalties of perjury.
What gets this one rejected
•A private seller filling in questions 3, 4 and 5. The instruction on the form is that private parties must complete 1 and 2.
•A partial refund with no explanation. Question 1 asks whether all monies have been refunded and gives a line for saying why not.
•One signature. The declaration is joint - the buyer cannot recover the tax without the seller's certification, and the seller cannot end the transaction without the buyer's.
•Using it to unwind a transfer that was never taxed. There is nothing to abate.
•Confusing it with the certificate. Rescission does not un-write the assignment on the back of the title, and the assignment can never be voided.
Every line here was read off MV-AB2 (Rev 4/99) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Massachusetts Registry 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.
