The seller's form in Massachusetts, if there is one. There is no notice of sale here - the statute expects the registration back instead, and most people give it back online in five minutes. This affidavit is the paper version, and it exists for the two cases the online route cannot handle: a registration in two names, and somebody cancelling on an owner's behalf.
Written against REG100 (REG100_0922, September 2022), issued under M.G.L. c.90 s.2.
Cancelling the registration is not the same as getting the excise bill abated. The Registry's page is explicit that you are not entitled to an abatement by just cancelling your registration - the abatement is applied for at your local assessor's office, with documentation, and cancelling is only the first of the things state law requires.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank REG100 from the mass.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual REG100, 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
Section D is greyed because only one of sections C and D is ever used. An owner completes A, B and C; anyone cancelling for somebody else completes A, B and D and has to state their relationship to the registrant and the reason.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Decide whether you need this at all
A single-owner registration cancels online through myRMV in a few minutes, free, with a receipt to download at the end.
Watch out: The affidavit is for two owners, or for somebody acting on an owner's behalf. Everyone else is better off online.
2
You fill this in
Section A, the owners
Both owners' names, the address, licence or identification numbers, a telephone number and an email.
Watch out: A federal identification number goes here instead if the vehicle is registered to a company.
3
You fill this in
Section B, the registration
Registration number, expiration date, year, make and model.
Watch out: The expiration date is on the registration certificate. It is also what decides whether a rebate of the registration fee is worth applying for.
4
You fill this in
Section C, both signatures
Each owner prints their name, signs and dates, and identification is produced at the time of cancellation.
Watch out: Both, not one. A two-owner registration is exactly the case the online service will not handle.
5
You fill this in
Post it or bring it
To the address at the top of the form, or to a full-service RMV location.
Watch out: Bringing it is faster and gets you the receipt the same day, which is the document your insurer wants.
6
You fill this in
Then destroy the plates
Recycle or destroy them once the registration is cancelled.
Watch out: Cut in half and discarded is the Registry's own suggestion. Do not post them back and do not leave them in the boot of the car you just sold.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Instructions
Use this form to cancel a registration when there are two owners listed on the title or registration, or to cancel on behalf of the owner. Otherwise cancel online. An owner completes sections A, B and C; somebody else completes A, B and D.
A, Owner Information
Owner or lessee 1, owner or lessee 2 if applicable, the address, Massachusetts licence or identification numbers or a federal identification number, a telephone number and an email address.
B, Vehicle Information
Registration number, expiration date, year, make and model.
C, Owner Signature(s)
Where two owners are listed, both signatures are required, and acceptable identification of the owner cancelling is required. Each owner prints, signs and dates.
D, Non-Owner Information
For somebody cancelling on the owner's behalf: name, licence number, address, relationship to the registrant, the reason for cancellation, and a signature and date.
What gets this one rejected
•One signature on a two-owner registration. Section C says both are required and that is the whole reason this form exists.
•No identification. Acceptable identification of the owner cancelling the registration is required at the time of cancellation.
•A non-owner completing section C. They complete A, B and D instead, and their relationship to the registrant is one of the fields.
•Posting the plates in with it. The RMV does not want them and says license plates do not have to be returned when registration is cancelled.
•Filing it for a single-owner registration when the online service would have done it in minutes and produced a receipt to download.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•No fee, either way. There is no fee to cancel your registration. The line in the RMV fee schedule about cancelling an individual plate is not this transaction - it sits inside the miscellaneous Section 5 block, which covers dealer, repair, farm, transporter and owner-contractor registrations rather than a private passenger plate.
•What replaces the plates. Once the registration is cancelled you must recycle or destroy the plates. They can be cut in half and discarded, or taken to a town recycling centre that accepts them.
•The receipt is the point. Keep the Registration Cancellation Receipt and give a photocopy to your insurance company. That receipt is the dated proof that the registration ended when you say it did.
•A revoked registration still owes excise. The fee schedule and the cancellation page both make the same point: a revoked registration is still subject to excise unless the registration is cancelled.
Every line here was read off REG100 (REG100_0922, September 2022) 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.
