How to fill out Nebraska Form 6

The tax paperwork of a Nebraska sale is the seller's job to start, and this is the form. The instructions on its second page are addressed to you by name: an individual, who is not licensed to collect sales tax, must complete this statement for every sale of a motor vehicle or trailer, retain a signed copy, and provide two copies of the signed form to the purchaser. The buyer then presents those two copies to the county treasurer within thirty days and pays the Nebraska and local sales or use tax and the tire fee before the car can be registered. You collect no tax yourself - what you supply is the sworn record of the price it will be computed from.

Written against Form 6 (Rev 10-2021), issued under Nebraska Department of Revenue form 6-004-1967, presented to the county treasurer under the Nebraska Revenue Act. The exemption half of the form is where private sellers create problems by helping. Only the person claiming the exemption signs the Resale or Exempt Sale Certificate, and the penalty printed under it lands on them: $100 or ten times the tax, whichever is larger, for claiming a category that does not apply. If a buyer wants the sale papered as a gift, the answer is on the form - a gift is a transfer without any consideration, and your signature sits an inch above the felony warning.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank Form 6 from the revenue.nebraska.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our Form 6 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   You fill this in

   Purchaser's name and address

   The buyer's details in the left column - name, street or other address, city, state, zip code.

   Watch out: Copy them from the purchaser's section of the title you both just completed. The county files this beside the title application, and mismatched addresses across the folder are what slow a counter down.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   Seller's name and address

   Your own details in the right column, as the person the record will show sold the vehicle.

   Watch out: Use the address your registration shows. The refund application you file afterwards names the same person at the same address, and the county matches the two.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   The purchased vehicle row

   Make, body type, year, VIN, and the date of purchase.

   Watch out: The date here is evidence, not decoration - the instructions make the date of purchase the earlier of the title date or the possession date shown on this form, and the thirty-day tax clock runs from it.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   The trade-in row, almost always empty

   Completed only when you genuinely took a vehicle in trade at the time of the sale - the form accepts a motor vehicle, motorboat, all-terrain vehicle or utility-type vehicle.

   Watch out: If you did, the traded vehicle must be titled in the buyer's name and described here, and its value comes off line 1 at line 2. A neighbour's car pledged next week is not a trade-in.

5. 5
   You fill this in

   Line 1: the total sales price

   The full price paid, before anything is subtracted.

   Watch out: This is the figure the treasurer multiplies by the rate, so understating it as a favour is the precise act the felony warning above your signature describes - and the county sees the bill of sale too.

6. 6
   You fill this in

   Lines 2 to 4: down to the tax base

   Trade-in allowance off, manufacturer's rebate off, and the remainder on line 4. No trade and no rebate means line 4 repeats line 1.

   Watch out: If the arithmetic goes negative the instruction is to enter -0- - no refund is made from a negative tax base, however generous the trade.

7. 7
   Somebody else fills this in

   Leave lines 5 to 11 for the counter

   The state tax, local tax, tire fee, any penalty and interest, and the balance due are computed and collected by the county treasurer before registration.

   Watch out: The local rate is the buyer's problem and the treasurer's arithmetic - rates differ by jurisdiction and change quarterly, so a figure you pencil in today can be wrong at the counter.

8. 8
   You fill this in

   Both of you sign

   Signature of Seller, Signature of Purchaser or agent, and the date, above the declaration that the statement is correct and complete.

   Watch out: Sign all three copies while you are together - one for your records, two for the buyer to carry to the treasurer. An unsigned copy is not a statement, it is scrap paper.

9. 9
   The buyer fills this in

   The exemption certificate stays blank

   The Resale or Exempt Sale Certificate on the lower half is signed only by a person claiming one of its twelve categories, with the documentation each category demands.

   Watch out: In an ordinary sale for money, nobody qualifies. The one a buyer most often reaches for - category 10, gift or inheritance - requires no consideration at all and proof the donor paid tax on the previous transfer.

What gets this one rejected

• •One copy where two are needed. The purchaser must present two copies of this statement to the county treasurer - the counter receipts one back to them - so a seller who hands over a single signed sheet has left the buyer short.
• •A sales price that disagrees with the bill of sale. The treasurer computes the tax from line 1, and a figure that does not match the other paper in the buyer's folder invites the counter to stop and ask which document is wrong.
• •Claiming the gift category on a sale for money. Category 10 defines a gift as a voluntary transfer without any consideration where the donor paid the tax on the previous transfer - and if the person accepting the vehicle assumes a lien, the amount owing is taxed anyway.
• •A trade-in that was never titled to the buyer. The trade-in allowance requires the traded vehicle to be titled in the name of the purchaser - the exception is a vehicle titled to the purchaser's parent, guardian or child - and a leased vehicle returned to the lessor earns no allowance at all.
• •Sitting on it past thirty days. If the tax and tire fee are not paid within 30 days of the purchase date, the county treasurer assesses penalty and interest at the statutory rate - the buyer's cost, but your phone starts ringing when they discover it.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •The seller completes it, by the form's own instruction. The Instructions for Seller distinguish a licensed dealer or permitholder from an individual without a sales tax permit, and bind both: complete this statement for every sale of a motor vehicle or trailer. Yours is the simpler duty - no mailing to the Department of Revenue, just the copies.
• •The date of purchase is defined, not chosen. The earlier of two dates: the date on the motor vehicle title, or the date of possession as evidenced by the date of purchase shown on this form. Writing a later date to buy the buyer time moves nothing - the earlier one governs.
• •Tax paid to another state can count. A vehicle bought in a state with reciprocity, tax properly paid there, gets that tax credited against the Nebraska and local use tax due at registration - but no refund is made if the other state's rate was higher.
• •Individuals skip the tire count. Line 8 is for dealers, who must count new tires including the spare. The instruction for private sellers is explicit: individuals selling used motor vehicles are not required to indicate the number of tires.
• •Underpayment has its own form. A mistake discovered later is not corrected by crossing out - underpayment of tax or tire fee on this statement is reported on an Amended statement, Form 6XN, available at each county treasurer's office.
• •Keep your copy for six years. The purchaser is told to retain a copy for at least six years, and the foot of the form binds all three parties: the county, purchaser, and seller must keep a copy of the signed Form 6.

Every line here was read off Form 6 (Rev 10-2021) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles, Driver and Vehicle Records Division 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 Nebraska seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Nebraska involves.