How to fill out North Carolina MVR-613

The form that stops the 3% Highway Use Tax being charged when a car moves between certain family members or in the other narrow situations the statute lists. It is signed by the person receiving the vehicle, not by the seller, and — like almost everything else in North Carolina — it has to be notarised.

Written against MVR-613 (Rev 04/26), issued under N.C. General Statute 105-187.6. This is the buyer's form in a family transfer, which catches people out — the parent handing the car over signs the title assignment, and the child receiving it signs this. Both signatures need a notary, and they are two separate acknowledgments.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MVR-613 from the ncdot.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our MVR-613 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank MVR-613 — Highway Use Tax Exemption Certification PDF at ncdot.gov · new tab Step 2 · how to fill it in Our filled-in MVR-613 guide PDF · print and keep beside you

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual MVR-613, rendered from the PDF the North Carolina Division 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

A North Carolina MVR-613 highway use tax exemption certification filled in for a 2017 Subaru Outback, VIN 4S4WMAJD5H3417206, in the name of Rosalind M. Hollowell, with the gift between parent and child box ticked and every other exemption box greyed, followed by the owner's signature, Winston-Salem address and a completed notary block. — The actual MVR-613 at revision 04/26, completed for a parent-to-child gift. Only one box is ticked out of eighteen, and the greyed blocks show how much of this form belongs to volunteer fire departments, boards of education and corporate mergers rather than to a family.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
The buyer fills this in
The vehicle line
Year, make, body style, VIN and fuel, written into the sentence that starts as purchaser of a.
Watch out: The sentence gives away who signs this form. It is the purchaser certifying, which in a gift means the person receiving the car.
2
The buyer fills this in
The certifying name
Your full name in the second sentence, certifying that you qualify based on one of the reasons listed.
Watch out: The name here should match the name going on to the new title, not the name of whoever drove the car over.
3
The buyer fills this in
The exemption box
One tick. For an ordinary family transfer it is gift between spouse and spouse, gift between parent and child, or gift between stepparent and stepchild.
Watch out: There is no general family box. If the relationship is not one of the ones printed, the tax is due, and no amount of describing it in the margin changes that.
4
The buyer fills this in
Signature and address
Under the line that reads: under penalty of law, I certify the above declaration is correct. Then the address, date, county and state.
Watch out: Under penalty of law is not decoration on a tax certificate. A gift box ticked on a sale is a false declaration about money that was actually paid.
5
The buyer fills this in
The notary block
Names of the principals, the notary's signature and printed name, the seal and the commission expiry.
Watch out: Take it to the licence plate agency with the title and the MVR-1 and have all the acknowledgments done in one visit. They are charged per signature.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
The vehicle line	Year, make, body style, VIN and fuel type, written into a sentence that begins: as purchaser of a.
The certifying name	Your name, in a sentence certifying that you qualify for the exemption based on one of the reasons listed below.
The full exemptions	Fourteen tick boxes, and only a handful of them describe an ordinary family: to a co-owner where there is no compensation, will or intestacy where nothing was paid to the estate, gift between spouse and spouse, gift between parent and child, gift between stepparent and stepchild, and disposition of marital property on separation or divorce.
The institutional exemptions	The rest of the list: a local board of education for driver education, a handicapped person receiving a vehicle equipped by the Department of Health and Human Services, a Cherokee Indian living on the reservation with a copy of the ID card, volunteer fire departments and rescue squads, state agencies, research or demonstration projects, a revocable trust where the owner is the sole beneficiary, and even trades.
The partial exemption block	A separate heading — partial exemption, $40 maximum tax — with four boxes under it: a repossessor applying for title where the lien was properly recorded, a merger or name change, and two transfers to entities under sections 351 and 721 of the US Internal Revenue Code.
Signature block	Under penalty of law, I certify the above declaration is correct — then the owner's signature, address, date, county and state.
Notary block	The standard North Carolina acknowledgment: names of the principals, notary signature, printed or typed name, seal and commission expiry.

What gets this one rejected

•Ticking more than one reason. The form asks you to check the applicable box, singular, and the reasons are alternatives rather than a checklist.
•A gift between people the statute does not name. Grandparent to grandchild is not on this form, and neither is sibling to sibling.
•The Cherokee exemption without a copy of the Cherokee ID card. The form asks for it in the same line as the box.
•An unsigned notary block. The certification is made under penalty of law and the acknowledgment is what makes it one.
•Using it on a vehicle coming in from out of state. NCDMV's Title Manual states plainly that out-of-state vehicles being titled here do not qualify for the partial exemptions.
•Sending it in without the title application. It is a certificate attached to a transfer, not a standalone claim.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•The family list is exactly as long as it looks. Spouse to spouse, parent to child, stepparent to stepchild. NCDMV's own page for sellers repeats those three and adds that the exemption applies to a North Carolina resident transferring a North Carolina title to another North Carolina resident.
•The partial exemptions cap the tax rather than remove it. The heading over the second block reads $40 maximum tax, and the four boxes under it are business transfers and repossessions, not family gifts.

Every line here was read off MVR-613 (Rev 04/26) itself — the PDF is here — and off the North Carolina Division 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.

Back to all North Carolina seller paperwork, or what selling a car in North Carolina involves.

How to fill out North Carolina MVR-613

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

The vehicle line

The certifying name

The exemption box

Signature and address

The notary block

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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