Turns a handover into a legally taxless one. Attached to the title application, it claims exemption 13 from Pennsylvania sales and use tax by having every transferor and every transferee swear that nothing of value moved in either direction. It is short, and it is the shortest route to a criminal charge on this whole page if it is not true.
Written against MV-13ST (1-25), issued under 72 P.S. 7204, Pennsylvania Sales and Use Tax exemption 13.
The Department of Revenue reviews transactions where a price is set well below fair market value, and a gift is a price of nothing. If money changed hands, however little, this is the wrong form and the fair-market-value one is the right one.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MV-13ST from the pa.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is all 2 pages of the actual MV-13ST, rendered from the PDF the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 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
Page 1 of 2. Sections A, B and C - the vehicle, the giver and the receiver.Page 2 of 2. The definitions of gift, transferor and transferee, and the five ways a donor proves that tax was already paid in another state.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Section A, the vehicle
Title number, VIN, make, model and year, copied off the certificate.
Watch out: Five boxes and no room for error - this affidavit gets stapled to a title application, and a VIN that disagrees with it stops both.
2
You fill this in
Section B, are you related?
A yes or no tick, then a line identifying all the parties and the relationship between them.
Watch out: Friend/friend is one of the form's own examples, so an unrelated gift is not automatically suspect - but it is the line that gets read first.
3
You fill this in
Section B, the transferor's details
Printed name, PA driver's licence or photo ID number, date of birth, full address, signature and date. A second block exists for a co-owner.
Watch out: Both names on the title means both blocks filled. A gift signed by one of two owners is an incomplete assignment as well as an incomplete affidavit.
4
The buyer fills this in
Section C, the transferee
The same details for whoever is receiving the car, and for a second recipient if the vehicle is going into two names.
Watch out: The receiver is swearing they gave nothing of value. If they paid for the new tyres before collection, that is worth a conversation before anyone signs.
5
You fill this in
The declarations
Read them. Each side is declaring under penalty of perjury that nothing of value moved, in either direction, from anybody.
Watch out: The consequence printed beside it is not a fee - it is criminal prosecution and the revocation of your driving privileges for a period of one year.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Section A, vehicle information
Title number, vehicle identification number, make, model and year.
Section B, transferor or transferors
The giver. A yes or no on whether the transferee is related, then a line naming all the parties and the relationship - the form's own examples are father/son, mother/daughter, uncle/nephew, friend/friend. Then printed name, PA driver's licence or photo ID number, date of birth, address, signature and date, for up to two givers.
Section C, transferee or transferees
The receiver, with the same set of boxes, up to two.
The declaration above each block
The transferor declares under penalty of perjury that they have received nothing of value, directly or indirectly, from the transferee or any other individual or entity - money, property, services or the forgiveness or waiver of any debt, obligation or encumbrance. The transferee declares the mirror image.
What gets this one rejected
•A gift with a price on it. The definition printed on the form is a vehicle transferred without consideration or compensation, and it says the exemption may not be used if the gift is being given in exchange for goods, services, or monetary value.
•Cancelling a debt instead of taking cash. The declaration names the forgiveness or waiver of any debt, obligation or encumbrance as consideration.
•One side signing. It must be completed by all transferees and transferors.
•Sending it in alone. It is submitted with the title application, not on its own.
•Assuming a gift from out of state is automatically clean. Where the donor bought the vehicle in another state they must prove sales tax was paid in a reciprocal one, and if they cannot, tax is due on the current fair market value.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•What counts as proof from another state. Five things are listed: an affidavit from the donor with the VIN plus a cancelled cheque and a bill of sale or dealership affidavit; written documentation from the previous jurisdiction; a copy of the donor's out-of-state registration card; the out-of-state certificate of title showing the tax paid; or an affidavit from the out-of-state dealership.
•The words the form uses. Transferor is defined on the page as the seller and transferee as the buyer, which reads oddly on a gift form and is worth reading twice before signing the wrong block.
•The penalty is on the face of it. Falsification of this affidavit could result in criminal prosecution and the revocation of your driving privileges for a period of one year. That sentence is printed in both Section B and Section C.
Every line here was read off MV-13ST (1-25) itself —
the PDF is here — and off the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation pages.
This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ,
theirs governs.
