How to fill out Utah TC-840

Two transactions on one sheet: an owner giving up a personalised combination, and somebody else applying for it. A seller meets it in one of two ways - because the personalised plate is being sold with the car and the bill of sale says this form is required, or because they are letting the combination go and want somebody specific to have it. The sheet also prints the warning about what happens if a seller does nothing at all, which is the part worth reading first.

Written against TC-840 (Rev 11/24), issued under Utah Code 41-1a-411(2) and 41-1a-413. A personalised combination is worth something and it is lost by inaction rather than by decision. The warning on the sheet is that failing to surrender it on a sale, or failing to keep a vehicle registered using it, releases your priority and the Division makes the combination available to the public.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank TC-840 from the files.tax.utah.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank TC-840 — Relinquish and Reassign a Personalized Plate PDF at files.tax.utah.gov · new tab

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual TC-840, rendered from the PDF the Utah State Tax Commission, Motor Vehicle Division 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

Utah form TC-840 filled in: Dallin R. Hafen of Hurricane relinquishing the personalised plate QTZMTN, and Neelam S. Chaudhari of La Verkin applying for it on a currently registered 2018 Honda Civic, with the Life Elevated Arches design ticked. — Both halves completed at once, which is the only way the sheet does anything. The vehicle block at the foot is the new owner's, and it has to be a vehicle that is registered today.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
You fill this in
The combination being given up
The plate number printed in the box under the relinquishment sentence.
Watch out: Print it exactly as it appears on the plate, spaces and all. A combination written down wrongly relinquishes nothing and applies for something that does not exist.
2
You fill this in
Previous owner's name, signature and date
Printed, signed and dated by the person the plate is currently issued to.
Watch out: If the plate is issued jointly, ask the Division whose signature it wants before filling it in. The sheet gives one line.
3
The buyer fills this in
New owner application
Name, telephone, address, and a plate design - skier, arches, or another written into the Other line.
Watch out: The design is not decoration. The combination is manufactured onto whichever plate is chosen and changing it afterwards means ordering again.
4
The buyer fills this in
The vehicle it is going onto
Current plate, expiration date, year, make and identification number of a vehicle that is registered now.
Watch out: Current registration is a condition on the heading. A vehicle with expired tags cannot receive the plate until the registration is put right.
5
The buyer fills this in
Signature and payment
The new registered owner signs and dates their half, and the fees are paid before anything is manufactured.
Watch out: Personalised plates are issued first come, first served. A completed sheet sitting on a kitchen table holds no place in the queue.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
Plate Number Relinquished by Previous Owner	One line, under the sentence I hereby relinquish all rights to personalized plate number, with the instruction to print the plate number in the box.
Previous registered owner's name (print) and signature, with Date	Three fields on one rule. This half of the page ends the old owner's claim to the combination.
New Owner Application: New owner name and Telephone number	The applicant's block.
Address, City, State, Zip code	Where the new registration will sit.
Plate type: Life Elevated Skier / Life Elevated Arches / Other	Two named designs and a write-in line, because a personalised combination still has to sit on a plate design.
The refusal power, printed on the sheet	Pursuant to Utah Code 41-1a-411(2), the DMV may refuse to issue any combination of letters, numbers or both that may carry connotations offensive to good taste and decency or that would be misleading.
Vehicle information where plate will be reassigned (must have current registration)	Current plate, expiration date, year, make and identification number - and the bracket is a condition, not a hint.
The fees line	All plates must be manufactured and all fees paid. Personalized plates are issued on a first-come, first-served basis.
The forfeiture warning	That failure to comply with Utah Code 41-1a-413 concerning surrender of personalized license plates upon transfer, sale or disposal of a vehicle - or failure to register or renew a vehicle using them - constitutes release of that owner's priority, and the Division shall make that combination available to the public.
New registered owner's signature and Date	The applicant signs their own half.
Make checks payable to the Utah State Tax Commission	Printed above the signature line.

What gets this one rejected

•Only one half completed. The sheet is a relinquishment and an application, and neither works on its own.
•A vehicle named in the reassignment block that is not currently registered. The bracket on the heading makes current registration a condition of the transfer.
•A combination that has already been released to the public. Once priority is lost the combination goes back into the pool on a first-come, first-served basis and cannot be reclaimed by paperwork.
•The plate design left unchosen. A personalised combination has to be manufactured onto one of the designs, and Other needs the design written in.
•Filed after the vehicle has been sold and the plate left on it. The statute requires the owner to act immediately on transfer, and the sheet spells out what happens if they do not.
•Sent without payment. All plates must be manufactured and all fees paid before anything is issued.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•Immediately means immediately. Utah Code 41-1a-413 gives a personalised-plate owner who sells the vehicle two options and no waiting period: apply to display the plate on a different vehicle they own, or surrender it and release their priority to the combination.
•The bill of sale points here. The plate tick box on the Utah bill of sale carries its own instruction in brackets, naming this form where the plate being included in the sale is personalised.

Every line here was read off TC-840 (Rev 11/24) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Utah State Tax Commission, Motor Vehicle 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 Utah seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Utah involves.

How to fill out Utah TC-840

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

The combination being given up

Previous owner's name, signature and date

New owner application

The vehicle it is going onto

Signature and payment

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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