The form that turns the word gift on a title into an actual exemption. Writing gift in the sale price box on the certificate does not by itself excuse the tax; this is where the recipient names which paragraph of the exemption statute they are relying on, and where the narrow family gift - to a spouse, son, daughter or parent - is claimed. Its second page reprints the whole list of exemptions, which is the most useful page of tax law the department publishes for a private seller.
Written against SUT 3 (07/01/2023), issued under Va. Code 58.1-2403.
The seller's name goes at the top of a form called Purchaser's Statement, which trips people up in both directions. The block headed VEHICLE INFORMATION opens with SELLER NAME, and the person who signs at the foot is the recipient. On a genuine family gift those are a parent and a child, and putting them the wrong way round makes the claim read as a gift from the child.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank SUT 3 from the dmv.virginia.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is all 2 pages of the actual SUT 3, rendered from the PDF the Virginia Department 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
Page 1 of 2. The claim itself. Free text describing the circumstances, the paragraph number that carries it, the family-relationship tick, and the recipient's certification.Page 2 of 2. The whole of Va. Code 58.1-2403 as DMV reprints it. Paragraph 7 is the family gift; paragraph 26 is the deceased owner's vehicle passing to a spouse or heir.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Seller name and the vehicle
The transferor's name across four boxes, then year, make, model and VIN.
Watch out: This is the only line on the form the person giving the car appears on. Everything else is the recipient's.
2
The buyer fills this in
The statement of exemption
Plain writing describing why no tax is due - who the parties are to each other and that nothing changed hands.
Watch out: Say that no money, trade or other consideration passed. That single sentence is what an examiner is looking for.
3
The buyer fills this in
The paragraph number
One number from the list on page two, entered in the small box.
Watch out: Read the paragraph before you write its number. Paragraph 7 excludes an assumed unpaid obligation unless the gift is to a spouse.
4
The buyer fills this in
The gift relationship
Spouse, son, daughter or parent - one tick, and only where paragraph 7 is the claim.
Watch out: The note above it is narrow: as used here, son, daughter or parent includes only biological and adopted children and parents.
5
The buyer fills this in
Certification
The recipient's name split across four boxes, signature, date, and the city or county with its tick.
Watch out: No notary. Like almost every Virginia form, this is affirmed under penalty of perjury and handed in.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Vehicle information
The seller's name split across four boxes - last, first, mi, suffix - and then vehicle year, make, model and the vehicle identification number.
Statement of exemption
A free-text block for the reasons, followed by a small box for the applicable paragraph number from page 2. The paragraph number is the part that does the work; the prose above it explains it.
Recipient of vehicle as a gift
Used only where the paragraph claimed is the family gift. A tick for spouse, son, daughter or parent of the transferor, then the applicant's full name and address. A bolded note limits son, daughter and parent to biological and adopted children and parents.
Certification
Applicant name split into last, first, mi and suffix again, then signature and date, and the name of the city or county with a tick for which it is.
Page two, the exemption list
Every paragraph of Va. Code 58.1-2403 reprinted, numbered - government vehicles, volunteer fire and emergency medical agencies, repossessions, family gifts, corporate reorganisations, vehicles first titled here on a valid out-of-state title, dealer inventory, charities, trusts, lease buyouts, vehicles passing to a spouse or heir of a deceased owner, and a constitutional amendment for a veteran with a hundred per cent service-connected disability.
What gets this one rejected
•Writing gift on the title and stopping there. The word on the certificate is not the claim; this form is.
•Claiming the family gift for a niece, a friend or a step-parent. The bolded note restricts son, daughter and parent to biological and adopted, and the tick boxes offer no other relationship.
•Completing the gift block when the paragraph claimed is something else. The important note at the head of that section limits it to applicants who listed paragraph 7.
•Leaving the paragraph number box empty. A description of the circumstances with no paragraph attached is not a statement of exemption.
•Assuming a gift between family members escapes the unpaid loan on the car. Paragraph 7 excludes any unpaid obligation assumed by the transferee, except where the gift is to a spouse.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•The most-used exemption is not the gift. It is paragraph 10 - a vehicle being registered for the first time in the Commonwealth where the applicant already holds a valid title or registration from another state or a branch of the armed forces, and has owned it for longer than twelve months.
•Death is its own paragraph. A vehicle titled in the name of a deceased person and transferred to the spouse or heir, or under the will, is exempt in its own right - which is why an estate transfer does not need to be dressed up as a gift.
•A charity has to hold the title. The exemptions covering non-profit organisations turn on the vehicle being titled in the charity's name and not registered, driven or permitted to be driven on the highways by it.
Every line here was read off SUT 3 (07/01/2023) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Virginia Department 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.
