How to fill out Virginia SUT 4

Not the seller's form. Its purpose line names the person who uses it in eight words - a lienholder uses this form to transfer a certificate of title with a lien - and every certification on it is signed by the lender or their authorised representative. It matters to a private seller for one reason: it is the route by which a name is added to or removed from a title that still has a loan on it, and it decides whether tax is charged on the move.

Written against SUT 4 (02/20/2015), issued under Va. Code 58.1-2403. Read the two notes on the form rather than the headline. The first two certifications are tax-exempt only where an original owner stays on the title and the tax was paid when the car was first titled here; the third is taxable on the loan balance. A seller handing a car to a family member who takes over the payments is on the taxable branch, however much it feels like the first one.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank SUT 4 from the dmv.virginia.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank SUT 4 — Transfer of Certificate of Title with Lien PDF at dmv.virginia.gov · new tab

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual SUT 4, 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

The Virginia DMV SUT 4 filled in by a credit union representative: a 2015 Honda CR-V with its title number and vehicle identification number, currently titled to Corinne T. Ashby, being retitled to add a co-owner, with the lienholder Blue Ridge Heritage Federal Credit Union represented by a consumer lending officer, and the first certification ticked. — Completed by the lender, not by the owner. The first certification is the tax-free one, and its bracketed note is the reason - an original owner stays on the new title.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
The lienholder fills this in
Vehicle information
Year, make, model, title number and VIN.
Watch out: The lender takes these from its own file. An owner asked to supply them should read them off the certificate rather than the registration card.
2
The lienholder fills this in
Currently titled to
The names as the certificate carries them today, with customer numbers.
Watch out: Four boxes, in last-first-middle-suffix order. A name written across them as one string is the commonest thing to have to redo.
3
The lienholder fills this in
Retitle to
The names the new certificate should carry, with addresses.
Watch out: Adding a name means both people appear here. Removing one means only the remaining owner does.
4
The lienholder fills this in
The lienholder and its representative
Institution name, telephone, address, then the individual representing it and their job title.
Watch out: A branch manager's own name goes in the represented-by line. The institution's name goes above it.
5
The lienholder fills this in
One certification of three
Loan in force, new lien for other reasons, or a purchaser assuming the obligation.
Watch out: The third one is a sale. Its note spells out that tax is charged on the unpaid balance plus anything paid to the seller, or the minimum tax if that is greater.
6
The lienholder fills this in
Signature
Printed name, signature and date from the representative, under the usual affirmation.
Watch out: Under penalty of perjury and with no notary, exactly like every other Virginia form in this file.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
Vehicle information	Year, make, model, title number and the vehicle identification number across a single row.
Currently titled to information	Owner name printed across four boxes - last, first, middle, suffix - with the DMV customer number, FEIN or SSN, and a co-owner row underneath.
Retitle to information	The same layout again for the names the certificate is going into, each with an address, city, state and ZIP code.
Lienholder or representative information	The lienholder's name split across four boxes, a telephone number, address, then the name of the person representing them, that person's job title and a date.
Lienholder certification, first option	That the original loan contract for the vehicle remains in force as originally recorded, and authorising the addition to or removal from the title of the owners named above.
Lienholder certification, second option	That the individual identified above is the current owner and is recording a new lien for reasons other than the purchase of the vehicle. A printed note follows: both of the first two transactions are exempt from motor vehicle sales and use tax provided at least one original owner remains on the newly issued title and the tax was paid by the current owner when the vehicle was originally titled.
Lienholder certification, third option	That the purchaser was not on the original loan contract, authorising them to assume the unpaid obligation, with a blank for the amount. Its note is the opposite of the one above: this transaction requires that at the time of titling, taxes are paid on the unpaid balance of the loan and any additional monies paid to the seller, or minimum tax, if greater.
Signature block	Lienholder or representative name printed, signature and date, under the standard Virginia affirmation.

What gets this one rejected

•A seller filling it in. There is no owner signature line anywhere on the form and no place for one.
•Ticking more than one certification. The instruction is I certify, check only one, and the three options carry different tax consequences.
•Using the third option and expecting no tax. Its own note says tax is due on the unpaid balance plus anything paid to the seller, or the minimum, whichever is greater.
•Leaving the assumed amount blank under the third option. The figure is what the tax is worked out from.
•Treating it as a substitute for the certificate. The title still has to be produced - this authorises what DMV does with it.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•Adding a spouse is the everyday use. The first option covers adding or removing an owner while the loan stays exactly as it was, and its note is why nobody pays tax for doing so - at least one original owner remains on the new title.
•Selling to somebody who takes over the loan is not that. The third option is a sale in everything but name, and the tax follows it. The unpaid balance is consideration.
•The representative has to be named and titled. The block asks for who the lienholder is represented by and that person's job title - a signature alone from an institution is not enough.

Every line here was read off SUT 4 (02/20/2015) 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.

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

How to fill out Virginia SUT 4

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

Vehicle information

Currently titled to

Retitle to

The lienholder and its representative

One certification of three

Signature

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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