The one tax document a Washington private seller signs, and it is not the Department of Licensing's - it belongs to the Department of Revenue. It appears when the buyer is asked to justify a price that sits below the department's own value for the vehicle. Both of you sign it, under penalty of perjury, and the department reserves the right to audit what you both wrote.
Written against REV 32 2501 (07/12/13), issued under Chapter 82.12 RCW and RCW 82.12.010(7)(a).
This form arrives late, usually at the counter, and by then you may be a hundred miles away. If the car is genuinely worth less than a valuation guide says - a failed head gasket, a rusted sill, a seized engine - agree with the buyer before you part that you will sign one, and write the condition down while you can both still see the vehicle.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank REV 32 2501 from the dor.wa.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual REV 32 2501, rendered from the PDF the Washington State Department of Licensing 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 Department of Revenue's form rather than the Department of Licensing's, which is why it looks nothing like the rest of the set. The block in the middle is where the work happens: a specific, checkable description of what is wrong with the vehicle carries far more weight than an assertion that the price was fair.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
The vehicle description
Make, model, year and the identification number.
Watch out: This form reaches a different department from everything else in the sale. Nothing is pre-filled and nothing is checked against the licensing record until somebody looks.
2
You fill this in
The seller block
Your name printed, address, city, state, postcode and telephone number.
Watch out: A working telephone number matters here more than anywhere else in the sale, because this is the form an auditor rings about.
3
The buyer fills this in
The buyer block
The same details for the person buying the vehicle.
Watch out: Both blocks are printed, not signed. The signatures are separate lines at the foot and both are needed.
4
You fill this in
Amount paid and date of sale
The figure that changed hands and the day it did.
Watch out: It has to agree with the bill of sale and with the Report of Sale. Three documents with three different numbers is what an audit looks for.
5
You fill this in
Describe the condition of the vehicle
The free-text block, and the substance of the whole form.
Watch out: Be concrete and be checkable. The department's own example is needs new engine, bodywork etc - a specific defect, not a general opinion that the car was tired.
6
You fill this in
Sign, date, and say where you were
Your signature, the date, and the city and state where you signed it.
Watch out: Sign it while the car is in front of you. Agreeing afterwards to describe a vehicle you can no longer inspect is how a declaration under penalty of perjury becomes somebody else's recollection.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Make, Model, Year
The vehicle description band at the top, and the form says it must be completed entirely in order to be valid.
Vehicle Identification Number
One line, taken from the certificate rather than the car.
Seller's Name(s), Address, City, State, Zip, Phone
Printed rather than signed - the signature comes later, at the foot.
Buyer's Name(s), Address, City, State, Zip, Phone
The same block again for the person buying.
Amount Paid
The figure both of you are declaring. This is the number the whole form exists to establish.
Date of Sale
Three boxes for month, day and year.
Describe condition of vehicle
A free-text block, and the reason the form works. The example the department prints is: needs new engine, bodywork etc.
Seller's Signature, Date, Place Signed
Your signature, and the city and state where you signed it.
Buyer's Signature, Date, Place Signed
The same again for the buyer, on the line underneath.
What gets this one rejected
•A part-filled form. The instruction is printed across the top in capitals: this form must be completed entirely in order to be valid.
•A condition block left empty. Without it there is nothing on the page explaining why the amount paid is what it is, and the form becomes two signatures under a number.
•A place-signed line reading only Washington. The instruction asks for the city and state.
•A seller who signs and leaves. Both signatures are needed - the form's name is Declaration of Buyer and Seller and one half of it is not a declaration.
•Using it to argue about a vehicle nobody has valued. It is a response to the department's figure, not a substitute for one.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•What the department is measuring. The statute defines value as the amount paid or contracted to be paid, and then adds the exception this whole form turns on: if the purchase price does not represent the true value of the vehicle acquired, the value is to be determined as nearly as possible according to the retail selling price at place of use of similar vehicles of like quality and character.
•The audit is written into the form. The department may, based on this statutory provision, review and audit declarations of buyers and sellers regarding value of used vehicles sold with possible additional tax, interest and penalties as a result.
•It is one of several ways to make the same point. The licensing side will also take a registered mechanic's estimate of repairs, a dealer appraisal, or a printed valuation from a recognised guide showing a lower average retail value.
•Describe the car, not the negotiation. The block asks for the condition of the vehicle. What the buyer talked you down to is not the point; what is wrong with the car is.
•It is signed under the laws of Washington. The declaration above the signature lines is under penalty of perjury, and it is made by both of you about the same number.
Every line here was read off REV 32 2501 (07/12/13) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Washington State Department of Licensing pages.
This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ,
theirs governs.
