The form people look for after selling a car with eight months left on the plates, and the form whose first sentence explains why they will not get the money. It is on this page so that a Wisconsin seller stops hunting for a refund that does not exist and files the cancellation instead - but there is a narrow case where it does work, and it is worth knowing which one.
Written against MV2030 (03/2025), issued under s. 341.25, Wis. Stats..
Most Wisconsin sellers who reach this form do not need it. Read the first line of the PDF before filling anything in: if your registration period has already begun, there is nothing here for you and the MV2514 is the form you actually want.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MV2030 from the wisconsindot.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual MV2030, rendered from the PDF the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Division 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 reason box is the form. Everything above it is identification; this is the only part a clerk reads to decide. Note the two tick boxes halfway down - they choose an envelope, not an outcome. Names and numbers invented for the sample.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Year, Make and Plate Type
Three short boxes across the top describing the vehicle and the class of plate you are claiming on.
Watch out: Plate Type is the code from the registration certificate - AUT for an ordinary car. Guessing it is how a claim gets routed to the wrong unit.
2
You fill this in
Current License Plate Number
Eight cells for the plate the registration was paid on.
Watch out: The plate you are claiming for is the one you paid to renew, which may not be the plate that is on the car today if you transferred one in.
3
You fill this in
Vehicle Identification Number
Seventeen cells, from the title rather than the dashboard.
Watch out: Cross-check it against the plate number. A mismatched pair on a refund claim reads as a typing error at best.
4
You fill this in
Driver License Number
Fourteen cells for a Wisconsin licence, or a FEIN if the vehicle is company owned.
Watch out: There is no social security option on this form, unlike the MV1 - it offers a driver licence number or a FEIN and nothing else. If you hold neither, expect a query rather than a refund.
5
You fill this in
Owner name, address and email
Where a cheque would be posted, and how the department reaches you first.
Watch out: Fill the email in. It is the difference between a query answered in a day and a letter that arrives after the file is closed.
6
You fill this in
Which refund - auto and light truck, or everything else
Two boxes that decide which Madison PO box the envelope goes to.
Watch out: Auto and light truck to P.O. Box 7911; anything else to P.O. Box 8070. Both addresses are printed at the foot of the form.
7
You fill this in
Reason for requesting refund
A deep free-text box - the whole substance of the claim.
Watch out: Give the date of sale and the date the registration period was due to begin, in that order. If the period had already begun, s. 341.25 gives the department nothing to work with.
8
You fill this in
Owner Signature and Date
Two rules for two registered owners, signed and dated, with no witness.
Watch out: Send the original certificate of registration and the sticker with it, and a copy of the bill of sale if the car was sold. The form asks for all three at the foot.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Year / Make / Plate Type
Three short boxes describing the vehicle and the class of plate.
Current License Plate Number
An eight-character comb for the plate the registration belongs to.
Vehicle Identification Number
A seventeen-character comb, matched against the record like every other WisDOT form.
Driver License Number, or FEIN if company owned
Combed, fourteen cells for a Wisconsin licence.
Owner(s)/Lessee Name - Last, First, Middle Initial
Printed, not signed, on its own line.
Email Address
Optional and useful - it is the only quick route back if the department queries the claim.
Address / City / State / ZIP Code
Where a cheque would be sent.
Auto or light truck plate refund / All other plate types refund
Two ticks that do nothing but route the envelope: they decide which of two Madison PO boxes it goes to.
Reason for requesting refund
A deep free-text box, and the only part of the form that decides anything.
Owner Signature and Date, twice
Two rules for two registered owners, unwitnessed.
What gets this one rejected
•Asking after the registration period has started. The form's own first line: a refund of fees paid for annual, quarterly or consecutive monthly registration is only possible if requested before the beginning of the registration period.
•Sending it without the certificate of registration and the sticker. The form asks for the original of both.
•Selling the car and expecting the unused months back. WisDOT states plainly on the seller page that you can't get a refund for any remaining registration time.
•Sending it to the wrong box. Auto and light truck claims go to P.O. Box 7911; every other plate type goes to P.O. Box 8070.
•Leaving the reason blank. It is the only free-text field on the sheet and the only thing a clerk can act on.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•The window is before the period begins, not after it ends. This is a form for registration you have paid for and have not yet started using - a renewal paid in March for a period beginning in May, on a car sold in April.
•If the vehicle was sold, include a copy of the bill of sale. The form says so at the foot, which is one more use for the MV2928 sheet or your own bill of sale.
•It is not the plate cancellation. Cancelling a plate and asking for money back are two different requests on two different forms going to two different addresses. The MV2514 is the one that touches the vehicle record.
•There is a separate route for credit rather than cash. The MV2193, Registration fee credit claim, exists for moving value rather than recovering it, and WisDOT serves it from a different library than the rest of the vehicle forms.
