Mississippi title transfer cost and calculator

How much does it cost to transfer a title in Mississippi?

Mississippi charges $9 for the title. That is the figure most people mean by a title transfer. If you are plating the car at the same time, the title, registration and plate fees add up to about $38 on a used $20,000 car, not counting tax and before the county ad valorem tax, which depends on where you live.

The tax is the number that matters. A $20,000 purchase in Mississippi carries roughly $1,000 in sales or use tax, several times the title fee.

Work out your own figure on the Mississippi registration fee calculator, which itemizes every line and links to the source for each one.

How to transfer a car title in Mississippi

1. Get the paperwork right. The seller signs the title over to you and you fill in an application to put it in your name. Mississippi DOR lists the exact forms on its own site.
2. Where you go. Your county tax collector's office, where the ad valorem tax is paid and the tag issued. Register a newly purchased vehicle within 30 business days. source 4
3. Pay. The title fee of $9, plus the tax on the purchase unless the transfer is exempt.
4. Do it in time. File within 30 days of the sale; what being late costs is under the deadline section below.

Do both of you need to be there, and can you do it online?

Mississippi DOR does not say whether both of you have to be there. As a rule the seller has to sign the title over and the buyer signs the application, and where a state wants both signatures notarized a notary can stand in for one party being present. Confirm it with the Mississippi DOR before you both take time off.

Can you transfer a title online in Mississippi?

Partly. Many counties let you renew online. A first title and tag in your name is done at the county tax collector's office. source 1

Transferring a title to a family member, or as a gift

Mississippi taxes most gifted cars as casual sales, but not a gift between spouses, a parent and child, a grandparent and grandchild, or brothers and sisters (siblings were added on July 1, 2019). Sign an Affidavit of Relationship at the county tax collector. A gift from a cousin, aunt, uncle or in-law is still taxed. source 4

Do not write $1 on the form to dodge the tax. Mississippi taxes what you actually paid, which is exactly why an understated price is treated as fraud rather than a smart move. If it truly is a gift, claim it as one on the proper form at the time of the transfer.

How long you have, and what late costs

Thirty business days from the purchase date. If you bought it outside your home county you first get 48 hours to bring it home. source 4

What being late costs in Mississippi: a vehicle you buy has to be registered within 30 business days of the purchase; bought outside your home county, you have 48 hours to get it home first. The dealer's drive-out tag is good for 7 working days.

The countdown runs from when the title was signed, not from your first free afternoon, so do not sit on it. A transfer you never finish leaves the car in the seller's name, and tickets, tolls and abandoned-vehicle notices all follow the registered owner, so the 30-day window is worth keeping to.

When something is missing

A lot of these searches start with "what if I do not have". The honest general answer, worth confirming with Mississippi DOR for your own case:

• No title. The seller applies for a duplicate before selling. A car sold without its title is not a car you can register, and a seller who cannot produce one is a seller to walk away from.
• There is still a loan on it. The lender holds the title or the lien is recorded against it, and it only moves cleanly once the loan is cleared. Never hand over money for a financed car before you have seen the lien released in writing.
• No bill of sale. Some states require one and some do not, but write one anyway. It is the only record of what you paid, and in Mississippi what you paid is what any tax is worked out on.
• The owner has died. This goes through the estate rather than a normal transfer, and what is needed depends on whether there is a will and whether the estate goes to probate. It is the one case here where it is worth ringing Mississippi DOR before you turn up.
• The other person cannot come. Where Mississippi wants both people, a notarized power of attorney is usually the way round it.

Questions about Mississippi title transfers

Once the title is in your name

The title is half of it. The plate and the registration are the other half, and the tax lands with them. The Mississippi registration fee calculator works out the whole bill line by line, including what a dealer means when they quote a single tax, title and license number.

Nearby states

Or see car title transfer by state for all 51.

Where these numbers come from