Missouri title transfer cost and calculator

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

The title itself costs $8.50 in Missouri. That is the figure most people mean by a title transfer.

The fee is the small part. On a $20,000 car Missouri also collects about $1,445 in sales or use tax on the purchase, which is far more than the title fee.

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

How to transfer a car title in Missouri

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. Missouri DOR lists the exact forms on its own site.
2. Where you go. A Missouri license office. source 2
3. Pay. The title fee of $8.50, 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?

Missouri 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 Missouri DOR before you both take time off.

Can you transfer a title online in Missouri?

Partly. Some of the Missouri process is online and some is done in person, and which applies depends on the transaction. Check the Missouri DOR page before you plan a trip.

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

A gift is free of Missouri sales tax if the person giving it paid all the tax on the car. Write GIFT in the price space on the title and add General Affidavit Form 768 or a signed gift statement; no notary is needed. The same car can't pass as a gift two times running, and the giver reports the transfer within 30 days. source 11

Do not write $1 on the form to dodge the tax. Missouri 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 days from the date of purchase to title the car and pay the sales tax. On day 31 there is a $25.00 penalty, and it goes up another $25.00 every 30 days to a $200.00 ceiling, so leaving it eight months costs you the full $200.00. source 2

What being late costs in Missouri: a $25.00 title penalty lands on the 31st day after purchase and grows by another $25.00 for every further 30 days, up to a maximum of $200.00.

The clock starts on the sale date, not the day you get round to it, so a signed title left in a drawer is already running down. 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

Most of what people search here is a version of "can I still do this without". The honest general answer, worth confirming with Missouri 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 Missouri 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 Missouri DOR before you turn up.
• The other person cannot come. Where Missouri wants both people, a notarized power of attorney is usually the way round it.

Questions about Missouri 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 Missouri 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