Nebraska title transfer cost and calculator

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

Putting the title in your name runs $10 in Nebraska. Add $7 to record a lien if the car is financed, which brings the paperwork to $17. That is the figure most people mean by a title transfer. Doing the title and the registration in the same trip costs about $58.70 in fees on a used $20,000 car, before any tax and before the local sales tax, which depends on where you live.

On a $20,000 car the sales or use tax in Nebraska comes to about $1,400, so that, not the $10 title fee, is what a transfer really costs unless it is exempt.

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

How to transfer a car title in Nebraska

1. Get the paperwork right. The title signed over to you, the Application for Certificate of Title, original proof of insurance, and your most recent registration if the car was registered before. source 6
2. Where you go. The county treasurer's office in the county where you live. New residents register within 30 days. source 1
3. Pay. The title fee of $10, 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?

Nebraska DMV 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 Nebraska DMV before you both take time off.

Can you transfer a title online in Nebraska?

Partly. Renewals can be done online. A first title and registration in your name is done at the county treasurer's office. source 1

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

Nebraska exempts a gift if the giver paid tax when they bought the car; if they did not, tax is due on their purchase price or the car's actual value. Fill in the gift part of Form 6, the Sales/Use Tax and Tire Fee Statement, with proof of that earlier tax. Taking over the giver's debt makes it taxable, a gift into or out of a corporation or partnership is not covered, and claiming a gift that is not one carries a penalty of $100 or ten times the tax. source 11

Do not write $1 on the form to dodge the tax. Nebraska 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

Register the car and pay the sales tax within 30 days of the purchase date; penalties can apply after that. source 7

Late fees here come from waiting for a payday or a day off, not from anything complicated, so the fix is simply to go early. 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

The common thread in these questions is something missing from the deal. The honest general answer, worth confirming with Nebraska DMV 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. Nebraska charges $7 to record a lien, so that line shows up on your own paperwork when you finance a car here.
• 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 Nebraska 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 Nebraska DMV before you turn up.
• The other person cannot come. Where Nebraska wants both people, a notarized power of attorney is usually the way round it.

Questions about Nebraska 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 Nebraska 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