How to Change Your Address in Michigan After Moving

To change your address in Michigan after moving, notify the Secretary of State immediately, then separately update your vehicle registration, your Department of Treasury tax records, and, if you own your home, your Principal Residence Exemption filings.¹ The license or ID address change is free. Skipping it can trigger a civil infraction fine and cause problems with your voter registration, property tax exemptions, and state tax refunds.²

How Fast You Have to Update the Secretary of State

MCL 257.315 says a licensed driver who moves must “immediately” notify the Secretary of State of the new residence address.¹ There is no ten-day grace period in the statute, despite what some older guides claim. Handling it within the first few days of the move keeps you safe.

Failing to report the change is a civil infraction. The recommended fine range for a first offense is $35 to $53, and total costs and assessments bring the bill to roughly $105 to $123.³

Three Ways to File the Address Change

The fastest option is the MiLogin online portal, the state’s single sign-on for Secretary of State services.⁴ After logging in, you can change your license or ID address, and the system will ask whether you want to update your vehicle registration address at the same time. Handling both together online saves you a separate vehicle filing later.²

To file by mail, download and complete Form ED-109W (Michigan Change of Address and Voter Registration) and send it to:

Michigan Department of State
P.O. Box 30764
Lansing, MI 48909-8264⁵

You can also visit a Secretary of State office in person. That is the only option if you need to correct information tied to a commercial driver’s license endorsement or designation, since those changes require an in-person transaction.⁶

What You Get Back: Sticker, New Card, or Replacement

What arrives in the mail depends on the credential you hold:

Standard license or ID holders receive a sticker printed with the updated address to place on the back of the existing card. The sticker is your legal proof of address until your next renewal. There is no charge.²
Enhanced license or ID holders receive an entirely new card with the updated address printed on it, also at no cost for the address change.²

If you have a standard license and want a fresh card rather than the sticker, you can order a replacement. The fee is $9 for a standard license and $24 for an enhanced license.⁷

Vehicle Registration Is a Separate Step

Your license address and your vehicle registration address are not automatically linked unless you updated both at the same time through the online portal. Change your license address by mail or in person, and you still have to update the vehicle registration on its own.²

To update the registration online, you need your Michigan license or ID number, the last four digits of your Social Security number, and your license plate number. Once the change goes through, you can download and print the updated registration from your browser. You can also mail the same Change of Address form to P.O. Box 30764 in Lansing, or handle it during an office visit.²

Voter Registration Moves With You

Michigan law requires the same address for your driver’s license and your voter registration. When you file an address change with the Secretary of State, your voter registration is automatically updated to your new precinct, and your registration at the old address becomes invalid for voting.⁵

You can opt out of the automatic voter update by checking the designated box on Form ED-109W, and that choice stays confidential. Just know that if you opt out and then vote using your old precinct address after moving out, you risk a misdemeanor charge for making a false statement on a registration application.⁵

Update Your Address With the Department of Treasury

The Secretary of State does not share your address change with the tax authority. The Department of Treasury manages tax correspondence separately, so refunds, notices, and identity verification letters will keep going to your old address until you tell Treasury yourself.

Online

The quickest method is the Michigan Treasury eServices portal. Sign in with your MiLogin credentials, select the Citizen Portal, then go to “More,” then “Manage Names and Addresses.” Open the Addresses tab, click your address, and follow the prompts for the relevant tax year. You will get a confirmation message, and processing generally takes about 72 hours.⁸

By Mail

Send a letter requesting the address update. Include both your old address as it appeared on your last tax return and your new address. Mail it to:

Michigan Department of Treasury
Customer Contact
P.O. Box 30058
Lansing, MI 48909⁸

Mail updates take about 12 weeks to process, and Treasury does not provide a confirmation number for changes sent that way.⁸ If you are expecting a refund, the online method is worth the setup time.

Principal Residence Exemption: The Homeowner Step

If you own your home, this is where real money sits. Michigan’s Principal Residence Exemption exempts your home from local school operating millage of up to 18 mills. On a home with a $100,000 taxable value, that is roughly $1,800 per year in property tax savings.⁹ A move triggers two filings.

Rescind the Exemption on Your Old Home

If you owned your previous home and claimed the exemption there, file Form 2602 (Request to Rescind Principal Residence Exemption) with the assessor for the city or township where the old property sits. Do not send it to the Department of Treasury. The exemption is removed as of December 31 of the year you file the rescission.¹⁰ If you sold the home, the buyer will want to claim their own exemption, and yours needs to be off the books first.

Claim the Exemption on Your New Home

At the new home, file Form 2368 (Principal Residence Exemption Affidavit) with the local assessor. The deadlines:

File by June 1 and the exemption applies starting with that year’s summer tax levy.
File between June 2 and November 1 and the exemption applies starting with that year’s winter tax levy.¹¹

Miss both deadlines and you can still file Form 2368 with the local assessor at any point. The assessor has authority to retroactively grant the exemption for the current year and up to three prior calendar years, provided you met the ownership and occupancy requirements by the relevant deadline for each year.¹¹ Filing on time is easier than asking for a retroactive fix.

What It Costs You to Skip Any of This

The civil infraction fine of roughly $105 to $123 is the smallest exposure.³ State tax refund checks and identity verification letters go to your old address. If Treasury sends a letter asking you to verify your return and you never see it, the refund gets held until you respond. Missing the Principal Residence Exemption on a new home costs you up to 18 mills in property taxes for every levy period you go uncovered. And if your voter registration still points to your old precinct, voting there after moving out exposes you to a misdemeanor charge. None of these problems announce themselves until the damage is already done, so handling all the updates within the first week of a move is the simplest insurance against each of them.

1
Michigan Legislature. MCL Section 257.315
2
Michigan Department of State. Address Change
3
Michigan Courts. Recommended Range of Fines and Costs for Civil Infractions
4
State of Michigan. MiLogin and Online Accounts
5
State of Michigan. ED-109W Michigan Change of Address and Voter Registration
6
State of Michigan. New Michigan Residents
7
State of Michigan. License and ID Information
8
State of Michigan. Address Change for Individual Income Tax
9
State of Michigan. Principal Residence Exemption
10
Michigan Department of Treasury. 2602 Request to Rescind Principal Residence Exemption
11
State of Michigan. Claim Requirement