How to Complete a WV Bill of Sale (Form DMV-7-TR): Notary and 60-Day Rule

West Virginia’s bill of sale is Form DMV-7-TR, and you use it to prove to the Division of Motor Vehicles what you actually paid for a vehicle in a private sale. Without it, the DMV can calculate your 6% privilege tax on the vehicle’s NADA Clean Loan Book value instead of your purchase price. You can download the form from the WV DMV website or pick one up at any regional office.¹

When the Form Must Be Notarized

Notarization is required whenever your purchase price falls below 50% of the vehicle’s current NADA Clean Loan Book value. Both buyer and seller have to appear in front of a notary, sign the form, and show government-issued ID. The notarization is what tells the DMV that both parties stood behind the stated price under oath, and it is the reason the state will accept your number instead of defaulting to book value.¹

The money at stake makes this worth doing right. If you bought a car for $2,000 and its NADA Clean Loan value is $8,000, skipping notarization means the DMV charges 6% of $8,000 ($480) instead of 6% of $2,000 ($120). West Virginia caps notary fees at $10 per signature, so the notary bill is trivial next to the tax difference.²

When your purchase price is at or above 50% of the NADA value, the DMV taxes you on the price listed in the title assignment, and notarization is not required. A completed DMV-7-TR is still worth keeping for your records.¹

What to Fill In

The form has to carry enough information for the DMV to match it to the vehicle and the transaction. Make sure every field is complete:

Full legal names and physical residential addresses for both buyer and seller.
The vehicle’s year, make, model, and full 17-character VIN.
The exact purchase price, in dollars and cents.
The date of sale.
The odometer reading at the time of sale.

The purchase price is the field people get wrong most often. Whatever you write on the bill of sale must match the price written on the title assignment, down to the dollar. If the title says $3,000 and the bill of sale says $2,500, the DMV rejects both documents, and the only fix is for the original owner to apply for a duplicate title and start over. If the DMV cannot pin down the real price because of conflicting numbers or alterations, they tax you on the full NADA book value.¹

The odometer reading on the bill of sale also needs to match the reading recorded in the title’s assignment section. If the title has no odometer field, the seller fills out Form DMV-TM-1, a separate odometer disclosure statement.¹

Vehicles Two Years Old or Newer

If the vehicle is two years old or newer and you did not buy it from a registered dealer, DMV-7-TR will not help you lower your tax bill. The DMV taxes these newer vehicles on the current NADA Clean Loan Book value regardless of what the bill of sale says. Buy a one-year-old car from a friend for $15,000 when NADA says $22,000, and you pay 6% of $22,000. There is no workaround on private sales this new.¹

If No Money Changed Hands, Use a Different Form

DMV-7-TR is for sales. If the vehicle was a gift and nothing was paid, you use Form DMV-5-TR, the Affidavit of Transfer of Ownership Without Consideration, which both the giver and recipient sign.³ Submitting DMV-5-TR when a price actually exists will get your application rejected, because the DMV will not accept a title showing a purchase price alongside an affidavit claiming the transfer was a gift.¹

One wrinkle on genuine gifts: if a lien is being recorded on the new owner’s title, the DMV assesses the 6% tax on the lien amount. A free-and-clear gift transfers without tax; a financed “gift” is taxed like a sale.¹

What to Bring to the DMV

Along with your completed DMV-7-TR (notarized if required), you need to bring:

The vehicle title, signed by both buyer and seller on the back, with the odometer reading recorded.
Form DMV-1-TR, the Application for Certificate of Title.
Copies of both the buyer’s and seller’s driver’s licenses. This applies to every bill of sale submission, not just notarized ones.

The 6% privilege tax is calculated on the purchase price for vehicles sold above $500, with a flat $30 charge on vehicles sold for $500 or less. If you traded in a vehicle on which you already paid the privilege tax, that trade-in value is deducted from the purchase price before tax is calculated.¹

You Have 60 Days

West Virginia gives you 60 days from the date of purchase to transfer registration to a newly purchased vehicle.⁴ Driving an unregistered vehicle is a misdemeanor, with fines up to $500 for a first offense and up to $500 plus potential jail time of up to six months for repeat violations.⁵ Get the bill of sale completed and notarized the same day you take delivery, if you can. It is the one piece of paper that most often holds up a title transfer later.

1
WV Division of Motor Vehicles. WV Division of Motor Vehicles – Titles
2
West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 39-4-30
3
West Virginia Department of Transportation. Affidavit of Transfer of Ownership Without Consideration
4
West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 17A-4-1
5
West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 17A-9-2 – Operation of Vehicles Without Registration