How to Fill Out and Submit California’s Nonresident Military Exemption (REG 5045)

If you’re active-duty military stationed in California but legally resident in another state, the California nonresident military exemption on form REG 5045 removes the Vehicle License Fee (VLF) and Transportation Improvement Fee (TIF) from your vehicle registration bill. You fill out the form, submit it with your registration paperwork, and pay only what’s left. You have to do this every year at renewal; the DMV doesn’t roll the exemption forward.

Who Qualifies

Three conditions have to be true at once: you’re on active duty in a branch of the U.S. Uniformed Services, your duty station is in California, and your legal residence is in another state.¹ California residents don’t qualify, even if they’re on active duty and stationed here.

A spouse living with the servicemember in California can also claim the exemption on a vehicle registered in the spouse’s name, the servicemember’s name, or both, as long as the spouse isn’t a California resident.² Under the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act, a spouse may elect to use the servicemember’s state of legal residence for tax purposes even without ever having lived there.³

The vehicle also has to clear two conditions. It can’t be used in a trade or business, and it can’t be operated for hire.² A personal commuter car is fine. A vehicle running deliveries isn’t.

One boundary worth knowing before you file: the underlying federal protection applies to vehicles you own. If the car is leased and the lease is in your name rather than the title, the exemption may not reach it. If you’re shopping while stationed here, purchasing gives you cleaner access to the VLF exemption than leasing does.

What You Save and What You Still Pay

The REG 5045 knocks two charges off your registration invoice: the Vehicle License Fee and the Transportation Improvement Fee.¹ These are usually the biggest line items on the bill, so the savings can be substantial. The VLF alone is calculated at 0.65 percent of the vehicle’s market value, depreciated on an 11-year schedule from the year the car was first sold new.⁴ On a newer car it runs into hundreds of dollars.

You still owe the rest: the base registration fee, the California Highway Patrol fee, weight fees where they apply, county and district fees, and any smog charges.⁵ Pay those along with your form to keep the registration current.

Filling Out the Form

Download and print the REG 5045 from the DMV website. It has two sides. Side A is for the servicemember. Side B is for a qualifying spouse filing on their own vehicle. Complete only the side that applies.

Side A, Servicemember

Branch of service: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, Coast Guard, or a commissioned corps (NOAA, Public Health Service).
Duty station and unit: the California installation you’re assigned to and your specific unit.
State of legal residence: the state on your Leave and Earnings Statement. On an Army LES, that’s Field 44, the “ST” entry in the State Tax section.⁶
Vehicle details: the 17-character VIN, the make, and the license plate number.¹
Printed name, signature, and date. You’re signing under penalty of perjury under California law.

Side B, Spouse

If a spouse is filing, the form asks for the servicemember’s name, branch, and duty station, plus the spouse’s own name, signature, and state of legal residence. The vehicle details are the same. The spouse certifies that the servicemember is stationed in California and that the vehicle isn’t used in a trade or business.¹

Check every field before signing. A typo in the VIN or plate number is enough to hold up processing.

How to Submit It

Three routes, and the ID requirement changes by route.

In person at a DMV field office

Bring the completed REG 5045, your military ID, and payment for the fees you still owe. A technician processes it on the spot and gives you a revised registration card and a year sticker.²

By mail

Send the completed form, your renewal notice, and a check or money order for the remaining fees to:

Department of Motor Vehicles
PO Box 942869
Sacramento, CA 94269-0001⁷

Mail submissions don’t require ID verification.² Allow up to eight weeks before following up on a missing card or sticker.

Through a dealer or registration service

If you’re registering a newly purchased car through a dealership or a third-party service, give them a copy of your military ID with the completed REG 5045 and they’ll submit the package.²

You Have to Refile Every Renewal

The exemption doesn’t carry forward. Every renewal cycle, submit a new REG 5045 with your payment.² Skip it, and the DMV bills the full VLF and TIF as part of the renewal total.

If your situation changes, you no longer qualify: establishing California residency, transferring to a duty station outside the state, separating from the military, or putting the vehicle into business use all end the exemption. Filing anyway would be a false declaration.

Mistakes That Cost People the Exemption

Paying the renewal online or by mail without attaching a new REG 5045. The exemption isn’t automatic, so the full VLF and TIF get charged.
Mismatched vehicle information. The VIN, plate, and make on the form have to match DMV records exactly.
A California-resident spouse claiming the exemption on their own vehicle. If the spouse holds California residency, the exemption doesn’t apply to that spouse’s vehicle regardless of the servicemember’s status.²
Claiming it on a business or for-hire vehicle. The form requires you to certify the vehicle isn’t used in a trade or business.
Showing up at a field office without a military ID. Mail submissions don’t need ID, but in-person ones do.

1
California Department of Motor Vehicles. REG 5045 Nonresident Military Vehicle License Fee Exemption Form
2
California Department of Motor Vehicles. Nonresident Military (NRM) Exemption
3
Military OneSource. The Military Spouses Residency Relief Act
4
California Department of Motor Vehicles. Vehicle License Fee (VLF)
5
California Department of Motor Vehicles. Registration Fees
6
Defense Finance and Accounting Service. How to Read an Active Duty Army Leave and Earning Statement
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California Department of Motor Vehicles. Contact Us