How to Fill Out and Submit Form ADM 399: Fees, Documents, and Timing

Form ADM 399 is the California DMV’s Application for Refund, the paper form you file to get back vehicle registration fees or penalties the department collected in error or in excess of what you owed. Download it from the DMV website or pick one up at any field office, attach proof of what you paid and documents supporting your reason for the claim, and submit it by mail or at a field office within three years of the payment date.¹ There is no online submission option.

When You Can File

California Vehicle Code Section 42231 authorizes a refund whenever you paid a fee that was excessive, erroneous, or not legally due.¹ In practice, the DMV lists five qualifying situations:²

You paid renewal fees, but sold the vehicle before the first day of the new registration period.
The vehicle was wrecked, junked, or stolen before the new registration period began.
You moved the vehicle out of state and registered it elsewhere before the new period started.
You paid the same renewal notice twice, which happens most often when a mailed check and an online payment cross paths.
The DMV calculated your fees using incorrect vehicle data and overcharged you.

Active-duty servicemembers stationed in California but domiciled elsewhere are exempt from the Vehicle License Fee under federal law.³ If you already paid the VLF and later qualified for the exemption, ADM 399 has a checkbox for military applicants; attach a completed Nonresident Military Exemption Statement (REG 5045).⁴

The three-year deadline is firm. Your application must reach the DMV within three years of the date you made the payment; after that, the department has no authority to issue a refund even if the overcharge is obvious.⁵ Check the transaction date on any old duplicate payment before you spend time on the form.

Which Fees Come Back and Which Do Not

Not every line on your registration bill is refundable. The DMV states that the base registration fee, the weight fee, and miscellaneous fees are not subject to refund.² The fee most commonly refunded is the Vehicle License Fee, calculated as a percentage of the vehicle’s value and usually the largest single charge on a renewal notice.

Late penalties are generally nonrefundable because they function as fines for missing a deadline rather than prepaid service charges. Credit-card convenience fees fall into the same category. Expect your refund check to be smaller than the total you paid.

One boundary worth flagging: if your vehicle was declared a constructive total loss, the prorated VLF refund for the unused portion of the registration year uses a different form, the Application for Vehicle License Fee Refund (REG 65), not ADM 399.⁶ If an insurer settled a total-loss claim, the insurer may be the party entitled to file REG 65, depending on who kept the salvage.

Filling Out the Form

The form is a single page. A few fields deserve extra care:⁴

Write the name in Box 1 exactly as it appears on your registration records. That name goes on the refund check.
Give a complete, current mailing address in Box 2. The DMV will not call to verify a bad address.
In Box 4, enter only the last three characters of the VIN or HIN for a registration fee refund. The full 17 characters are not required.
Box 6 takes the license plate number, vessel registration number, or one-trip permit number, depending on what the refund is for.

Section 11 asks why you are claiming a refund. The checkboxes are: military nonresident (attach REG 5045); vehicle left California, with the date last operated in the state and the payment date; vehicle sold, wrecked, or stolen, with the event date and payment date; VLF Offset Refund Request; and Other, with a space to write an explanation. If your situation is a duplicate payment or another circumstance not covered by the first four, check Other and give a couple of factual sentences. Auditors process hundreds of these forms and a short, clear explanation moves faster than a long one.

Documents to Attach

The refund unit will not approve a claim on your word. The Vehicle Industry Registration Procedures Manual sets out what to include:⁷

Proof of payment: photocopies of the front and back of a canceled check payable to the DMV, or a DMV-issued receipt. For a duplicate payment, include both payment records.
The current registration card and unused sticker if the refund cancels the current year’s registration entirely.
The Certificate of Title if the claim involves a VLF classification correction or the vehicle should not have been registered in California at all.
A Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability (REG 138) if the vehicle was sold and you are claiming fees paid after the sale date.
A copy of the out-of-state registration if the vehicle left California.
A completed REG 5045 for a military nonresident claim.

If one of these items is unavailable, such as a lost title or a signed document a buyer never returned, complete a Statement of Facts (REG 256) explaining why and submit it with the application.⁷

Where to Send It

You can hand the completed form and attachments to the nearest DMV field office or mail the package directly to the refund unit:⁴

Department of Motor Vehicles
P.O. Box 942869 MS A235
Sacramento, CA 94269-0001

Every application ends up at the Sacramento refund unit for processing, so mailing directly can save a few days over dropping the packet at a field office that forwards it internally. Certified mail gives you a delivery confirmation.

How Long It Takes

The DMV says you will receive your refund, or a request for more information, roughly 30 days after the department gets your application.² Straightforward, well-documented claims tend to land near that estimate. Claims with missing paperwork, unclear explanations, or fee calculations that need to be reconstructed take longer. Approved refunds arrive as a physical check mailed to the address on the form. There is no direct-deposit option.

Watch for Refund Scams

Scammers periodically send texts, emails, or physical mailers that look like they come from a state DMV, claiming you are owed a registration refund and asking you to click a link or hand over personal information. The California DMV does not initiate refund offers by text or email. The only legitimate way to request a refund is to fill out ADM 399 yourself and submit it through one of the two channels above. Do not enter your driver’s license number, VIN, or financial details on a website you reached through an unsolicited message.

1
California Legislative Information. California Code VEH 42231
2
California DMV. Payments and Refunds
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 4001 – Residence for Tax Purposes
4
Department of Motor Vehicles. Application for Refund Instructions
5
California Legislative Information. California Code VEH 42232
6
California Department of Motor Vehicles. Vehicle Industry Registration Procedures Manual – Refunds on Prorated VLF for Constructive Total Loss Vehicles
7
California Department of Motor Vehicles. Vehicle Industry Registration Procedures Manual – Refunds General