How to Fill Out and Submit Texas Form VTR-615: Plates, Placards, Emblems

Texas Form VTR-615 is the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles application a qualifying veteran uses to get Disabled Veteran (DV) license plates, a disabled parking placard, or both. You fill it out with your personal, vehicle, and disability information, attach proof of your VA rating, and submit it to your county tax assessor-collector’s office with a $3 payment for the first set of plates. Registration fees on that first vehicle are waived.¹

Who Can Use This Form

Before you start filling anything out, confirm you meet every eligibility condition. Texas Transportation Code Section 504.202 requires all three:

A service-connected disability rating of at least 50 percent, or at least 40 percent if it results from the amputation of a lower extremity.
You currently receive VA compensation because of that disability.
The vehicle is in your name and has a gross vehicle weight of 18,000 pounds or less, or it is a motor home.¹

You also must have been discharged under honorable conditions. Anyone discharged under conditions less than honorable is barred from military specialty plates.²

What to Gather Before You Start

A little prep here saves a second trip to the tax office. Have these ready:

Proof of your disability rating. Either a VA letter that states your percentage, or you can bring the form to a VA Regional Office (or your service branch) and have them complete the Proof of Eligibility section on page 2.³
Your Texas driver license or state ID.
Vehicle details: VIN, year, make, body style, empty weight, current Texas plate number if any, and vehicle type.
Payment by personal check, money order, or cashier’s check. Cash is not accepted by mail.³

If you are also asking for a disabled parking placard, you have two ways to prove the qualifying medical condition. Attach an original prescription from your doctor that includes your name, the doctor’s signature, and a statement of whether the disability is permanent. Or have a licensed medical professional sign the Disability Statement on page 3 of the form itself, in which case the signature must be notarized.³

Filling Out the Form

Download the current version (Rev. 12/25) from TxDMV.gov or pick one up at your county tax office. The form is five pages, but most applicants only complete two or three.

Page 1: You and the Vehicle

Enter your full name, mailing address, phone number, and driver license or ID number. Then fill in the vehicle block: VIN, year, make, body style, empty weight, current Texas plate number, and whether the vehicle is a passenger car, truck, or motorcycle. Registering more than one vehicle with DV plates? List each separately.

Page 1 ends with a signed statement affirming you meet every eligibility requirement. Read it before you sign. You are affirming under penalty of law that everything on the form is true.

Page 2: Proof of Eligibility

If you already have a VA letter showing your disability percentage, attach it and leave page 2 blank. Otherwise, take the form to a VA Regional Office or your service branch and have an authorized official complete and sign page 2. The certification must confirm your rating meets the 50 percent threshold (or 40 percent for lower-extremity amputation).³

Page 3: Disability Statement (Only If You Want a Placard)

Skip this page if you only want DV plates. If you want a parking placard, a licensed medical professional checks the box that matches your qualifying condition and signs. Without a separate original prescription attached, that signature must be notarized. A permanent-disability placard is free.³

Pages 4 and 5: Optional Emblems

These pages are only for applicants who want a specific service medal, military academy, or other military emblem on the plate. If you just want a standard DV plate and a placard, ignore pages 4 and 5 entirely. Anyone requesting an emblem must attach proof of the underlying award or service along with an honorable discharge.

Adding the Wheelchair Symbol

You can ask for your DV plates to be issued with the International Symbol of Access (the blue wheelchair icon). Standard DV plates get you free parking at government meters, but the ISA designation is what lets you park in a space marked for persons with disabilities and stay for an unlimited time.

To qualify, you need a permanent disability that meets one of the definitions in Texas Transportation Code Section 681.001. Common qualifying conditions include:

Inability to walk 200 feet without stopping to rest
Needing a brace, cane, crutch, prosthetic device, wheelchair, or another person’s help to walk
Severe lung disease (forced expiratory volume under one liter, or arterial oxygen tension below 60 mm Hg at rest)
Use of portable oxygen
A Class III or IV heart condition under American Heart Association standards
Severe walking limitations from arthritis, or a neurological or orthopedic condition
Visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with correcting lenses, or a visual field of 20 degrees or less⁴

Your doctor confirms the condition by completing the page 3 Disability Statement or by writing an original prescription. If your disability does not involve a mobility impairment and you do not need ISA parking, you can leave this off and still receive standard DV plates.

Where to Submit and What It Costs

Deliver or mail the completed form, your VA proof, and payment to your local county tax assessor-collector’s office. The fee picture is simple:

First vehicle: $3 for the DV plates. All other registration fees on this vehicle are waived. Registration is valid for one year.¹
Additional vehicles: no fee for the extra sets of DV plates, but standard registration and local fees apply to each additional vehicle.³
Personalization: optional $40 per year to customize the plate with letters, numbers, dashes, periods, stars, a Texas silhouette, or a heart symbol. Nonrefundable once submitted, and it recurs at renewal.⁵
Permanent-disability parking placard: free.³

Pay by personal check, money order, or cashier’s check. If you mail the application, wait about three weeks and then call your county tax office to confirm your plates are ready.³

Renewing Each Year

DV plate registration runs one year at a time and is renewed through your county tax office.¹ The first vehicle stays at $3 with registration fees waived. Additional vehicles keep paying standard registration and local fees. You do not have to resubmit your VA documentation each year unless your rating changes. If you personalized your plate, the $40 fee recurs annually.⁵

Surviving Spouses Use a Different Form

If you are the surviving spouse of a veteran who qualified under Section 504.202, you are eligible for your own surviving-spouse specialty plates, even if your spouse never actually got the plates during their lifetime.⁶ VTR-615 is not the right form for that application. Contact your county tax office or TxDMV to get the correct paperwork.

What Happens If the Form Is Wrong

Falsifying information on the VTR-615 falls under the state’s tampering-with-a-government-record statute. Without intent to defraud, that is a Class A misdemeanor (up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine). Submitting false information with intent to defraud or harm someone rises to a state jail felony punishable by 180 days to two years in a state jail facility.⁷

Separately, misusing the placard or plates after issuance (letting someone else use them, displaying a placard you are not entitled to, or parking in a disabled space without proper authorization) is a misdemeanor under Section 681.011. A first offense carries a fine between $500 and $750, and repeat offenses add community service hours and higher fines, escalating to $1,250 and 50 hours of community service by the fifth offense.⁸

1
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code TRANSP 504.202
2
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code Section 504.301
3
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Application for Disabled Veteran License Plates and/or Parking Placards
4
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code Section 681.001 – Definitions
5
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Texas Supports Disabled Veterans
6
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code Section 504.317 – Surviving Spouses of Disabled Veterans Specialty License Plates
7
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code PENAL 37.10 – Tampering with Governmental Record
8
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code TRANSP 681.011 – Offenses