How to Fill Out Kentucky TC 96-184: Boat Title, Notary, and Filing

Kentucky Form TC 96-184, the Motor Boat Transaction Record and Application for Registration and/or Title, is the form you complete at your County Clerk’s office to title, register, or transfer a motorboat in Kentucky. You fill out Sections 1 through 5, sign in front of a notary along with the seller, and file it with your supporting documents and fees within fifteen days of buying the boat.¹ You file in the county where you live or where the boat is primarily docked.²

When You Use This Form

TC 96-184 covers first-time titles, Kentucky-to-Kentucky transfers, out-of-state transfers, duplicate titles, Hull Identification Number corrections, and salvage or rebuilt titles. You check the applicable box at the top of the form before filling in anything else. If you are requesting a duplicate title, you also mark whether the original was lost, destroyed, damaged, or illegible.³

You can download the PDF from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet website or pick one up at any County Clerk’s office.³ Fill it out in blue or black ink. No erasures, no cross-outs, no alterations. If you make a mistake, start over on a clean form; the clerk will reject a marked-up one.

A quick boundary before you start: Coast Guard-documented vessels, non-motorized boats, and boats registered in another state that use Kentucky waters sixty days or fewer do not need Kentucky registration.⁴ If you are deleting a boat from Coast Guard documentation to bring it onto a Kentucky title, you use this same form.

Check Your Hull Identification Number First

Before you touch Section 1, look at the HIN on the boat. It must be exactly twelve characters with no slashes, hyphens, or spaces. If your boat was built in 1972 or later and the HIN is missing, damaged, or formatted incorrectly, you cannot complete the TC 96-184 until you get a state-issued HIN. Kentucky-issued HINs all start with “KYZ” and are assigned through a separate form, TC 96-169.² Handling this first saves you a wasted trip to the clerk.

Filling Out the Form Section by Section

The form has six numbered sections. You handle 1 through 5. Section 6 belongs to the County Clerk.

Section 1: Vessel Identification

This section describes the boat. You enter any previous title number and issuing state, the Kentucky registration number if the boat already has one, the twelve-character HIN, and the year, make, model, and vessel type. You also record hull material, engine drive type, propulsion, county of dockage, fuel type, length, beam, weight capacity, and toilet information.³

Section 2: Engine and Motor Information

The form has fields for up to two motors. For each one you list make, year, horsepower, motor serial number, year purchased, and purchase amount. If the boat has a single motor, complete the Motor 1 fields and leave Motor 2 blank.

Section 3: Vessel Brand Disclosure

Check any brand that applies to the boat: Rebuilt, Salvage, Hail Damage, Water Damage, or Un-rebuildable. Leave the section blank if none apply. Whatever you mark here follows the vessel through every future title.

Section 4: Vessel Lien Information

If you financed the boat, this section captures the lender’s claim. You declare whether you have taken out a loan connected to the boat and, if not, whether you will apply for one within thirty days. You also warrant that no other unterminated lien exists on the vessel. There are fields for up to two lienholders, each with name, address, phone number, and lien county.³ If the boat is paid off, leave the lien fields empty.

Section 5: Seller and Buyer Information

The seller (transferor) fills in their name, dealer number if applicable, and mailing address. The buyer (transferee) enters name, driver’s license or Social Security number, mailing address, physical address, email, phone, citizenship, sex, date of birth, and the vessel sale price. If two people will own the boat together, choose “OR” so either owner can act alone or “AND” if both signatures are required for any future transaction.

Notarizing the Form

The seller and buyer both have to sign Section 5 in front of a notary public. The notary then adds a signature, commission number, and commission expiration date. For a private sale of a Kentucky-titled boat, the seller also has to sign the back of the existing title in front of a notary.² Without a proper notarization, the County Clerk will not process the filing.

Documents to Bring With the Form

What you bring to the clerk depends on how you acquired the boat. Every filing requires photo ID and the completed, notarized TC 96-184.²

Kentucky private sale: the properly assigned Kentucky title, signed over by the seller in front of a notary.
Dealer purchase: the bill of sale or purchase agreement, plus the title or the certificate of origin/manufacturer’s statement of origin.
Out-of-state transfer from a notary state: the out-of-state title, signed over.
Out-of-state transfer from a state that issues only registrations: the registration, a notarized bill of sale, and a printout or letter from that state confirming the last registered owner.
Coast Guard-documented vessel: the Evidence of Deletion letter, a copy of the Certificate of Documentation, and a bill of sale.
HIN correction: the original title, a pencil tracing or photo of the hull number, and a completed TC 96-169.

Where to File and What It Costs

File at the County Clerk’s office in the county where you live or where the boat is primarily docked. The clerk enters your information into the Kentucky Automated Vehicle Information System and collects fees and tax at the counter.

Standard fees at filing:

Kentucky title fee: $9
Title application preparation fee: $3
Twelve-month registration fee: up to $28, based on boat length and motor type
Lien recording fee, if financed: $22
Title lien statement preparation fee: $2⁵

Kentucky sales or use tax of six percent applies to the purchase price and is collected by the clerk during titling.

After You File

Titles arrive by mail. If forty-five days pass and you have not received yours, contact the County Clerk’s office.²

Once your registration number comes back, display it on both sides of the forward half of the boat. Use block letters at least three inches high in a color that contrasts with the hull, reading left to right, with spaces separating the letter prefix from the numbers (for example, KY 3717 ZW). The registration decal goes behind the number toward the stern, within six inches and in line with it. No other numbers should appear on that part of the hull.

Kentucky motorboat registrations expire every year on April 30, and boat property taxes are due the same day. You can renew in person at the clerk’s office or online through the Kentucky Automated Vehicle Information System using your Kentucky boat number and title number. To renew online, the registration has to be active and set to expire in the current year, you cannot have overdue property taxes on any vehicles or boats you own, and the county you select must match the county of dockage or residence on your renewal notice.⁶ Allow at least five business days for the clerk to process an online renewal and mail your decals.

Penalties for False Information

Knowingly entering false information on the TC 96-184 has real consequences. KRS 186A.990 subjects violators to penalties for forgery in the second degree, and KRS 235.990 imposes fines between $50 and $200 for violations of the motorboat registration chapter.³ Double-check the HIN, motor serial numbers, sale price, and owner details before you sign.

1
Madison County Clerk. Boat Transfers
2
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Boats
3
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Form TC 96-184 – Motor Boat Transaction Record/Application for Registration and/or Title
4
FindLaw. Kentucky Code 235.070 – Contents of Application
5
Shelby County Clerk. Motor Boat Fees
6
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Online Registration Renewal