How to Fill Out Texas Form 130-U: Tax, Signatures, and Filing

To fill out Texas Form 130-U, enter your legal name and address, the vehicle’s description and VIN, the odometer reading, any lienholder information, and the sale price and tax calculation, then sign it along with the seller and submit it with the signed title and proof of insurance to a county tax assessor-collector’s office. The form is the single application the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles uses to transfer title, register a vehicle, or both, and you can download it from the TxDMV website or pick one up at your county office.¹

The fields themselves are not complicated. What trips people up is showing up without the right paperwork to fill them in from, or guessing at the tax line. Work through the form with everything in front of you.

What to Have in Front of You Before You Start

You cannot finish the form without pulling numbers and names off other documents. Gather these first:²

The vehicle title, signed over to you by the seller.
Proof of Texas liability insurance meeting the 30/60/25 minimums ($30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident for bodily injury, $25,000 for property damage). Without it, you can apply for title only, not registration.³
A valid government-issued photo ID.
A release of lien from the seller’s lender, if there was a loan on the vehicle.
A power of attorney, if someone is signing for the buyer or seller.
An Affidavit of Motor Vehicle Gift Transfer (Comptroller Form 14-317), if the vehicle is a gift from an eligible family member. Both parties must sign that affidavit and the 130-U.²

The TxDMV also publishes a line-by-line instruction sheet (Form VTR-130-UIF) that is worth keeping open next to the blank form.⁴

Owner Information

Enter your full legal name exactly as it appears on your photo ID. Add a co-owner if there is one. Put your current Texas mailing address in the address fields; the printed title is mailed to this address unless a lienholder holds it electronically. Check the spelling before you move on. A typo here means a title printed with the wrong name, and correcting it later costs another trip and another fee.

Vehicle Description

Fill in the year, make, and body style. Then copy the full 17-character Vehicle Identification Number from the title (it also appears on a metal plate visible through the driver’s side of the windshield). Go character by character. A single wrong digit will get the application rejected.

Odometer Reading

Record the mileage in whole numbers. No tenths. The seller is legally required to disclose the reading at the time of sale for most vehicles.⁴ If the odometer has been replaced or has rolled past its mechanical limit, check the “Not Actual” or “Exceeds Mechanical Limits” box. Vehicles 20 model years old or older are exempt under federal law; check the “Exempt” box for those.⁵

Lienholder Information

If you financed the vehicle, put the lender’s name and address in the lienholder section. That records the lien on the title and prevents the vehicle from being sold without the lender’s release. Many Texas lenders participate in the state’s Electronic Lien and Title program, in which case no paper title is printed; the lender holds it electronically until the loan is paid.⁶ Your county tax office can tell you whether your lender uses ELT. If you own the vehicle free and clear, leave the lien section blank.

The Tax Section: Purchase Price and Applicable Tax

This is the section where careful entry matters most, because the county calculates what you owe from the numbers and boxes you provide.

For a standard purchase, enter the price you actually paid. Texas motor vehicle sales tax is 6.25 percent of the sale price, minus any trade-in allowance.⁷ If you bought from a licensed dealer, the dealer collects the tax. If you bought from a private party, you pay it at the county counter when you submit the form.

Standard Presumptive Value on Private Sales

On a private-party sale, the state will not just take the sale price at face value. The county compares what you paid against the vehicle’s Standard Presumptive Value, an average market figure TxDMV publishes from regional sales data. Tax is calculated on whichever is higher: the price you paid, or 80 percent of the SPV.⁸ Look up the SPV on the TxDMV website before you go so the amount on the counter’s screen is not a surprise.

If the vehicle is genuinely worth less than 80 percent of the SPV because of damage, high mileage, or mechanical problems, you can obtain a certified appraisal on Comptroller Form 14-128 within 30 days of purchase and use that value instead. Even then, the taxable amount cannot fall below the actual price you paid.⁸

Gifts, Even Trades, and New-Resident Transfers

Instead of the 6.25 percent line, check the box that fits your situation:⁹

A $10 gift tax applies to transfers between eligible family members for no payment. Eligible relatives include spouses, parents, stepparents, children, stepchildren, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, in-laws, and guardians. Attach the completed Affidavit of Motor Vehicle Gift Transfer (Form 14-317).¹⁰
A $5 even-trade tax applies when two people swap vehicles of equal value with no money changing hands.
A $90 new-resident tax applies if you moved to Texas and are bringing a vehicle already titled in your name from another state.
Certain transactions are fully exempt, such as transfers between spouses when the vehicle is community property, or transfers to or from a trust for the same beneficiary. Check the exemption box and write in the specific reason.

Signatures

Both the buyer and the seller sign the form. The seller prints their name and the date of sale as well. Signatures must be original ink; photocopies and digital signatures are routinely rejected at the counter. If someone is signing on your behalf, they need a valid power of attorney with them.

Where and When to File It

Bring the completed form and all supporting documents to a county tax assessor-collector’s office. Under Texas Transportation Code 501.023, you can file at the county where you live, the county where the vehicle was purchased, or any other county willing to accept the application.¹¹ Most people file in their home county because registration fees are tied to it.

You have 30 days from the date of sale to file. New residents have 30 days from establishing Texas residency.⁹ After that, a $25 late fee applies, and additional penalties accrue up to a $250 cap. These penalties cannot be waived by the county or TxDMV.¹²

Fees You Will Pay at the Counter

Everything is due when you submit the form. The county will not accept the application unless the tax and any penalties are paid in full.¹³

Title application fee: $28 or $33, depending on your county.⁹
Registration fee: $50.75 for a standard passenger vehicle or truck weighing 6,000 pounds or less; $30 for motorcycles; more for heavier vehicles on a weight scale.¹⁴
Local county fee: $0 to $21.50, most counties in the $10 to $11.50 range.¹⁴
Motor vehicle sales tax: 6.25 percent of the taxable value, or the applicable flat tax for gifts, even trades, or new residents.⁷

Don’t Fudge the Numbers

Understating the purchase price to lower your tax bill, or entering any other false information on Form 130-U, is tampering with a governmental record under Texas Penal Code Section 37.10.¹⁵ With no aggravating factors, the offense is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in county jail and a fine of up to $4,000.¹⁶ If the intent is to defraud, it becomes a state jail felony. And because the SPV system taxes on the higher of your stated price or 80 percent of market value, understating rarely lowers the bill anyway.

1
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Forms
2
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Buying or Selling a Vehicle
3
Texas Department of Insurance. Auto Insurance Guide
4
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Detailed Instructions for Application for Texas Title and/or Registration
5
eCFR. Odometer Disclosure Requirements
6
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Electronic Lien / Titles
7
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Motor Vehicle – Sales and Use Tax
8
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Private-Party Purchases and Standard Presumptive Values
9
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Application for Texas Title and/or Registration (Form 130-U)
10
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Family Transfers – Motor Vehicle Tax Guide
11
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code 501.023 – Application for Title
12
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Title Penalties Press Release
13
State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 152.041
14
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Schedule of Texas Registration Fees
15
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 37.10 – Tampering with Governmental Record
16
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.21 – Class A Misdemeanor