How to Fill Out the Indiana BMV Bill of Sale Form 44237

Indiana Bill of Sale Form 44237 is a one-page BMV document that records the transfer of a vehicle or watercraft between a private buyer and seller. You fill in the vehicle details, both parties’ names and addresses, the purchase price, and the sale date, then both sign. The buyer takes the signed form to any Indiana BMV branch along with the certificate of title to apply for a new title and pay sales tax. You can download the current version from the state forms portal at forms.in.gov.

When You Actually Need the Form

Which role the form plays in your transaction decides how carefully you need to complete certain fields.

Most buyers use Form 44237 to supplement a certificate of title. Many older Indiana titles and some out-of-state titles have no printed field for the purchase price or sale date, and the BMV needs both to calculate sales tax and confirm when the sale occurred. The bill of sale fills those gaps. It cannot override anything already written on the title.¹

In a narrower set of situations, the bill of sale stands in as proof of ownership itself. The BMV allows this when the vehicle was never required to be titled (common with very old vehicles), when a sheriff’s bill of sale was issued, for utility trailers purchased before January 1, 1990, pop-up camper trailers purchased before July 1, 2016, off-road vehicles acquired before January 1, 2010, abandoned vehicles sold at auction by a city, town, or county, and vehicles purchased from the U.S. government.¹

The practical difference: when the bill of sale is your only ownership document, the VIN field is required. When you’re just supplementing a title that already identifies the vehicle, the VIN is optional.¹

Filling Out Form 44237

Gather everything before you start writing. Every field must be completed in legible ink.

Vehicle Information

Enter the year, make, and model exactly as they appear on the certificate of title or the manufacturer’s label. The VIN is a 17-character code visible through the windshield on the driver-side dashboard, or on a sticker inside the driver’s door jamb.²

Buyer and Seller Details

Both parties print their full legal name — last name first, then first name and middle initial. If either party is a business, use the company name. Below each name, write the full street address, city, state, and ZIP code.²

Purchase Price and Sale Date

Write the actual dollar amount the buyer paid. This is the figure the BMV uses to calculate the 7% Indiana sales tax, so it needs to be accurate. If the price sits well below the vehicle’s book value, expect the BMV to ask about it. Report the real number and be prepared to explain.

Enter the sale date in month/day/year format. That date starts the 45-day clock for the buyer to apply for a new title.³

Signatures

The seller and buyer sign and date the form separately. Each signature sits beneath a printed statement: “I swear or affirm that the information I have entered on this form is correct. I understand that making a false statement may constitute the crime of perjury.”²

The BMV does not require the form to be notarized.¹ The perjury language still carries weight. Perjury in Indiana is a Level 6 felony, punishable by six months to two and a half years of imprisonment.⁴ Deflating the sale price to reduce sales tax is the kind of false statement that creates real exposure for both parties.

Odometer Reading Goes Somewhere Else

Federal law requires the seller to record the odometer reading during a title transfer, but that disclosure belongs on the certificate of title itself, not on Form 44237. Vehicles from model year 2010 or older are exempt from odometer disclosure entirely. Newer vehicles become exempt only once they’re at least 20 years old, so a 2011 model won’t qualify until 2031.⁵ For any non-exempt vehicle, the seller records the mileage in the assignment section of the title when signing it over.

Taking the Form to the BMV

Once both parties have signed, the buyer brings the paperwork to any Indiana BMV branch to apply for a new title. Private-party buyers cannot do this by mail; sales tax has to be paid in person.³ Plan on arriving with:

The signed certificate of title, with both the seller and purchaser sections fully completed. Confirm the seller filled out their portion before you drove away; chasing a signature later is a common headache.
The completed and signed Form 44237.
Payment for fees and taxes. The title fee is $15, and Indiana’s sales tax is 7% of the purchase price. Registration fees and excise tax are also owed when you register the vehicle.⁶
Valid photo identification.

If the vehicle came from out of state, the BMV requires a VIN inspection before issuing an Indiana title. Any Indiana branch or a BMV-certified service provider performs inspections at no charge, or a law enforcement officer can do it for up to five dollars.³

The 45-Day Deadline

Indiana requires you to apply for a title within 45 days of the purchase date on the bill of sale or certificate of title.³ Miss that window and you owe a $30 administrative penalty on top of your regular fees.⁶ The penalty is flat and doesn’t grow with time, but there’s no reason to hand the state the extra $30.

Sales Tax, Including Gifts

Indiana imposes a 7% sales tax on private vehicle purchases, and the BMV collects it when you apply for the title.⁷ The purchase price you enter on Form 44237 is what the tax is calculated against. A $10,000 car means $700 due at the branch.

If the vehicle changed hands as a true gift with no money exchanged, you report a purchase price of $0. Gifted vehicles are generally not subject to sales tax because there’s no sale price to tax. If the BMV suspects a transaction was labeled a gift to dodge tax on a real sale, expect scrutiny. Record the actual terms honestly; the perjury statement binds both parties.

Using the Form for Watercraft

Form 44237 doubles as the bill of sale for boats and other watercraft. The bottom section includes fields for the hull identification number, vessel length, registration number, propulsion type, and state of principal operation. The completed bill of sale also serves as a temporary certificate of number for the watercraft, valid for up to 45 days from the date of sale, which lets the buyer legally operate the boat while the permanent registration processes.²

Both the buyer and the seller should keep a copy of the completed form. For the buyer, it’s backup proof of what you paid and when you bought the vehicle if a tax question comes up later or the title paperwork goes missing. For the seller, it’s proof you no longer own the vehicle, which matters if the buyer collects parking tickets or has an accident before transferring the title into their own name.

1
Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Proof of Vehicle Ownership: Bill of Sale
2
Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Indiana Bill of Sale State Form 44237
3
Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Buying and Selling a Vehicle
4
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-44.1-2-1 – Perjury
5
eCFR. 49 CFR Part 580 – Odometer Disclosure Requirements
6
Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles. BMV Fee Chart
7
Indiana Department of Revenue. Sales Tax Information Bulletin 28S – Sales of Motor Vehicles and Trailers