How to Get Minnesota License Plates: Costs, Deadline, and Options

To get Minnesota license plates, you register and title your vehicle at a deputy registrar office: bring proof of ownership, proof of insurance, a valid ID, an odometer reading, and a completed Application to Title/Register a Motor Vehicle (Form PS2000A), then pay the 6.875% motor vehicle sales tax, the annual registration tax, and the filing and plate fees.¹ For standard plates, you usually walk out the same day with plates and stickers in hand.

What to Bring

Gather these documents before your appointment:

Proof of ownership. The certificate of title, or a Manufacturer’s Statement of Origin for a new vehicle. If a lender holds the title, or you’re transferring from out of state and the title isn’t available, your most recent registration card from the previous state can substitute.²
Proof of insurance. Insurance company name, policy number, and expiration date. Minnesota requires every vehicle owner to carry coverage.³
Valid ID. A Minnesota driver’s license or state ID.
Odometer reading. Required on the title application. Vehicles with a model year more than ten years old are exempt from the federal odometer disclosure requirement.
Form PS2000A. The Application to Title/Register a Motor Vehicle, available at any deputy registrar office or on the DVS website.¹

Buying from a private seller? The seller has to sign the title over to you before you go.²

Where You Go

Initial registration happens in person at a deputy registrar office. These local offices are spread across the state, and you can find the nearest one on the DVS website. Standard plates and a handful of specialty designs like Critical Habitat and Support Our Troops are stocked on site, so you leave with plates the same day.² Plates that have to be manufactured (personalized, veteran, firefighter, most specialty designs) take about two weeks to arrive by mail.

Online services through DVS cover renewals and certain plate changes, but not first-time registration.

What It Costs

Your total at the counter combines several separate charges.

Motor Vehicle Sales Tax

Minnesota charges 6.875% on the purchase price of any vehicle, new or used, collected at registration.⁴ A $30,000 vehicle owes $2,062.50 in sales tax alone.

Annual Registration Tax

The annual registration tax is $10 plus 1.575% of the vehicle’s depreciated base value. The base value starts at the manufacturer’s suggested retail price and drops on a statutory schedule:⁵

Year 1: 100% of MSRP
Year 2: 95%
Year 3: 90%
Year 4: 80%
Year 5: 70%
Year 6: 60%
Year 7: 50%
Year 8: 40%
Year 9: 25%
Year 10: 10%
Year 11 and beyond: flat $20 (total tax $30)

A vehicle with a $35,000 MSRP in its first year pays $10 + (1.575% × $35,000) = $561.25. By year seven, that same vehicle pays $285.63. After year ten, the registration tax settles at a flat $30 regardless of original price.

Filing and Plate Fees

Every deputy registrar transaction includes a filing fee: $12 for initial registrations and title transfers, $8 for renewals. There’s also a $1 deputy registrar surcharge on each transaction.⁶ Standard plates are $15.50 for a set; motorcycle plates are $13.50.⁷

Don’t Miss the 10-Day Deadline

After buying a vehicle, you have 10 business days to submit the title transfer paperwork and pay the fees. Miss it and you owe a late transfer penalty; the missed deadline is also technically a misdemeanor.⁸ If ownership documents and fees still aren’t in within 30 days, DVS can suspend the vehicle’s registration.⁹ The penalty itself is small. A misdemeanor on your record isn’t.

Driving Legally While You Wait

Buy from a licensed Minnesota dealer and the dealer can issue a 60-day temporary permit so you can drive the vehicle while your registration is processed.¹⁰ The permit goes on the rear of the vehicle where a plate would normally sit, plainly visible.

Already have a registered vehicle and switching plate types (standard to specialty, for instance)? A deputy registrar can issue a 60-day temporary permit while the new plates are produced.¹¹

If You’re New to Minnesota

New residents have 60 days from establishing residency to register a vehicle. If your out-of-state registration has already expired, you can’t wait out the 60 days; register right away.¹²

You need your out-of-state certificate of title to obtain a Minnesota title. Without proper ownership documents, DVS will not issue a title. If a lender holds the title, bring your most recent registration card from the other state. Proof of insurance, valid ID, and Form PS2000A round out the paperwork. Minnesota does not require a safety or emissions inspection. Expect to owe the motor vehicle sales tax if you bought the vehicle recently and didn’t already pay an equivalent tax elsewhere, plus the registration tax and filing fees.

Plate Options Beyond Standard

Personalized

Personalized plates let you pick a custom letter and number combination. The initial fee is $100 on top of standard registration and plate fees.⁷ They ship in about two weeks; you drive on a temporary permit in the meantime.

Specialty and Cause Plates

Most specialty designs require an annual contribution that funds an associated organization or state account. A representative sample of annual minimums:

Critical Habitat: $30
Support Our Troops: $30
Minnesota State Parks and Trails: $60
Collegiate plates: $25 (funds scholarships at the institution)
Pro sports teams (Vikings, Twins, Wild, and others): $30 (benefits each team’s charitable foundation)
Proud to be a Veteran: one-time $30 contribution

Several plates carry no fee for eligible military recipients. Congressional Medal of Honor, Ex-POW, and Gold Star Family plates are issued free of charge, though the registration tax and filing fee still apply for Gold Star Family plates.⁷

Displaying the Plates

Most passenger vehicles need two plates, one front and one rear.¹³ Both have to be fastened securely so they don’t swing, mounted horizontally and upright with characters facing outward, and kept clean and legible. Covers that affect visibility or reflectivity, even clear ones, are prohibited. Month and year stickers go in the lower left and lower right corners.

Renewing Later

Registrations expire annually. You can renew online through DVS if your registration expires within the next six months or has been expired less than ten months.¹⁴ In-person renewal at any deputy registrar office is always an option. Renewal costs are the annual registration tax plus the $8 filing fee and the $1 surcharge; you don’t pay the motor vehicle sales tax again. DVS mails a renewal notice, but you don’t need the notice to renew. Once tabs have been expired more than ten months, online renewal shuts off and you’ll need to visit a deputy registrar in person.

1
Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Application to Title and Register Motor Vehicle
2
Washington County, MN. First Time Minnesota Registration
3
Anoka County. First Time Minnesota Registration
4
Minnesota Department of Revenue. Motor Vehicle Sales
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Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 168.013 – Registration Tax
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Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 168.33 – Filing Fees and Allocations
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Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Minnesota Special License Plates Brochure
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Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 168.101
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Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Vehicle Title Report Vehicle Sold, Donated or Removed from State
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Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 168.092 – 60-day Temporary Vehicle Permit
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Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Vehicle Registration Temporary Permits
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Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Vehicle Registration for New Minnesota Resident
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Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 169.79 – Vehicle Registration; Displaying License Plates
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Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Vehicle Registration Renewal