In Kansas, the cleanest way to write a bill of sale for a car is to complete Form TR-312, the official bill of sale issued by the Kansas Department of Revenue.1Kansas Department of Revenue. TR-312 Bill of Sale It is a one-page PDF that captures the vehicle, the price, and both parties’ identities, and it carries legal weight because both the buyer and seller sign it under penalty of perjury. The County Treasurer uses the price you write on it to calculate the buyer’s sales tax, so accuracy matters from the first field to the last signature.
Gather the Details Before You Open the Form
Every field on the TR-312 should match the current Kansas title exactly. If anything conflicts, the County Treasurer’s office will send the buyer back to fix it. Pull the title out first and copy from it, not from the car.
- Vehicle Identification Number: the 17-character code. Copy it from the title rather than squinting at the dashboard plate. Transposing a digit creates a mismatch that stalls registration.2National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. VIN Decoder
- Year, make, and model as printed on the title. If the title says “Chevrolet,” don’t write “Chevy.”
- The odometer reading taken at the time of delivery.
- The agreed sale price in exact dollars, including any trade-in credit.
- Full legal names and current addresses for both buyer and seller, matching government-issued ID.
If the car has an active lien, resolve it before you write the bill of sale. Kansas holds lien-encumbered titles electronically, and the Division of Vehicles will not issue a paper title while a lienholder remains on the record.3Kansas Department of Revenue. Frequently Asked Questions About Liens The seller has to pay the loan off and get the lien released before a clear title can change hands.
Filling Out Form TR-312
The TR-312 is short, but treat it as a sworn affidavit, because that is what it is. Both parties affirm that the stated purchase price is true and accurate.1Kansas Department of Revenue. TR-312 Bill of Sale
Work top to bottom. Enter the VIN, year, make, and model in the vehicle section. Fill in the buyer’s printed name, street address, city, state, and ZIP code, then do the same for the seller. Enter the exact sale price and the date of the transaction. The form captures the total price and vehicle identity, not a payment schedule, so if the buyer is paying by check or in installments, note the method on the form or in a separate written agreement that both parties keep.
Do not understate the price to lower the buyer’s sales tax. The County Treasurer’s office can flag a figure that looks unreasonably low against fair market value, and because the form is sworn under penalty of perjury, a knowingly false price exposes both buyer and seller to legal risk. Report the real number.
Odometer Disclosure
Kansas requires the seller to provide an accurate odometer reading at the time of delivery. When the existing title does not include a space for the odometer certification, both parties must complete a separate odometer disclosure statement.4Legal Information Institute. Kansas Administrative Regulations 92-51-42 – Odometer Disclosure Statement Usually the title assignment and the TR-312 handle this together; if your title is an older format without the field, ask the County Treasurer for the standalone form.
Some vehicles are exempt. Federal rules adopted by Kansas exempt vehicles from model year 2010 and earlier. Vehicles from 2011 and newer become exempt once they reach 20 model years old. Heavy trucks with a gross vehicle weight above 16,000 pounds are also exempt.5Kansas Department of Revenue. Power of Attorney TR-41 For an exempt vehicle, write “exempt” in the odometer field rather than a mileage number.
If the odometer has rolled over, been replaced, or no longer reflects true mileage, disclose that on the form. Falsifying a reading is a separate offense that can get the title application rejected and expose the seller to civil liability to the buyer.
Signing the Form
Both buyer and seller sign and date the TR-312. Their signatures confirm the information is accurate and that both agree to the terms. For most in-state private sales where the seller delivers a clean title with a signed TR-312, Kansas does not require notarization.6Kansas Department of Revenue. Frequently Asked Questions – Titling a Vehicle
The Division of Vehicles can require notarized documentation in unusual circumstances, typically when the original title is missing, the chain of ownership is unclear, or the title’s assignment section is incomplete. In those situations a notarized bill of sale helps establish the legitimacy of the transfer.6Kansas Department of Revenue. Frequently Asked Questions – Titling a Vehicle
If the Owner Can’t Be There to Sign
A designated representative can sign the bill of sale or title assignment on the owner’s behalf using Form TR-41, the Kansas Power of Attorney for vehicles. The owner must sign the TR-41 in advance, authorizing the representative to apply for a title, endorse the transfer, or both.5Kansas Department of Revenue. Power of Attorney TR-41
One limit worth knowing: federal and state law prohibit the same person from signing as both buyer and seller and disclosing the odometer reading in a single transaction, unless a Secured Power of Attorney is used. The rule exists to block fraud in deals where one person controls both sides.
Protecting the Seller: As-Is and Brand Disclosures
Private vehicle sales in Kansas carry no implied warranty. The buyer takes the car in whatever condition it is in at the time of sale, and the seller has no obligation to fix anything discovered afterward. Putting “as-is, no warranty” language directly on the bill of sale, or on a separate document both parties sign, removes ambiguity later. A single sentence stating the buyer has inspected the vehicle and accepts it in its current condition is enough.
If the vehicle has a branded title — previously declared salvage, rebuilt, or flood-damaged — that brand is printed on the Kansas title and follows the vehicle permanently through every subsequent transfer in the state.6Kansas Department of Revenue. Frequently Asked Questions – Titling a Vehicle The brand on the title is the disclosure. Make sure the buyer sees and understands it before money changes hands, because a buyer who later says they didn’t know will point back to the bill of sale as the record of what was represented.
What the Seller Does After Signing
The seller’s job doesn’t end at the handshake. Two steps keep you off the hook for whatever the buyer does with the car next.
Never hand over a title with the buyer-assignment section blank. Kansas law prohibits delivering or accepting a title that is not fully and properly assigned, and leaving a gap in the chain of ownership is a violation.6Kansas Department of Revenue. Frequently Asked Questions – Titling a Vehicle If the buyer asks you to leave the purchaser name empty so they can fill it in later, refuse. That is title jumping, and it leaves you as the registered owner on the state’s books.
Then file a Seller’s Notification of Sale, Form TR-216, with the Division of Vehicles. The filing creates a presumption in the state’s records that you no longer own the vehicle, which protects you if the buyer never registers it and parking tickets or toll violations start arriving in your name. The filing fee is $10.6Kansas Department of Revenue. Frequently Asked Questions – Titling a Vehicle If you surrender or transfer your license plate at the County Treasurer’s office at or before the sale, the ownership record updates automatically and the TR-216 is unnecessary.
A note on plates: Kansas plates stay with the owner, not the car. You can transfer your plate to a vehicle you buy next, or surrender it at the County Treasurer’s office. The buyer will get their own plates when they register.7Kansas Department of Revenue. Titling a Used Vehicle
Gifts, Inheritance, and Other Tax-Exempt Transfers
Several common transfers do not trigger sales tax, but they still need a bill of sale:
- Gifts with no money changing hands. Transfers between a spouse, parent, child, sibling, grandparent, aunt, uncle, niece, or nephew are presumed to be gifts when nothing is paid.8Legal Information Institute. Kansas Administrative Regulations 92-19-30 – Motor Vehicles or Trailers; Isolated or Occasional Sale
- Inheritance. A vehicle passing to an heir under a will or Kansas intestacy law is not a sale.8Legal Information Institute. Kansas Administrative Regulations 92-19-30 – Motor Vehicles or Trailers; Isolated or Occasional Sale
- Name changes on the title that do not involve a transfer to a different person, such as after a marriage.
For an exempt transfer, complete the TR-312 the same way, write “$0” or “gift” in the price field, and be ready to explain the family relationship or circumstance at the Treasurer’s office. Title and registration fees still apply even though sales tax does not.