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Bill of sale · Vermont

Vermont Bill of Sale

Vermont is one of the states where the bill of sale genuinely matters: it's required for registration, it feeds the tax calculation, and for anything older than 15 years it stands in for a title that doesn't exist. Here's the whole picture — official form included.

The Vermont answer

Required — and doing double duty.

Bill of sale required?
Yes — for registration & tax
Official form
VT-005 (with odometer)
Notarized?
No — plain signatures
Tax
6% of price or book value, whichever is higher
The 15-year rule

Where the bill of sale becomes the title.

Vermont doesn’t title vehicles more than 15 years old — the registration is the ownership document. That makes Vermont one of the few states where a bill of sale isn’t a supporting receipt but part of the ownership chain itself: to register an older vehicle you present the bill of sale showing the chain of ownership, a notarized Affidavit of Non-Titled Vehicle (VT-025), and a VIN verification (VT-010).

This rule is also why Vermont was famous among collectors — the “Vermont loophole” let out-of-staters mail-register old vehicles to conjure an ownership document from a bill of sale alone. That door closed on July 1, 2023: the DMV now requires proof of a genuine Vermont connection. The 15-year rule still works exactly as designed for Vermonters.
At the tax window

Vermont checks your price against the book.

The 6% Purchase & Use Tax on a private sale is computed on the greaterof your actual purchase price or the J.D. Power clean trade-in value — the state simply doesn’t take the bill of sale’s word for it on below-book deals. Record the honest price and expect the book value to control if you got a bargain. Odometer disclosure is required for model year 2011 and newer, which VT-005 handles on the same page.

Not legal advice. Facts verified against Vermont DMV sources in July 2026 — see the state links in our 50-state requirements table.
Green Mountain questions

Vermont specifics, answered.

Is a bill of sale required in Vermont?

Yes. Vermont requires a bill of sale to register a privately purchased used vehicle and to compute the Purchase & Use Tax. The official Form VT-005 combines the bill of sale and the odometer disclosure statement into a single document.

Why doesn't my older Vermont vehicle have a title?

Vermont does not issue titles for vehicles more than 15 years old. For those, the Vermont registration itself serves as the ownership document, and a sale runs on the bill of sale plus the registration — supported by a notarized Affidavit of Non-Titled Vehicle (VT-025) and a VIN verification (VT-010) at registration time.

Will Vermont tax the price I actually paid?

Only if it's the higher number. Vermont's 6% Purchase & Use Tax is charged on the greater of your actual purchase price or the J.D. Power (NADA) clean trade-in book value — so writing a low price on the bill of sale does not lower the tax on a private sale.

Does the famous 'Vermont loophole' still work for out-of-staters?

No. Vermont closed it effective July 1, 2023. Non-residents can no longer mail-register an old vehicle to obtain an ownership document without a Vermont connection — the DMV now requires proof of ties to Vermont, and even certification from your home state that you aren't required to register there.