Official fees
New Hampshire gift a car fee chart
Gift/sale tax
$0
identical to any private sale in NH
Title application fee
$37
Municipal permit fee (recipient registers)
18→3 mills × MSRP
by vehicle age
State registration fee (recipient registers)
$42–$66/yr
by weight
New plates for recipient
$8
one-time, unless transferring their own existing plates
Figures verified July 2026 against official sources (listed below). Always confirm the final amount with your town or city clerk (NH DMV) - counties can add small local fees.
Official New Hampshire forms you'll need
- TDMV 23AApplication for Certificate of Title
NH has no sales/use tax on vehicle transfers, so a gifted vehicle uses the normal clerk-prepared title application (TDMV 23A, available only at Town/City Clerk offices or through a NH dealer/lienholder).
Get the current version of each form from your town or city clerk (NH DMV) before you file - agencies revise forms, and offices reject outdated ones.
Step by step
How to gift a car in New Hampshire
- 1
Giver signs the title over to the recipient, writing "Gift" or "$0" as the price - no notarized gift affidavit is required, since there's no tax to document around.
- 2
Giver removes their own plates before handing over the car; those plates stay theirs to keep, transfer to another vehicle, or surrender.
- 3
Recipient takes the signed title to their own town or city clerk within 20 days and files TDMV 23.
- 4
Recipient pays the $37 title fee, the town mill-rate fee, the state weight fee, and $8 for new plates (or a small transfer fee if moving their own existing plates).
- 5
If the vehicle is model year 1999 or older, skip the title step entirely - register with a bill of sale noting the gift.
- Gift tax
- None - same as any sale ($0)
- Title fee
- $37, same as a purchase
- Plates
- Don't transfer with the car
- Registration
- Full town + state fee still due
- Paperwork
- TDMV 23 at recipient's town clerk
Overview
What does add cost is something people don't expect: New Hampshire plates belong to the person, not the vehicle, so a gift recipient almost always needs their own registration from scratch - the giver's plates don't come with the car unless the giver specifically arranges a plate transfer for themselves onto a different vehicle. That means the full town mill-rate fee and state weight fee apply to the recipient just as they would on any purchase, on top of the $37 title.
Same state, other costs
More New Hampshire vehicle costs
Common questions
New Hampshire gift a car FAQ
- Do I save money by calling it a gift instead of a sale in New Hampshire?
- No - there's no purchase price to tax either way, so "gift" and "sale" cost identically: the same $37 title fee and the same registration fees. New Hampshire has no gift-tax carve-out because it never needed one.
- Can I just add my kid to my existing registration instead of gifting the title?
- You can add a co-owner without a full transfer, but a true gift - moving the vehicle entirely into someone else's name - requires a new title in their name and, in most cases, a new registration, since your plates stay attached to you as the owner, not the car.
- Why does my daughter need to pay a full mill-rate fee on a car I already registered?
- Because your plates don't come with the car. Once you remove them, the vehicle has no active NH registration in her name, so she starts fresh - the town calculates her own mill-rate permit fee based on the vehicle's MSRP and current age, same as it would for a purchase.
- Is there a family-transfer discount on the title fee?
- No. The $37 title fee is flat regardless of relationship - spouse, child, sibling, or a total stranger all pay the same $35 state fee plus $2 municipal agent fee.
- What if the car still has a loan on it?
- You can't gift a financed vehicle until the lien is released and the lender has sent a lien release to the titleholder - the title has to be clear before it can be signed over as a gift, exactly as with a sale.
- Does the recipient need their own NH insurance before registering a gifted car?
- Yes - New Hampshire is unusual in not legally mandating auto insurance for driving, but you cannot register a vehicle without proof of financial responsibility (typically an insurance policy) on file, gift or not.
Receipts
Official sources
Every number on this page comes from these documents - check them yourself.
