Tennessee Boat Bill of Sale Form

Registering a Boat in Tennessee

Tennessee law requires registration of all mechanically powered vessels, including federally documented recreational vessels, and of all sailboats principally used in Tennessee. Boats are not titled in Tennessee.^[1]

Boats with current registration in another state may use Tennessee waters unless Tennessee has become their state of principal use. The state of principal use is the state on whose waters a boat is used or to be used most, whether moored or underway, during a calendar year.^[1]

To register a boat in Tennessee, the owner completes a certified Application for Boat Certificate of Number. You can get the application from a Tennessee county clerk's office or from the dealer that sold you the boat. If you bought the boat from an individual, the TWRA lists a complete bill of sale among the papers to take to the clerk's office.^[1]

If the boat has never been registered to you before, the Tennessee Department of Revenue requires certification that the sales tax was paid when you bought it. You need to have the appropriate county clerk's office or boat dealer certify the application, verifying that the tax was paid.^[1]

Find your clerk's office before you go, and ask what else it needs along with the bill of sale for TN boat registration.

In practice, a few habits keep the paperwork simple:

• The buyer keeps the signed original, since the buyer is the one who takes it to the clerk's office.
• The seller keeps a copy, or a second identical original signed by both parties.
• If you traded in an old boat as part of the price, many people note the trade-in on the bill of sale.
• A trade-in note usually includes the old boat's condition and the cash difference.

For general help with a boat sale, read our boat bill of sale guide. You can find more templates in our Tennessee bill of sale templates, and the bill of sale guide explains what a bill of sale is and how it helps.

What the Bill of Sale Must Include in Tennessee

The TWRA lists a complete bill of sale as required paperwork when you buy a boat from an individual. It includes the date of sale, the price and a full description of the boat. It also needs the name, address, telephone number and signature of both the buyer and the seller, so both must sign.^[1]

The full description of the boat covers its year, make, model and hull identification number (HIN).^[1] The HIN is the boat's serial number. Builders usually mark it on the hull, so copy it from the boat itself rather than from old paperwork.

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How to Write a Tennessee Boat Bill of Sale

These steps follow our template in the order the form asks for each part. Start with the date at the top and finish with the acknowledgment at the end. You can create the form online or download the PDF and fill it in with our online PDF editor.

The screenshots under each step show the FormsPal Tennessee boat bill of sale template filled with sample entries in blue, so you can see where each answer goes. The names, addresses, dates and amounts are examples only.

Before you start, gather these details:

• Contact details for both parties.
• The boat's year, make, model, color and HIN, plus the title number if there is one.
• Details of any trailer or motor that comes with the boat.
• The sale date, the price and how the buyer will pay.

1. Date of the bill of sale. Write the date the bill of sale is made on the DATE line at the top of the first page.

   

2. Seller's information. Enter the seller's full name, street address, city, state and zip code, telephone and email.

   

3. Buyer's information. Enter the buyer's full name, street address, city, state and zip code, telephone and email.

   

4. The parties. Repeat the seller and the buyer in the sentence where the seller agrees to sell and the buyer agrees to purchase.

   

5. Boat details. Mark Boat, then fill in the make, title number, year, color and HIN. The form has no separate model line, so you can write the model next to the make.

   

6. Odometer hours and value. Enter the odometer reading in hours and the value of the boat in U.S. dollars.

   

7. Trailer and motors. Mark Trailer and fill in the make, license plate number, color, VIN, year and value if a trailer is sold. Mark Motor and fill in the make, horsepower, serial number and value, and use the second Motor block for another motor. Skip blocks that do not apply.

   

8. Purchase date and price. Enter the purchase date and the total purchase price in U.S. dollars.

   

9. How the price is paid. Select one option: all at once on the purchase date, a deposit with the balance due on a later date (fill in the deposit amount and both dates), or a gift with no consideration paid.

   

10. Payment method. Select one: cash, check (write the check number), cashier's check or money order.

    

11. Taxes and standard provisions. Mark whether applicable taxes are included in the purchase price or not included. Section 5 below it covers the seller's ownership statement, the as-is sale and the entire agreement. It has nothing to fill in.

    

12. Signatures. The seller and the buyer each sign, print their name and enter the date on their lines. The form also has a witness signature line with a printed name and date.

    

13. Acknowledgment. The last page holds the notary acknowledgment, which a notary public or other officer completes. It names the State of Tennessee and has blanks for the county, the date, the officer's name and title, and the person who appeared.

    

14. Officer's signature and seal. Leave the signature and seal line at the bottom of the last page for the notary public or other officer who completes the acknowledgment.

    

When the template is complete, read every entry once more before anyone signs. Compare the HIN, the sale date and the price with the boat and with what the two of you agreed. Then download the PDF, print the form and sign it. Both parties should keep a copy of the signed form.

Frequently Asked Questions

The answers below cover how a boat changes hands in Tennessee and who signs the bill of sale. They come from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency's boating guidance, the same source cited throughout this page.

How to transfer ownership of a boat in Tennessee?

A complete bill of sale is what the TWRA asks for when a boat is bought from an individual. It lists:

• The date of sale and the price
• A full description of the boat
• The contact details and signature of both parties

You take it to a Tennessee county clerk's office to obtain the application for a boat certificate of number.^[1]

Do the buyer and the seller both sign?

Yes. The TWRA lists the signature of both the buyer and the seller as part of a complete bill of sale.^[1] In practice, the buyer and the seller sign on the same day, so the signatures match the date of sale.

Where do I get the boat registration application in Tennessee?

The owner of the boat completes a certified Application for Boat Certificate of Number. You can get it from a Tennessee county clerk's office or from the dealer that sold you the boat.^[1]

General information, not legal or tax advice.

Sources

1. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, Boating in Tennessee.

Mara Erlach

Writer & Attorney

Mara has been practicing estate planning and trust law in California since 2003, taking pride in helping clients of all backgrounds and asset profiles form a complete and customized estate plan. Her specialties are: estate planning, wills and trusts, trust and probate administration.