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Gold Star Family Plates — Registration Fee Waived Since 2019, Excise Tax Still Due

A gold star family registration plate is issued on application and proof of eligibility, and since 2019 the holder is exempt from the registration fee under 29-A M.R.S. §501. The excise tax the town collects is still payable. The plate goes on one vehicle only, and a family member who does not drive can be issued a single recognition plate at no fee.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

A gold star family registration plate is issued on application and proof of eligibility, and since 2019 the holder is exempt from the registration fee under 29-A M.R.S. §501. The excise tax the town collects is still payable. The plate goes on one vehicle only, and a family member who does not drive can be issued a single recognition plate at no fee.

What it's worth: No registration fee on the vehicle carrying the plate; excise tax still payable; one vehicle

  • No figure is claimed for the waiver. §501 sets registration fees by vehicle class and the exemption is written as an exemption from those fees, not as a stated sum.
  • The excise tax is a separate municipal charge under Title 36, section 1482 and §524-B still requires evidence that it has been paid.

Who is entitled to it

  • The plate is issued to the family of a member who died.
  • You live in this state.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

  1. 1Read the eligibility list before assuming it is spouse-and-children only. §524-B(1) reaches four groups: a person eligible for a gold star lapel button under 10 U.S.C. §1126; a grandparent of a member who died after 28 March 1973 in a recognised international terrorist attack or in military operations outside the United States as part of a peacekeeping force; a person eligible instead for the next-of-kin lapel button under 32 C.F.R. §578.63; and a grandparent of a member who died on active duty or while assigned in the reserve components or an Army National Guard unit in drill status.
  2. 2Bring proof of eligibility with the application. The Secretary of State verifies the documentation in consultation with the Department of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management, so the file is checked by the veterans side of the house, not only by the motor vehicle side.
  3. 3Expect to pay the excise tax at the town office as usual — §524-B still conditions issuance on evidence that the excise tax required by Title 36, section 1482 has been paid.
  4. 4Do not expect to pay the registration fee. A separate paragraph added to §501 in 2019 exempts a person possessing or applying for a gold star family plate from registration fees under that section for the vehicle registered.
  5. 5One vehicle. The Secretary of State may issue the plates for display only on an automobile or pickup truck, and an applicant may be issued them for no more than one vehicle.
  6. 6If you do not drive or do not register a vehicle, ask for the single recognition plate instead. §524-B(3) provides for a special single plate, issued at no fee, which may not be attached to a motor vehicle — one per recipient.
  7. 7Vanity lettering is available on the gold star family plate under §524-B(4), issued in accordance with §453.
Form
Application for gold star family registration plates, with proof of eligibility
File with
Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Secretary of State
Documents you will need
dd214
Annual
Claimed once a year.
CorrectionGuides written before 2019 describe this plate as costing the ordinary registration fee, and that is how §524-B itself once read. PL 2019, c. 390 did two things at once: it struck the registration-fee condition out of §524-B and added the exemption to §501. The excise tax condition survived both cuts, so the plate is not free of every charge — only of the registration fee.
Worth knowingGrandparents are named twice and for different deaths. Paragraph B covers a grandchild who died in a terrorist attack or peacekeeping operations after 28 March 1973; paragraph D covers a grandchild who died on active duty or in a drill-status assignment. Neither is inside the federal gold star lapel button rule, which is why the Legislature wrote them in separately.
Worth knowingThis finder asks how you are related to the person who served and offers surviving spouse or dependant. Parents, grandparents and siblings can be inside §524-B without being inside that list, so a bereaved parent or grandparent should apply on the statute rather than on this record.

Sources

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.