vehiclesstate

Gold Star Plates — Nine Classes of Family, and No Excise Tax at All for Six of Them

RCW 46.18.245 gives Gold Star plates to a widow, widower, parent, adoptive parent, stepparent, adult in loco parentis or foster parent, child, adopted child or sibling of a service member who died in service or as a result of it. For everyone but a child or sibling, one vehicle carries no vehicle licence fees, no plate fees and no motor vehicle excise tax.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: One vehicle free of vehicle licence fees, plate fees and motor vehicle excise tax for a widow, widower, parent, adoptive parent, stepparent or in loco parentis applicant; plate fees only for a child or sibling

RCW 46.18.245(1): the registered owner must be a Washington resident, must prove to the department’s satisfaction that they are an eligible family member, must provide certification from the Washington state department of veterans affairs that they qualify, and must be recorded as the registered owner of the vehicle carrying the plates.
The nine eligible family classes named in RCW 46.18.245(1)(b) are: a widow; a widower; a biological parent; an adoptive parent; a stepparent; an adult in loco parentis or foster parent; a biological child; an adopted child; or a sibling.
The qualifying death is of "a member of the United States armed forces who died while in service to his or her country, or as a result of his or her service".
RCW 46.18.245(3)(a): for a widow, widower, biological parent, adoptive parent, stepparent, or adult in loco parentis or foster parent, the plate is issued "Without payment of any vehicle license fees, license plate fees, and motor vehicle excise taxes for one motor vehicle". Further vehicles may carry the plates without plate fees but with all other fees and taxes payable.
RCW 46.18.245(3)(b): for a biological child, an adopted child or a sibling, the plate is issued without payment of any licence plate fees, but all other fees and taxes required by law for registering the vehicle remain payable.
RCW 46.18.245(2): "In lieu of applying for a gold star license plate under this section, an eligible widow or widower under subsection (1)(b) of this section may apply for a standard issue license plate or any qualifying special license plate for one personal use motor vehicle and be exempt from payment of annual vehicle registration fees, motor vehicle excise taxes, and license plate fees for that vehicle."
RCW 46.18.245(4): Gold Star plates must be replaced free of charge if lost, stolen, damaged, defaced or destroyed.
RCW 46.18.245(5): the plates may be transferred from one motor vehicle to another owned by the eligible family member on application to the department, a county auditor, or another agent or subagent appointed by the director.
Nothing in the section conditions eligibility on the applicant not having remarried.

Who is entitled to it

The plate belongs to the family of a service member who died.
Your home is in Washington.

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

1Start at the Department of Veterans Affairs, not the licensing office. The statute makes departmental certification a condition, so the licensing counter cannot help until you have it.
2Check the list of nine relationships before assuming you are out. Stepparents, foster parents, adults who stood in loco parentis and siblings are all named, and those four are the ones people never think to ask about.
3Make sure the vehicle is registered in your own name. Subsection (1)(d) requires the applicant to be the recorded registered owner of the vehicle the plates go on.
4Read subsection (3) to find out which half of the benefit you are in. A parent or spouse gets excise tax and registration waived on one vehicle. A child or a sibling gets the plate fee waived and pays the rest.
5If you are a widow or widower and would rather not drive a Gold Star plate, ask about subsection (2). A standard plate on one personal use vehicle carries the same exemption from registration fees, excise tax and plate fees.
6Do not surrender the plates when you change cars. Subsection (5) provides for transfer to another vehicle you own.
7Replacements are free. Subsection (4) says so for loss, theft, damage, defacement and destruction alike.

Form: Application to the Department of Licensing, with certification from the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs
File with: Washington State Department of Licensing, or a county auditor or licensing subagent
Automatic until something changes: Granted once and carried forward. You must report a change in ownership, occupancy or status.

Worth knowingThe section never uses the word "unremarried". Compare that with the many state plates elsewhere in this corpus that end a surviving spouse’s entitlement on remarriage — the drafting here is different, and deliberately so as far as the text shows.

CorrectionThis is not only a spouse’s plate. Parents, stepparents, foster parents, adult children and siblings are all named in the statute, and a bereaved parent in particular gets the fuller version of the exemption.

Worth knowingSubsection (2) is the quiet alternative. A widow or widower can keep an ordinary plate and still lose the registration fee, the excise tax and the plate fee on one personal use vehicle. Nobody at a counter is likely to volunteer that.

Known gapNo application form number and no departmental certification procedure was read this session — dva.wa.gov refused retrieval both by fetch and by direct request.

Sources

authority · statuteRCW 46.18.245, Gold star license plates (subsection (1) opens the plate to a registered owner who is an eligible family member of a member of the United States armed forces who died while in service or as a result of service, requiring Washington residence, proof of eligible family membership from a list of nine — widow, widower, biological parent, adoptive parent, stepparent, adult in loco parentis or foster parent, biological child, adopted child, sibling — certification from the Washington state department of veterans affairs, and that the applicant be the recorded registered owner; subsection (2) allows an eligible widow or widower instead to take a standard issue or qualifying special plate on one personal use motor vehicle exempt from annual vehicle registration fees, motor vehicle excise taxes and license plate fees; subsection (3)(a) issues the plate to a widow, widower, biological parent, adoptive parent, stepparent, or adult in loco parentis or foster parent "Without payment of any vehicle license fees, license plate fees, and motor vehicle excise taxes for one motor vehicle", with plate fees only waived on further vehicles; subsection (3)(b) issues the plate to a biological child, adopted child or sibling without licence plate fees but with all other fees and taxes payable; subsection (4) provides free replacement; subsection (5) provides for transfer between vehicles) [2019 c 210 s 1; 2017 c 24 s 1; 2015 c 208 s 1; 2013 c 137 s 1; 2010 c 161 s 621]

Why only one source type: The section states the whole scheme — who qualifies, which body certifies, what is waived for whom, replacement and transfer — and the Department of Veterans Affairs website refused retrieval this session, so the certification procedure is recorded as a candidate rather than guessed at.

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