Section 40-3-20. Certificate of title required; exemption; certificate a prerequisite to registration; documentation of payment or inapplicability of sales and use tax required to register a vehicle purchased outside the state

   (a) Except as provided in Code Section 40-3-4, every owner of a vehicle which is required by law to be registered in this state and for which no certificate of title has been issued by the commissioner may make application to the commissioner or to the tag agent in the county wherein the owner resides for a certificate of title to the vehicle according to the model of the vehicle. If a vehicle is owned by and used in connection with an established business, application may be made to the commissioner or to the tag agent in the county in which the business is located. Such application shall be made in the following manner: All 1963 model vehicles and all successive model vehicles thereafter shall have a certificate of title. However, once a vehicle comes within the exclusion provided by paragraph (14) of Code Section 40-3-4, a certificate of title shall no longer be required.

(b) The commissioner may by rule or regulation exempt from the requirements of this chapter vehicles owned by nonresident individuals or corporations that are properly titled in the state of such owner's residence where the vehicle is required to be registered in this state because:

   (1) Georgia has no reciprocity agreement on registration and licensing of motor vehicles with the owner's state; or

   (2) The vehicle is used in both interstate and intrastate transportation.

(c) When the owner of a vehicle is required to have a certificate of title, the tag agent or the commissioner shall not register or renew the registration of such vehicle until a certificate of title has been issued or applied for.

(d) No application for a certificate of title for a vehicle purchased outside the State of Georgia shall be accepted or processed unless the applicant shows, by a valid bill of sale or contract of purchase or by such other documentation satisfactory to the commissioner, that state and local sales and use tax has been paid or is not due. If state and local sales and use tax is owed on such vehicle but has not been paid, the local tag agent shall return the unprocessed application to the applicant informing him or her of the requirements of this Code section.

Ga. L. 1961, p. 68, § 6; Ga. L. 1962, p. 79, § 4; Ga. L. 1963, p. 32, § 1; Ga. L. 1964, p. 436, § 1; Ga. L. 1967, p. 451, § 1; Ga. L. 1981, p. 617, § 2; Ga. L. 1990, p. 2048, § 3; Ga. L. 2005, p. 1132, § 1/HB 364.