Cancelling or Surrendering a TLC License the Right Way

To cancel a TLC license, you send TLC a signed Request to Cancel NYC TLC Issued License form, plus the license card, to TLCcompliance@tlc.nyc.gov (or by mail to the Long Island City office). Cancelling is permanent: the license cannot be reopened. It also does not close your open summonses or suspensions. They stay on your record, and you must close them before you can ever reapply.

Vehicle owners have one more step first: return the TC plates to the DMV. Be careful here. For a for-hire vehicle (FHV), handing in the plates on its own already ends the license for good, and new FHV licenses today are only issued for wheelchair accessible vehicles.

Cancel, surrender or just let it expire?

People use these words loosely, but TLC treats them differently. Pick the right one before you send anything.

If you are not sure you are finished with driving, letting a driver license expire keeps a door open a little longer, because rule §80-06(d) allows a late renewal for 180 days. See what happens if your TLC license expires. A cancellation closes that door the day TLC processes it. The trade-off: until the expiration date, an active license still has duties. The yearly drug test is one. TLC's drug testing page says a missed interim test means a suspension.

How to cancel a TLC driver license

TLC explains the steps on its Licensed Drivers FAQ:

Someone else signing for you. The form allows an attorney (with a statement on letterhead saying they represent you and may surrender the license) or a family member (with documents showing why you cannot sign yourself). TLC writes that a Power of Attorney document will not be accepted for this form. For a corporation or partnership, only the owner may submit it.

How to cancel an FHV vehicle license

TLC's Licensed Vehicles FAQ points owners to the same Request to Cancel form (tick Vehicle). TLC also publishes a separate, older vehicle cancellation form (dated 10/25/2019) that spells out the plate steps. It lists three steps:

1. Surrender the TLC-issued plates to the NYS DMV and get an FS-6 receipt.
2. Complete the form (individual owner, or an owner, officer, partner or stockholder of the business).
3. Email the form and a copy of the FS-6 to TLCCompliance@tlc.nyc.gov.

The form adds two details. If your plates were issued in a county outside the five NYC counties, you can skip the plate step. And if the car was set up as a green cab with a Street Hail Livery permit, you must remove the meter, roof light and other SHL equipment. Any scheduled inspections are cancelled with the license.

An FHV license also cannot be sold or handed to someone else. TLC's vehicle FAQ says it stays attached to the SSN or EIN on the original application.

Cancelling a base license

Base owners use the same Request to Cancel form and send it, with the current base license, to the same email or mailing address (For-Hire Vehicle Bases page). The same warning applies: cancelling does not remove the base's open suspensions or summonses. Before you file, remember that every car affiliated with your base needs a new base. The owners must move their FHV licenses through a base transfer (see FHV base affiliation). If you plan to start a new base later, read how to open an FHV base first.

What cancelling does not fix

• Summonses. A summons is a case at OATH, not a license status. Cancelling the license does not end the case. If you don't answer, you can lose by default. Check your summons status before you cancel, and ask about settlement offers if you plan to plead.
• Fines. Rule §80-04(n) says any applicant, new or renewing, must pay outstanding fines owed to TLC, the Parking Violations Bureau, the Red Light Camera unit and the DMV's Traffic Violations Bureau.
• Fees. TLC fees are non-refundable, so you will not get part of your license fee back.
• Pending revocation charges. If TLC is already trying to revoke your license, cancelling doesn't avoid it. Under rule §80-08(c)(1)(iv)(A), TLC can still apply the three-year application ban if a license was surrendered while revocation charges were pending. Such a surrender also blocks the "life experience" exemption from the 24-hour course (§80-04(j)(11)). Talk to a lawyer before you cancel in that situation.

When surrender is required: after a revocation

Surrender is not optional once TLC revokes a license.

• Driver license: surrender it immediately, and in any case within 30 days of the revocation (rule §80-10(f)). If you don't, a $1,000 fine is charged when you apply for a new license of any type. Rule §80-04(n)(3) adds that you must pay fines for not surrendering a previously revoked license, unless you can show it was surrendered.
• Chauffeur's license revoked by the DMV: surrender the TLC license immediately (rule §80-11(c)(4), $100 fine).
• FHV vehicle license: if it is revoked, expired or denied, surrender it within 10 days. If the car is registered in New York State, also surrender the T&LC plates to the DMV (rule §59A-11(f)).

Facing a revocation, not a voluntary exit? Read TLC license revocation for your hearing rights.

Which path fits you?

Before you send the form

Write down your license number, the last date you drove, and every open summons number. Update your mailing address in LARS if you are moving. TLC can serve legal notices at the address on file and leave them with anyone who lives there (rule §80-04(i)). If you are leaving driving completely, use the full leaving-the-industry checklist, which also covers benefits, taxes and your car. To confirm afterwards that your license no longer appears as active, see checking TLC licenses in Open Data.

General information, not legal advice. Forms and rules checked on nyc.gov on October 12, 2026.