Consumers selling or transferring real estate within Florida will need to be aware that transfer taxes will likely apply to the sale or transfer of the real estate.
In Florida, these transfer taxes are technically referred to as documentary stamp taxes and they are essentially an excise tax imposed on certain real estate transfer documents executed, delivered, or recorded in Florida.
The transfer tax in Florida is levied at 70 cents for each $100 of consideration for most recorded documents, including, deeds of conveyance.
For the purposes of determining whether transfer taxes are owed will depend on the amount of money or other consideration that is paid or to be paid for the transfer of the real estate.
For example, if the sale or transfer of the real estate is completed in exchange for $100,000 U.S. dollars (the consideration in this example), then the transfer taxes would be $700 U.S. dollars.
As noted in a prior post, the transfer taxes are one of the two biggest real estate closing costs in Florida (see Two of the Largest Title Related Closing Costs).
It should be noted that there are limited exceptions to the transfer tax rules in Florida and they also apply to certain mortgage loan documents (although at a different tax rate), but those topics are beyond the scope of this post.
Before completing any sale or transfer of real estate within Florida, it is important to understand whether transfer taxes will apply and how to determine the amount of taxes due.
