Homeowner Resources

Document Transfer Tax Rate

 

Whenever a property exceeding $100 in value is sold in San Mateo County, a transfer tax is levied at the rate of 55 cents per $500 or fraction of $500 of value. That number equates to $1.10 for every thousand dollars of value. The value of existing liens or other encumbrances which are assumed by the new owner/buyer on the property is deducted before the transfer tax is computed. If the property is located within the city limits of the City of San Mateo, an additional documentary transfer tax is levied for payment to the City of San Mateo. The City of San Mateo transfer tax is not discussed here.

 

The transfer tax is paid at the time the deed or other instrument is recorded with the Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder.

To estimate what the documentary transfer tax might be for a given transaction, start with the amount of the consideration that passed from the buyer to the seller, subtract the value of any liens or encumbrances, and round up the resulting dollar amount to the next $500. Move the decimal point three places to the left (same as dividing by 1,000). Multiply the resulting figure by $1.10. The product is the approximate transfer tax.

 

SEC Rules, Partnerships, Foreclosures

 

In certain situations no transfer tax needs to be paid. These special situations include certain conveyances to make effective any order of the Securities and Exchange Commission, certain transactions involving partnerships or certain conveyances involving foreclosure. Precise details regarding these exceptions may be found in San Mateo County Ordinance 2.184 entitled Real Property Transfer Tax.