Documentary Stamp Tax
En español: Impuesto de timbre documental (doc stamps)
Florida taxes the transfer of real property by deed. The rate is charged per hundred dollars of consideration, and Miami-Dade is the exception in the state: a lower base rate plus a surtax that applies to everything except a transfer of a single-family dwelling. Notes and mortgages are taxed separately.
- Who pays it is custom, not law, and custom varies. It is a term in the contract, so it can be negotiated like any other.
- The surtax turns on what is being transferred. A duplex, a small apartment building and a commercial parcel all pay it; a single-family transfer does not.
- Financing is taxed on its own: the note and the mortgage carry their own stamps and intangible tax.
- It is charged on consideration, which includes debt assumed, not only cash paid.
The deed on the same $1,599,500 purchase, in Miami-Dade, on a building that is not a single-family dwelling.
The same price on a single-family transfer would not carry the surtax. On this building it is $7,198, and it is due at the table.
Rates are set by the state and Miami-Dade is treated differently from every other county. The current rates are here: Florida Department of Revenue, documentary stamp tax
Related terms
All termsProration
Proration is the division of ongoing costs and income between seller and buyer at the closing date: property taxes, collected rent, association dues, and utility and service periods.
ClosingTitle Commitment
A title commitment is the title insurer's written statement of the policy it will issue, and on what conditions.
ClosingEffective Date
The effective date is the day a contract becomes binding: when the last party signs or initials the final offer and that signed contract is delivered back.
Terms arrive with the writing.
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