| 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.
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