Calculating Transfer Taxes In Pennsylvania
When listing a property or putting in an offer for a buyer, you should be doing an estimated costs sheet for your client. On that sheet, you will be asked to provide a number for the transfer tax based off the sales price for real property. This does not include chattel. Transfer tax has three parts: state, municipality, and school transfer tax. Easy to remember because all taxes come in threes! Each municipality and school district charges a different amount, so verify you are using the correct numbers. The state is 1% of the purchase price.
1) Verify what municipality and school district the property is located in. Be sure you are in the right school district off the county website when getting the percentages. Some parts of the City of Pittsburgh uses the Baldwin-Whitehall School District. Some agents will have the wrong information listed on the MLS due to ignorance or error. The county website will have that information and it's your job to ensure you are pulling accurate information.
2) Using the most updated year, find the millage rates. Google "transfer tax BLANK County" and make sure it's a government site to ensure the validity of it. For 2023, this link is valid for Allegheny County.
-For all other counties, see this PDF. If it's not on this sheet, that means it's 1% state and 1% local (or 0.5% school and 0.5% municipal).
3) Add the percentages up. State, municipality, and school district.
EXAMPLE: 5425 Baum Blvd, PGH PA 15232 is located in the city, and is in Pittsburgh School District. State (1%), municipality (3%), and school (1%). Total is 5%.
4) The verbiage in the agreement of sale (AOS) has it automatically that the transfer tax is split evenly between the seller and buyer, but that can be altered as needed. Assuming it's split evenly, you want to take half of the percentage to get what your client is paying. Then you multiply the sales price by the percentage to get the amount.
In our example, that's 2.5%. If the sales price was $100,000, the transfer tax would be $3000 because 0.03*100,000 = 3,000. On your estimated costs sheet, you can put "total 5%, seller side 2.5%" or "total 5%, buyer side 2.5%" and then the amount on the line. This shows them that you've already calculated the percentage and split it accordingly. It's also very convenient for you if you need to redo an estimated cost sheet for the client. You don't have to look it up again.
1) Verify what municipality and school district the property is located in. Be sure you are in the right school district off the county website when getting the percentages. Some parts of the City of Pittsburgh uses the Baldwin-Whitehall School District. Some agents will have the wrong information listed on the MLS due to ignorance or error. The county website will have that information and it's your job to ensure you are pulling accurate information.
2) Using the most updated year, find the millage rates. Google "transfer tax BLANK County" and make sure it's a government site to ensure the validity of it. For 2023, this link is valid for Allegheny County.
-For all other counties, see this PDF. If it's not on this sheet, that means it's 1% state and 1% local (or 0.5% school and 0.5% municipal).
3) Add the percentages up. State, municipality, and school district.
EXAMPLE: 5425 Baum Blvd, PGH PA 15232 is located in the city, and is in Pittsburgh School District. State (1%), municipality (3%), and school (1%). Total is 5%.
4) The verbiage in the agreement of sale (AOS) has it automatically that the transfer tax is split evenly between the seller and buyer, but that can be altered as needed. Assuming it's split evenly, you want to take half of the percentage to get what your client is paying. Then you multiply the sales price by the percentage to get the amount.
In our example, that's 2.5%. If the sales price was $100,000, the transfer tax would be $3000 because 0.03*100,000 = 3,000. On your estimated costs sheet, you can put "total 5%, seller side 2.5%" or "total 5%, buyer side 2.5%" and then the amount on the line. This shows them that you've already calculated the percentage and split it accordingly. It's also very convenient for you if you need to redo an estimated cost sheet for the client. You don't have to look it up again.
