What is the real estate transfer tax in Pennsylvania?

In Pennsylvania, every person who makes, executes, delivers, accepts or presents for recording a document conveying real estate, or on whose behalf it is made, is subject to a State realty transfer tax of 1 percent of the value of the real estate the document represents, payable when the document is presented for recording or within 30 days of its acceptance. Cities, boroughs, incorporated towns, townships and school districts may levy their own tax on the same transfers, subject to the rate limits of The Local Tax Enabling Act. A transfer between husband and wife, between parent and child or the child’s spouse, between siblings, or between grandparent and grandchild is excluded, as is a transfer for no or nominal consideration from a personal representative to the decedent’s devisee or heir. Counties and cities can add their own tax where state law lets them, so check the county where the deed is recorded. This is Tax Reform Code of 1971, §§ 1102-C, 1102-C.3, 1101-D.

WhatPennsylvania
State transfer tax1% of the value, plus any local transfer tax

What the statute says

“… a State tax at the rate of one per cent of the value of the real estate within this Commonwealth represented by such document, which State tax shall be payable at the earlier of the time the document is presented for recording …”

Quoted word for word from the section’s text.

Source

Tax Reform Code of 1971, §§ 1102-C, 1102-C.3, 1101-D

Read the statute in the Pennsylvania Statutes (Pennsylvania General Assembly): palegis.us.

Checked against the statute on November 15, 2026.

This is a summary of a published statute, not legal advice. Rules change, local ordinances can add to them, and the terms of a specific lease may differ. Check the citation and speak to a lawyer before acting.

How Seayora uses this rule

This page states the state’s rule so the costs and paperwork of a sale can be checked against it before a contract is signed. An owner on Seayora keeps each property’s owners of record and its documents in one place.

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