Florida Documentary Stamp Tax and Other State Taxes
Florida Documentary Stamp Tax and Other State Taxes tests the excise taxes Florida imposes on written instruments and the state taxes that fill gaps left by the absence of a personal income tax. The exam focuses on deed, mortgage, and note rates, consideration, exemptions, and county surtaxes.
Core rules
- Documentary stamp tax is imposed on deeds, mortgages, promissory notes, stock certificates, and bonds. The deed rate is $0.70 per $100, or fraction, of consideration. The mortgage and promissory note rate is $0.35 per $100, or fraction. Stock certificates are generally taxed at $0.35 per $100 of par or stated value.
- Consideration includes cash, assumed liabilities, and other property exchanged. The tax is computed on the full consideration, rounded up to the next $100. A deed is not accepted for recording until the tax is paid.
- Miami-Dade County imposes an additional surtax on deeds of $0.45 per $100, making the total deed rate $1.15 per $100 there. Other counties do not impose that deed surtax.
- Exemptions are narrow and include transfers to or from government units, certain transfers between spouses or incident to divorce, and corrective deeds that meet statutory conditions.
- Other Florida state taxes include corporate income tax, sales and use tax, reemployment tax, fuel taxes, communications services tax, insurance premium tax, severance taxes, tourist development taxes, rental car surcharges, and environmental fees. Florida has no personal income tax and repealed its intangible personal property tax.
Worked example
A buyer purchases real property for $250,000 in Miami-Dade County and gives a $200,000 purchase-money mortgage. Deed tax is $250,000 divided by $100 = 2,500 units times $0.70 = $1,750. The Miami-Dade surtax is 2,500 units times $0.45 = $1,125. Total deed tax is $2,875. Mortgage tax is $200,000 divided by $100 = 2,000 units times $0.35 = $700. Rounding up matters when consideration is not an exact multiple of $100.
Traps
Do not compute deed tax at the mortgage rate. Do not overlook assumed liabilities in consideration. Do not apply the Miami-Dade surtax outside Miami-Dade. Do not assume an exemption because the transfer is family-related; the statute must fit. Do not confuse documentary stamp tax with sales tax or with the repealed intangibles tax.