Illinois will not record a deed until the transfer tax question is answered, and there are two ways to answer it. If the transfer is taxable, or falls under one of two exemptions that still require reporting, a PTAX-203 real estate transfer declaration goes to the recorder with the deed. If it falls under any other exemption, and a family gift for less than $100 does, the exemption is written on the face of the deed and the state asks for no PTAX-203, though some recorders, Cook County among them, still want the transfer entered in MyDec.
That second route is the one a family transfer usually takes, as long as nothing is paid and no mortgage stays on the property. This page explains the form, the exemptions, the MyDec system the recorders now use, and where Cook County adds requirements of its own.
What the Declaration Is For
Illinois taxes the privilege of transferring title to real estate, and the declaration is how the tax is assessed. The statute says that when a deed is presented for recording, or within three business days after the transfer takes effect, whichever is earlier, a declaration must also be presented, signed by at least one seller and one buyer or by their attorneys or agents. It states the value of the property, the parcel identifying number, the legal description, the date and type of deed, the address, whether the parties are related, the lot size, any personal property included, any homestead exemptions on the last tax bill, and who prepared it. Without it, the recorder is not allowed to accept a taxable deed.
The Department of Revenue uses the sales data for something else as well. County offices and the Department use the declarations to build the assessment ratio studies that set each county's equalization factor, which is why the form asks for details about the property's use and condition that have nothing to do with the tax. Anyone who willfully falsifies or omits required information commits a misdemeanor.
Which Transfers Are Exempt, and Which Still Need the Form
The statute lists the exempt transfers by letter, and the Department's instructions are precise about which letters excuse the form. File the PTAX-203 for every transfer except those exempt under (a), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), (i), (j) or (l). For those, write the exemption on the deed instead. The ones a quitclaim deed is likely to meet:
- (e) Actual consideration less than $100. A gift to a child or parent, a transfer between spouses for nothing, a deed into or out of your own revocable trust, a deed adding a spouse to the title for no money. Notation on the deed; no form. A mortgage the property stays subject to counts toward the consideration, so a gift of mortgaged property may not fit (e); see the calculation below.
- (d) A deed that, without additional consideration, confirms, corrects, modifies or supplements a deed already recorded. Notation; no form.
- (h) A deed of partition dividing property among co-owners. Notation; no form.
- (c) and (g) Deeds that secure a debt, or release property held as security. Notation; no form.
- (b) Deeds to or from a governmental body, or to or from a charitable, religious or educational organization. Exempt from the tax, but the declaration is still filed.
- (k) An actual exchange of real estate, with any cash difference taxed. Exempt in part, and the declaration is still filed.
One rule of precedence is worth knowing. Where a transfer qualifies under both (e) and (b), for instance a gift of land to a church for nothing, the instructions say to claim (e), so that no declaration is required and the notation on the deed is enough.
Writing the Exemption on the Deed
The notation is a sentence, not a form. It cites the exemption by section and letter, and it is signed and dated by a party or the party's agent. The Cook County Clerk publishes the wording it expects, which reads in substance: "Exempt under Real Estate Transfer Tax Law 35 ILCS 200/31-45 sub par (e) and Cook County Ord. 93-O-27 par (e). Signature ______ Date ______." Outside Cook, cite the state section and letter the same way, and add the county's ordinance if the recorder's website asks for it.
Put the notation where the recorder will see it, on the first page or immediately below the signatures, and leave the 3-by-5-inch box in the upper right corner of the first page empty for the recorder's stamps. If the exemption is wrong, the deed comes back, and the notation needs the signature and date the recorder's example shows.
Filling In the PTAX-203 When You Need It
The form has four steps, and the Department's instructions go through every line. Step 1 identifies the property: the address, township, parcel numbers with lot size or acreage, the date and type of deed, whether the buyer will live there, how it was marketed, its current and intended use, any significant physical changes, and a list of special circumstances such as a court-ordered sale, a short sale, a transfer of less than the whole interest, or a sale between relatives. Step 2 calculates the tax. Step 3 carries the legal description from the deed. Step 4 takes the names, addresses and phone numbers of seller, buyer and preparer, and their signatures.
The calculation. Start from the full actual consideration, meaning the amount actually paid, including any outstanding mortgage the property stays subject to. Take out the value of personal property included in the price, and take out the outstanding mortgage if the deed states that the property is transferred subject to it. The tax is 50 cents for each $500 or part of $500 of what is left, to the State, plus 25 cents for each $500 in a county that has imposed its own tax, as Cook and many others have. On $300,000 that is $300 and $150. Round each line up to the next whole dollar.
Two supplemental forms exist for unusual cases: PTAX-203-A for a sale over $1 million of commercial, industrial, office, retail or larger apartment property, and PTAX-203-B for instruments other than deeds and trust documents. A quitclaim deed of a house needs neither.
MyDec: How the Declaration Is Filed Now
MyDec is the Department of Revenue's online declaration system, and it has become the way Illinois collects the transfer tax. The statute required paper revenue stamps to be phased out by the end of 2025, after which every county issues electronic stamps and files its returns through MyDec, and it requires every recorded sale to be transmitted to the Department through the electronic system. In practice the declaration for a taxable deed is created in MyDec and the recorder applies the electronic stamp when the deed is recorded.
For an exempt deed, state law asks only for the notation. But a recorder can require more before it will accept a document, and Cook County lists a completed MyDec among the requirements for every deed, exempt or not, alongside the grantor/grantee affidavit and the exemption language. Other counties differ. The recorder's website, or a phone call, settles it before you drive over.
Where Cook County Adds to the State's Rules
Cook County is the state's largest by far, and its Clerk's office publishes a longer list of what a deed must carry than the state does. For an exempt deed the additions are three: sworn statements by the grantor and by the grantee that the grantee is a natural person or an entity allowed to hold Illinois real estate, which the statute requires only in a county of 3,000,000 or more; the exemption language on the deed citing both the state section and the county ordinance; and a completed MyDec. A taxable deed pays Cook County's own 25 cents per $500 on top of the State's 50 cents.
Municipal transfer taxes are a Cook County concern too, because Chicago and many suburbs charge one. Chicago's is $5.25 on each $500 of the transfer price, split $3.75 to the buyer and $1.50 to the seller, and it exempts transfers for less than $500 and transfers of a couple's home from one to the other under a divorce decree. The Cook County Clerk keeps a list of every municipality's rate and who pays it.
What This Means for Your Illinois Quitclaim Deed
- Decide first whether any money, or any mortgage the property stays subject to, is part of the transfer. If the actual consideration is under $100, you are in exemption (e).
- For exemption (e), write the exemption on the deed, signed and dated. Do not fill in a PTAX-203 unless your recorder tells you it wants an exempt MyDec entry as well.
- For a taxable transfer, create the declaration in MyDec or complete the paper PTAX-203, have a seller and a buyer sign it, and bring the tax to the recorder with the deed.
- In Cook County, add the grantor and grantee affidavits and check the municipality's transfer tax before you go.
Next step: our Illinois quitclaim deed page has the full sequence, from the preparer line and the homestead signature to what recording costs.
Illinois Transfer Declaration — Common Questions
What is Illinois Form PTAX-203?
PTAX-203 is the Illinois Real Estate Transfer Declaration, the form the Real Estate Transfer Tax Law requires when a deed is presented for recording. It reports the sale price or value, the parcel number, the legal description, the kind of deed, whether the parties are related, and whether an exemption is claimed, and it is signed by at least one seller and one buyer or their agents. The recorder uses it to collect the tax and the Department of Revenue uses the sales data to equalize assessments across the state.
Do I need a PTAX-203 for a gift between family members?
Usually not, if nothing is paid and no mortgage stays on the property. A deed where the actual consideration is less than $100 is exempt from the transfer tax, and the Department of Revenue's instructions say that for that exemption you do not file the form at all: you write the exemption on the face of the deed instead, signed and dated. The same is true of a correction deed and most of the other exemptions. Only two exempt categories still require the form: transfers to or from a government body or a charity, and even exchanges of real estate.
What do I write on the deed to claim the exemption?
A short statement citing the exemption, with a signature and date. The Cook County Clerk's example reads, in substance, "Exempt under Real Estate Transfer Tax Law 35 ILCS 200/31-45 sub par (e) and Cook County Ord. 93-O-27 par (e)", followed by a signature line and a date. Outside Cook County, cite the state section and the letter of the exemption; if the county has its own ordinance, the recorder's website will say how it wants the county exemption shown.
What is MyDec, and do I have to use it?
MyDec is the Department of Revenue's online system for transfer declarations. Recorders use it to report taxable transfers to the state, and paper revenue stamps were phased out at the end of 2025 in favor of electronic ones, so a taxable deed's declaration now goes through MyDec in every county. For an exempt deed the state law asks only for the notation on the deed, but some recorders, Cook County among them, require an exempt transfer to be entered in MyDec as well before they will record. The recorder's website will say.
How is the Illinois transfer tax calculated?
On the value stated in the declaration: 50 cents for each $500 or part of $500 to the State, and 25 cents for each $500 in a county that has imposed its own tax, so $1.50 on every $1,000 where both apply. Personal property included in the price is taken out first. If the deed says the property is transferred subject to a mortgage, the balance still owed is also taken out, which is the opposite of how several states treat a mortgage. Cities and villages may add a tax of their own on top; Chicago's is $5.25 per $500.
Official Sources
Illinois's laws are collected in the Illinois Compiled Statutes, and a citation such as 35 ILCS 200/31-45 is an address: the chapter, the act within it, and the section. You do not need any of these to follow this page. They are here so that you, or an attorney, can read the exact wording rather than take this page's word for it. Each links to the text on the General Assembly's website, which opens in a new tab.
- 35 ILCS 200/31-10 — the state transfer tax: 50 cents per $500 of the value stated in the declaration, with the outstanding mortgage excluded where the deed says the property is transferred subject to it.
- 35 ILCS 200/31-25 — the declaration: when it is presented, who signs it, and what it must state.
- 35 ILCS 200/31-45 — the exemptions, lettered (a) through (m), including (e) for consideration under $100.
- 35 ILCS 200/31-15 — collection by revenue stamps, the phase-out of paper stamps by the end of 2025, and electronic reporting through MyDec.
- 55 ILCS 5/5-1031 — the county transfer tax of 25 cents per $500, with the same exemptions.
- 55 ILCS 5/3-5020 — the grantor and grantee statements required on exempt deeds in a county of 3,000,000 or more.
- Illinois Department of Revenue — PTAX-203 Instructions — the rule on which exemptions excuse the form, the (e)-over-(b) precedence, and the line-by-line instructions.
- Illinois Department of Revenue — MyDec — the electronic declaration system and its help desk.
- Cook County Clerk — Document Requirements — the affidavit, the MyDec requirement, and the exemption wording the office expects.
- Cook County Clerk — Transfer Fees — state, county and municipal rates, and who pays each.
- City of Chicago — Real Property Transfer Tax — the city's rate, its split between buyer and seller, and its exemptions.
Tax amounts checked against the Illinois Compiled Statutes and the Department of Revenue's instructions on September 3, 2026.