A recorded Maryland deed can carry three taxes. The State transfer tax is 0.5 percent of the consideration. The recordation tax is set by each county, from $2.50 to $7 for every $500 of consideration. And Baltimore City and eighteen counties add a county transfer tax of 0.5 to 1.5 percent. All three are figured on the same number, the consideration stated in the deed, and Maryland presumes the grantor and grantee share them equally unless they agree otherwise.
This page explains each tax, gives every county's rate, says who pays and where, works three examples, and lists the fees that come on top.
The Consideration They Are All Figured On
The recordation tax statute and the State transfer tax statute define consideration in the same words. It includes the amount of any mortgage or deed of trust assumed by the grantee, and otherwise includes only the amount paid or delivered in return for the sale of the property, not the amount of any debt forgiven or no longer secured by a mortgage on the property. A separate section requires the consideration payable, including any assumed mortgage, to be described in the deed's recitals or acknowledgment or in an affidavit filed with it.
That is why a gift deed owes nothing: it states no consideration, and there is no figure to apply a rate to. It is also why a family transfer of mortgaged property is not free: the assumed balance is consideration, and the tax is due on it unless an exemption removes it. Our Maryland quitclaim deed tax exemptions page goes through the exemptions.
The State Transfer Tax
The rate is 0.5 percent of the consideration payable for the instrument, imposed on every instrument recorded with a clerk of the circuit court unless an exemption applies. For a sale of improved residential property to a first-time Maryland home buyer who will occupy it as a principal residence, the rate is 0.25 percent, and the tax is paid entirely by the seller. A first-time buyer is an individual who has never owned residential property in Maryland that was the individual's principal residence. Each grantee signs a statement under oath to that effect. Where there are two or more grantees, each must qualify, or be a co-signer of the mortgage who will not live there. The clerk collects the State transfer tax when the deed is recorded.
The Recordation Tax
The recordation tax is imposed by State law, but each county's governing body, or the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, sets the rate. It is applied to each $500 or fraction of $500 of consideration. The county may exempt a stated amount of the consideration on an owner-occupied home, and may exempt first-time buyers; the county code says whether it does. The county finance office computes and collects it when it certifies the property taxes paid and endorses the deed, before the clerk records.
A first-time buyer's recordation tax, and county transfer tax, are also paid entirely by the seller unless the contract expressly provides otherwise.
Every County's Rates
The Department of Legislative Services compiles the rates each year. These are its figures for fiscal 2025, the recordation tax per $500 of consideration and the county transfer tax as a percentage. The county's finance office has the current figure, and the exemptions each county applies to owner-occupied homes and first-time buyers are in its own code.
| County | Recordation tax per $500 | County transfer tax |
|---|---|---|
| Allegany | $3.50 | 0.5% |
| Anne Arundel | $3.50 | 1.0%* |
| Baltimore City | $5.00 | 1.5% |
| Baltimore County | $2.50 | 1.5% |
| Calvert | $5.00 | none |
| Caroline | $5.00 | 0.5% |
| Carroll | $6.50 | none |
| Cecil | $4.10 | 0.5% |
| Charles | $5.00 | 0.5% |
| Dorchester | $5.00 | 0.75% |
| Frederick | $7.00 | none |
| Garrett | $3.50 | 1.0% |
| Harford | $3.30 | 1.0% |
| Howard | $2.50 | 1.25% |
| Kent | $3.30 | 0.5% |
| Montgomery | varies** | 1.0% |
| Prince George's | $2.75 | 1.4% |
| Queen Anne's | $4.95 | 0.5% |
| St. Mary's | $4.00 | 1.0% |
| Somerset | $3.30 | none |
| Talbot | $6.00 | 1.0% |
| Washington | $3.80 | 0.5% |
| Wicomico | $3.50 | none |
| Worcester | $3.30 | 0.5% |
* Anne Arundel County adds a 0.5 percent surcharge on transactions of $1 million or more. ** Montgomery County's recordation tax is tiered, with a surcharge on transactions above $600,000; the county finance office publishes the schedule.
Who Pays
Maryland's Real Property Article settles it where the contract does not. In every agreement for the sale or other disposition of property, it is presumed, in the absence of a contrary provision in the agreement or the law, that the parties intended the cost of any recordation tax and any State or local transfer tax to be shared equally between grantor and grantee. A contract can say otherwise, and in a family transfer the parties can agree that one side pays.
The exception is the first-time buyer. On a sale of improved residential property to a first-time Maryland home buyer who will occupy it, the seller pays the entire State transfer tax, and the entire recordation tax and county transfer tax unless the contract expressly says they will not be paid entirely by the seller. Each grantee signs the statement under oath described above.
Three Examples
- A $300,000 sale in Baltimore City. State transfer tax $1,500; recordation tax at $5 per $500, $3,000; city transfer tax at 1.5 percent, $4,500. Total $9,000, presumed $4,500 each side, before any owner-occupied exemption the city code may allow.
- A $300,000 sale in Frederick County. State transfer tax $1,500; recordation tax at $7 per $500, $4,200; no county transfer tax. Total $5,700.
- A parent's gift of a house with a $150,000 mortgage to a daughter in Howard County, who takes over the loan. Consideration is the $150,000 assumed. The recordation and State transfer taxes exempt an assumed mortgage on a transfer to a daughter, so those are nothing; Howard County's transfer tax is governed by the county's own code and exemptions. With no mortgage, the consideration is zero and nothing is due to anyone.
In each case the recording fee and surcharge are added: $20 for a deed of nine pages or fewer or for a principal residence of any length, $75 otherwise, plus the $40 land records surcharge, and up to $55 for a lien certificate from the county.
Maryland Transfer and Recordation Taxes — Common Questions
How much is Maryland's transfer tax?
There are two, and a third tax that acts like one. The State transfer tax is 0.5 percent of the consideration, or 0.25 percent on a sale of an improved home to a first-time Maryland home buyer, and in that case the seller pays all of it. A county transfer tax is added in Baltimore City and eighteen counties, from 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent. And the recordation tax, set by each county per $500 of consideration, runs from $2.50 to $7. On a $300,000 sale in Baltimore City the three come to $1,500, $4,500 and $3,000: $9,000, or $4,500 a side.
Who pays, the buyer or the seller?
Maryland's statute presumes, in the absence of a contrary provision in the contract, that the parties intended the recordation tax and the State and local transfer taxes to be shared equally between grantor and grantee. The exception is a sale of an improved home to a first-time Maryland home buyer who will live in it. There the State transfer tax falls wholly on the seller, and so do the recordation and county transfer taxes unless the contract expressly says otherwise.
What counts as consideration?
The amount paid or delivered in return for the property, plus any mortgage or deed of trust the grantee assumes. It does not include debt forgiven or debt no longer secured by the property. The consideration must be stated in the deed's recitals or acknowledgment or in an affidavit filed with it, and the county finance office and the clerk compute the taxes from that statement. A gift for no consideration owes none of the three taxes.
Where is the recordation tax paid?
At the county finance office, or Baltimore City's Department of Finance, before the deed reaches the clerk. The clerk may record a deed that changes ownership only if the county's collector of taxes has endorsed it, and the finance office computes and collects the recordation tax and any county transfer tax when it endorses. The clerk then collects the State transfer tax, the recording fee and the $40 surcharge.
Are there first-time buyer breaks?
Yes. The State transfer tax drops to 0.25 percent when improved residential property is sold to a first-time Maryland home buyer who will occupy it, and the seller pays all of it. Each grantee, or an agent, signs a statement under oath that the grantee has never owned a principal residence in Maryland and will occupy this one. A county may also exempt first-time buyers from its recordation tax, and may exempt part of the consideration on any owner-occupied home; those are county choices, applied by the finance office.
Official Sources
Maryland's laws are collected in the Maryland Code, arranged in named articles, and a citation such as Tax-Property § 13-203 is an address: the article, then the section. Each links to the section on the General Assembly's website, or to the agency's own publication, and opens in a new tab.
- Tax-Property § 13-202 and § 13-203 — the State transfer tax on recorded instruments; the 0.5 percent rate, the first-time buyer rate of 0.25 percent paid by the seller, and the definition of consideration.
- Tax-Property § 12-102, § 12-103 and § 12-104 — the recordation tax; the county sets the rate per $500 of consideration and may exempt owner-occupied and first-time buyer homes; the consideration must be stated in the deed or an affidavit.
- Tax-Property § 13-402 and § 13-403 — county transfer taxes are imposed under county law, with the statewide exemption for spouses and domestic partners under a settlement or decree.
- Real Property § 14-104 — the taxes are presumed shared equally; the seller pays them for a first-time buyer's home.
- Real Property § 3-104, § 3-601 and Courts and Judicial Proceedings § 13-604 — the collector's certificate before recording and the lien certificate fee; the $20 and $75 recording fees; the $40 surcharge.
- Department of Legislative Services — Local Tax Rates in Maryland — the table of every county's recordation and transfer tax rates the figures above come from.
Tax and fee amounts checked against the Maryland Code and the Department of Legislative Services' table on September 3, 2026.