Florida Documentary Stamp Tax on a Home Sale: Rates and Who Pays (2026)

Updated October 2026. Florida Department of Revenue and Florida Statutes chapter 201 checked on October 31, 2026.

Florida’s documentary stamp tax on a deed is 70 cents per $100 of the price, so $2,800 on a $400,000 home (October 2026). Miami-Dade charges 60 cents per $100 on single-family homes and condos, plus a 45-cent surtax on other property. The standard Florida contract makes it a seller cost.

Jump to: 🧮 By price · 🌴 Miami-Dade · 🤝 Who pays · 🏦 Buyer’s loan · 🚫 No tax due · ⏰ When paid · ❓ FAQ

How much is the doc stamp tax on a Florida home sale?

Here’s the deed tax at common prices, figured with the rates the Department of Revenue lists. The middle column is for a single-family house or condo in Miami-Dade. The last column is Miami-Dade property that isn’t a single-family residence, such as a duplex or a vacant lot, where the surtax applies.

Now the rounding. The statute taxes each $100 “or fractional part thereof.” Say you sell for $412,350. That’s 4,123.5 units, which rounds up to 4,124. Multiply by 70 cents and the tax is $2,886.80. The extra fifty dollars of price costs you a full 70 cents, not 35.

The base is the “consideration,” which is broader than the check the buyer writes. It includes money paid, a debt the buyer takes over, and any mortgage on the property, whether or not the buyer assumes it. On a normal sale where your loan gets paid off at closing, the consideration is simply the price.

Why is Miami-Dade’s doc stamp rate different?

Miami-Dade gets its own rate under section 201.031: 60 cents per $100 instead of 70, plus a discretionary surtax of 45 cents per $100 that funds affordable housing. The surtax doesn’t apply when the deed transfers only a single-family residence. The statute counts a condominium unit, a co-op unit and a detached house as single-family residences.

So most Miami-Dade homeowners pay less than the rest of the state, at 0.60%. A duplex or a lot pays 1.05%. The Department of Revenue gives its own example: a $500,000 vacant lot in Miami-Dade owes $3,000 in doc stamps plus $2,250 in surtax, $5,250 in all.

Selling in Miami? Our Miami flat fee MLS page covers the local MLS, and the surtax law itself is scheduled to sunset on October 1, 2031.

Who pays the documentary stamp tax in Florida, buyer or seller?

The state doesn’t care who pays, as long as someone does. The Department of Revenue says all parties to the deed are liable regardless of which party agrees to pay. If one party is exempt, such as a government agency, the non-exempt party pays.

The contract decides the split. In the Florida Realtors Contract for Residential Sale and Purchase, “taxes and surtaxes on the deed” are listed as a seller cost. That’s why you’ll hear that Florida sellers pay doc stamps. It’s the default in the form most sales use, not a law, and you can agree otherwise in writing.

Under that same form, the buyer pays the taxes and recording fees on their loan documents and the fee to record the deed. For a full split of the other line items, see who pays closing costs.

What doc stamp tax does a Florida buyer pay on a loan?

A separate rate applies to the buyer’s financing. Promissory notes are taxed at 35 cents per $100, capped at $2,450. Recorded mortgages are taxed at 35 cents per $100 of the amount they secure, with no cap. On a $320,000 loan, 35 cents per $100 works out to $1,120. Again, every party to those documents is liable, but in practice the buyer covers it as a loan cost.

This matters to you as a seller only in negotiation. If a buyer asks for help with closing costs, their loan stamps are part of the number they’re trying to cover.

When is no doc stamp tax due on a Florida deed?

A sale to an unrelated buyer is taxed. The Department of Revenue lists these as generally not taxed:

• A deed between spouses for homestead property, when the only consideration is the mortgage or lien on it.
• A deed between spouses or former spouses under a divorce, for what was their marital home. Tax paid by mistake can be refunded within one year of the divorce.
• A personal representative’s deed given under a probated will.
• A transfer under threat of eminent domain.
• A transfer from an agent to the principal who paid for the property.

Watch the trap: there’s no exemption for estate planning in general. A deed from you to your own LLC can be taxed if the property has a mortgage, because the loan balance counts as consideration.

When and where is Florida doc stamp tax paid?

Usually at recording. The tax is paid to the county clerk of court or recording official when the deed is recorded, and your closing agent handles it from the settlement funds. You’ll see it as a line on your settlement statement.

If a deed isn’t recorded by the 20th day of the month after it was delivered, the tax goes straight to the Department of Revenue as an unrecorded document. That mostly comes up with private deals done without a closing agent, which is one more reason to close through a title company or attorney.

How do doc stamps change your Florida net proceeds?

Take a $400,000 sale in Orange County with your mortgage paid off at closing. Doc stamps are $2,800. Add your owner’s title policy if the contract puts it on you (premiums are set by Florida rule, so they’re the same at every title company), your share of property tax, and any HOA estoppel fee.

Then add how you sell. Listing with Beycome in Florida is $99, with $0 due to Beycome at closing, and Beycome Title’s settlement fee is $99 when you prepay it at checkout. Run your own numbers with the cost of selling calculator, and see the step-by-step in our Florida by-owner guide. Our Stellar MLS guide explains how listing works in much of the state.

22,000+ homeowners have used Beycome, saving over $225 million in total (Beycome internal data, October 2026). See Florida flat fee MLS packages.

Florida doc stamp tax questions

Reviewed by Beycome of Florida LLC, licensed real estate brokerage (FL #CQ1033978).