"How Much Is Georgia's Intangible Recording Tax on My Mortgage, and Who Pays It?"

On page two of a Georgia Loan Estimate, under Taxes and Other Government Fees, a $400,000 home loan carries a $1,200 charge that a client moving in from most other states has never seen before. That charge is Georgia's intangible recording tax. It is figured from the amount you borrow rather than from the price of the home, and it is the reason a Georgia closing-cost estimate often runs higher than a national one.

Georgia's intangible recording tax is $1.50 for every $500 of your mortgage note, or any part of $500, which works out to $3 per $1,000 borrowed, with a ceiling of $25,000 on any one note. The law makes your lender responsible for paying it and allows the lender to pass the cost to you, so it usually shows up as your closing cost.

I'm Jeff Moran, a mortgage broker in Bluffton, South Carolina, originating since 1996, licensed in fifteen states, including Georgia, NMLS #483943, through C2 Financial Corporation.

How Georgia's intangible recording tax is figured

The amount comes straight out of state law. O.C.G.A. § 48-6-61 charges $1.50 for each $500, or fraction of $500, of the face amount of the note. The same section caps the tax at $25,000 for any single note.

The face amount is the principal written on the promissory note you sign at closing. For a purchase loan, that is your loan amount. The price of the home and your down payment only matter because they decide how much you borrow.

Because of the words "or fraction thereof," your loan amount gets divided into $500 pieces, and any piece left over counts as a full $500. So a loan that ends in $350 or $10 rounds up to the next $500 before the $1.50 is applied.

On a round number, the shortcut is $3 for every $1,000. Clayton County's Clerk of Court uses the same arithmetic in its own example: a $150,000 loan carries $450 in intangible tax.

The $25,000 ceiling only comes into play on a note somewhere above $8.33 million. For almost every home purchase, the tax is simply the loan amount run through the $1.50-per-$500 schedule.

Long-term notes and the 62-month rule

The tax applies to a long-term note secured by Georgia real estate. Georgia changed that definition in 2025. The Department of Revenue's bulletin on HB 586 explains that, from July 1, 2025, a note is long-term when any part of the principal falls due more than 62 months after the date of the note or the date of the instrument securing it, which on a Georgia home loan is usually the security deed. Before that change, the cutoff was three years.

A 30-year or 15-year purchase loan is long-term under either version of the rule, so the tax applies to it. A note whose whole principal comes due within 62 months is short-term, and the Department of Revenue says it is not subject to the tax. That mostly matters for short bridge or balloon financing rather than an ordinary home loan.

Worked examples on Georgia purchase loans

Numbers below are made up to show the mechanism. They are not a real file and not a quote.

Loan amount	$500 pieces, rounded up	Intangible tax
$250,000	500	$750.00
$427,350	855	$1,282.50
$640,000	1,280	$1,920.00

The middle row is the one that shows the rounding. $427,350 divided by $500 is 854.7. The leftover $350 counts as a full $500 piece, so the count becomes 855, and 855 times $1.50 is $1,282.50.

You can check any loan amount the same way, by dividing it by 500, rounding up to the next whole number and multiplying by $1.50.

Who pays the intangible tax in Georgia, the buyer or the lender?

Under Georgia law, the lender owes it. Section 48-6-61 has the collecting officer, the county official who collects the tax, collect it from the holder of the note, which on your purchase is the lender. The same section allows the holder to pass the amount of the tax on to you as the person taking the loan.

The Georgia Department of Revenue's intangible recording tax page describes it the same way. The lender is legally responsible, and the lender is allowed to pass the cost on to you. Most lenders do, which is why you see it on your Loan Estimate and on your closing statement.

Your purchase contract matters too. The standard Georgia REALTORS purchase form puts the remaining closing charges on the buyer unless the agreement says otherwise, as the Georgia mortgage page explains. That is a contract default you can negotiate. Asking the seller for a contribution toward your closing costs is an ordinary request, and a contribution like that can help cover this charge along with the rest of your closing costs.

Paying the tax at a Georgia closing

You will not be writing a separate check to the county. Your lender, as the holder of the note, pays the tax to the county when the security deed, the document that pledges your home as security for the loan, goes in for recording, and the cost shows up on your closing statement. In Georgia, a lawyer controls the closing from start to finish, and the role of the Georgia closing attorney covers what that office handles.

The Department of Revenue says the tax is collected at the county level in all 159 Georgia counties. The Clerk of Superior Court does the collecting, as the "collecting officer." The Department of Revenue also notes that in some counties of 50,000 people or fewer, the tax collector or tax commissioner can fill that role.

Section 48-6-61 gives the lender a deadline. Within 90 days of the date on your security deed, the lender has to take it to the collecting officer, pay the tax and get the deed recorded.

The lender has a strong reason to get it right at closing. Under O.C.G.A. § 48-6-77, a lender that fails to pay cannot foreclose or sue on the debt until it pays the tax, interest and a penalty of 50 percent of the tax. That penalty is the lender's problem, and it is the reason Georgia closings treat this tax as routine.

How the intangible tax differs from Georgia's transfer tax

Georgia charges two taxes on a home purchase, and they are easy to mix up. The intangible recording tax is on the security deed for your loan. The real estate transfer tax is on the deed that passes ownership to you, and the PT-61 transfer tax declaration is the form that figures it.

Who pays them is set differently. The Department of Revenue says the seller is liable for the transfer tax, and that buyers and sellers often agree in the contract that the buyer will pay it. The current Georgia REALTORS purchase form does exactly that, putting the transfer tax on the buyer by default. The intangible tax follows your loan, so it lands with you unless the contract or a seller contribution shifts it.

Most states do not tax the mortgage itself. Georgia is one of a small group that taxes the loan, and the mortgage recording tax comparison by state shows where it fits next to the others.

Planning for the intangible tax before you make an offer

1. You'll want an estimate built for Georgia. A national calculator usually leaves this tax out, and the gap shows up in your cash to close. Getting pre-approved for a Georgia mortgage is where your income, debts and credit get reviewed with your documents in hand, and the closing costs get priced for Georgia.
2. Please keep the loan amount in mind when you compare down payment options. Every $500 you borrow adds $1.50 of intangible tax, so a larger down payment lowers it a little, and a smaller one raises it a little.
3. Please read the closing cost section of your purchase agreement before you sign it. It tells you whether the contract follows the buyer-pays default or includes a seller contribution.
4. You'll want to look for the tax on page two of your Loan Estimate, under Taxes and Other Government Fees, and then again on your closing statement, so you can check the figure against your loan amount.

Common mistakes with Georgia's intangible tax

Figuring it on the purchase price. The tax follows the face amount of your note. On a $480,000 home with $48,000 down, the tax is figured on the $432,000 you borrow.

Treating it as the transfer tax. They are separate taxes on separate documents, figured on different amounts. Under the current standard Georgia contract, both can end up on your side of the closing statement as two separate lines.

Assuming a later refinance will be exempt. Georgia's refinance exemption is narrow, and it turns on whether you stay with the same lender. Refinancing in Georgia explains how it works and why a refinance with a different lender usually pays the tax on the full new balance.

An illustration, so the arithmetic is clear

Numbers below are made up to show the mechanism. They are not a real file and not a quote.

Say you are buying a Georgia home for $480,000 and putting 10 percent down. Your loan amount is $432,000, and you are using the standard Georgia REALTORS purchase form.

Item	Amount
Purchase price	$480,000
Down payment	$48,000
Loan amount	$432,000
$500 pieces ($432,000 ÷ $500)	864
Intangible recording tax (864 × $1.50)	$1,296.00

The $1,296 is on your side of the closing statement. The transfer tax is a separate line on the $480,000 price, which works out to $480 under the statute's $1-per-$1,000 schedule. That standard form puts it on your side too, unless your contract moves it to the seller.

Now say you decide to put 5 percent down instead. Your loan amount becomes $456,000, which is 912 pieces of $500, and the intangible tax becomes $1,368. The extra $24,000 you borrow adds $72 to the tax.

Seeing your own Georgia numbers

If you are shopping for a Georgia home, running your own numbers on the homepage shows rates for your scenario, your debt ratio, and closing costs priced for Georgia, intangible tax included. The full list of what can show up on a closing statement is in closing costs explained.

Nothing here is a loan approval, a denial, a commitment to lend, or legal or tax advice. The intangible recording tax is set by Georgia statute and administered by the Georgia Department of Revenue, and your county's collecting officer decides what it needs to record your security deed.

Common questions

How much is the intangible tax on a mortgage in Georgia?

The rate is set by state law in O.C.G.A. § 48-6-61, and it is figured on the face amount of your note, the amount you borrow. The tax is charged in steps, any partial step rounds up to a full one, and the statute caps the tax on any single note. The section above on how the tax is figured walks through the math with worked examples.

Who pays the Georgia intangible recording tax?

Georgia law makes the holder of the note, which is your lender, responsible for paying it. The same statute allows the lender to pass the amount on to you, and the Georgia Department of Revenue permits that, so on most purchases it appears as your closing cost. Your purchase contract can shift closing costs through a seller contribution.

Is the Georgia intangible tax the same as the transfer tax?

No. The intangible recording tax is figured on your mortgage note and paid when the security deed is recorded. The real estate transfer tax is figured on the price paid for the property, reported on the PT-61 form, and paid when the ownership deed is recorded. The Georgia Department of Revenue says the seller is liable for the transfer tax, though the parties often agree the buyer will pay it. The current Georgia REALTORS purchase form puts it on the buyer by default.

Does the Georgia intangible tax apply to a short-term loan?

Not when the whole principal comes due within 62 months. The Georgia Department of Revenue's bulletin on HB 586 covers the rule in place since July 1, 2025. A note is long-term and taxable when any part of the principal falls due more than 62 months after the date of the note or the instrument securing it, which on a Georgia home loan is usually the security deed. A 15-year or 30-year purchase loan is long-term, so the tax applies to it.

Do I pay intangible tax again if I refinance in Georgia?

Usually, yes, on the full new loan amount when the refinance is with a different lender. Georgia's exemption covers a refinance between the original parties, meaning you and the same lender, on principal that was already taxed. It also requires a statement in the closing papers saying how much that is. Any new money borrowed beyond that principal is still taxable, so it pays to price a Georgia refinance both ways.