"Buying a Home in Maine: What Is the Real Estate Transfer Tax Declaration That Lets Your Deed Record?"

Before the registry of deeds in your Maine county records the deed to your new home, one state form has to be accepted first. It identifies your home the way the town's assessor does, by its number on the town's tax map. It names you and the seller, states the price, and carries the transfer tax that goes with the deed. Maine Revenue Services calls it the Real Estate Transfer Tax Declaration, Form RETTD, and it is the form that lets your deed record.

In Maine, the Real Estate Transfer Tax Declaration, Form RETTD, travels with every deed to the county registry of deeds. It states the price, identifies the home by its tax map and parcel number, and claims any exemption. The register of deeds accepts it and approves the transfer tax payment, and then your deed is recorded.

I'm Jeff Moran, a mortgage broker in Bluffton, South Carolina, originating since 1996, licensed in fifteen states, including Maine, NMLS #483943, through C2 Financial Corporation. Your attorney or title company prepares and files this form, so you will rarely fill in a line of it yourself. I'd like you to recognize it and give your closing agent the details it needs early.

This article stays on the form itself. Maine's statute splits the transfer tax evenly between you and the seller, and how the Maine transfer tax is split and when a first-time buyer's deed is exempt walks through the rate and the arithmetic.

What is the Maine Real Estate Transfer Tax Declaration?

It is the declaration of value that Maine law requires with a deed. Under 36 M.R.S. § 4641-D, any deed, when offered for recording, "must be accompanied by a declaration of the value of the property transferred." The declaration has to be on a form the State Tax Assessor prescribes, and that form is the RETTD.

Maine Revenue Services' Property Tax Bulletin No. 31 sets the order at the registry. The RETTD has to be completed and accepted by the register of deeds before a deed transferring Maine real estate is recorded. The register of deeds is the county official who keeps the land records, at the county Registry of Deeds.

What information goes on Maine's Form RETTD?

The current RETTD and its line-by-line instructions ask for the following.

• The county and the municipality where the home is located. If the property crosses a town line, a supplemental form goes with the declaration.
• The grantee and the grantor. The grantee is you, along with anyone taking title with you, and the grantor is the seller. Each side gives the mailing address it will have after the sale.
• The property, identified by its map, block and lot number from the town's tax map, with a code for the type of property. A home with more than one map and lot number gets a supplemental form listing all of them.
• The sale price, or the fair market value when the price is zero or a nominal amount, as with a gift.
• The date of transfer, which is the day title is delivered to you. That can be a different day from the one the deed is recorded.
• Any exemption being claimed, checked and identified on the form itself.
• A special circumstances line, checked with an explanation when the price was well above or below fair market value.
• The preparer's name and contact details, under a declaration made under the penalties of perjury.

The tax map and parcel number on your declaration

The map and lot line ties your deed to the town's records. Maine law requires the declaration to identify the tax map and parcel number of the property transferred. The only exception is a property that no tax map includes, and then the declaration has to say that an appropriate tax map does not exist.

On an ordinary purchase, the number is in the town's assessing records, and your attorney or title company carries it onto the declaration. They also check that number against the home you are actually buying. That check matters most on a property with a separate lot for a garage or a strip of shorefront, where the home carries more than one parcel number.

If a business is on either side of the deed

Maine's declaration statute, § 4641-D, asks for the taxpayer identification number of a grantor or grantee that is a business, such as an LLC or a corporation. On the form, a business's federal identification number goes in the ID field, and the instructions say a Social Security number does not go there.

If you are buying an investment property through your LLC, please provide your attorney or title company with the LLC's exact legal name and its federal identification number along with the rest of your closing information.

Claiming an exemption on the Maine declaration

Maine lists its transfer tax exemptions in 36 M.R.S. § 4641-C. Section 4641-D then says that where a transfer is exempt, the reason for the exemption must be stated on the declaration. Bulletin No. 31 says an exemption has to be claimed and specifically identified on the RETTD.

If you believe your purchase qualifies for one, the right moment to say so is when your closing agent first contacts you, well before the declaration is prepared. The first-time buyer article linked above shows one exemption being claimed on this same form.

How the Maine transfer tax gets paid before recording

In Bulletin No. 31's words, payment of the transfer tax "must be made to, and approved by, the register of deeds" before recording. The register approves the payment and accepts the declaration, and then the deed goes on the record.

Your half of the tax is part of your cash to close. It appears on your Loan Estimate in the section for taxes and other government fees, and again on your Closing Disclosure. How closing costs break into their categories shows where it lands among your other charges.

Who files the RETTD in Maine?

Usually your attorney or your title company. Maine Revenue Services runs a Real Estate Transfer Tax database on the Maine Tax Portal, where originators create and file declarations electronically. Its FAQ for originators covers how they set up accounts and file.

The declaration then goes to the registry of deeds for the county or region where the property is located. The registry reviews it and either accepts it or sends it back to the preparer.

Maine does not require an attorney to conduct a closing, so you can close with a title company or with an attorney. The Maine mortgage page explains what a closing agent can do for you and which questions stay with a lawyer.

The Maine RETTD after your deed is recorded

Maine law requires the register of deeds to send the declaration to the State Tax Assessor no later than 40 days from the date the deed was recorded. The same section has the State Tax Assessor pass each declaration to the town's assessors on or before the 20th day of the month after it arrives. Once Maine Revenue Services approves a declaration, the town can view and print it from the database.

The declaration gives the town's assessor the sale price and the names on the deed, and it does not apply for anything on your behalf. If the home will be your permanent residence, the homestead exemption is a separate application you make to the town, and when the Maine homestead exemption reaches your property tax bill covers the April 1 timing.

The steps before your Maine closing

1. Please provide the full legal name of each person who will be on the deed, spelled exactly as it should appear there, along with the mailing address you will use after closing.
2. If you are buying through an LLC or another business, please provide its exact legal name and federal identification number with the rest of your closing information.
3. If you think your purchase qualifies for an exemption under § 4641-C, please tell your closing agent at the first contact, so the claim can be written onto the declaration.
4. You can ask your closing agent to confirm the map and lot number against the town's records for the home you are buying, especially on a property with more than one parcel.
5. Please compare the transfer tax line on your Closing Disclosure with the price in your purchase contract. What to bring and sign on closing day covers the rest of the table.

Common mistakes with the Maine transfer tax declaration

A name that does not match the deed. A missing middle initial, or a co-owner left off the grantee line, gives the registry a reason to send the declaration back. Your deed records once the corrected declaration is accepted.

The wrong map and lot. A neighboring lot number, or one of two parcel numbers left off, puts the wrong property on the form. Every map and lot number belongs on the declaration, with a supplemental form when there is more than one.

An exemption mentioned in conversation that never reaches the form. The reason for an exemption has to be stated on the declaration itself, so the closing agent preparing it is the person who needs to hear about it.

Expecting a transfer tax on a refinance. The tax attaches to a deed that transfers real property, and an ordinary refinance records a new mortgage without transferring ownership. The Maine refinance page covers what a Maine refinance does trigger.

An example Maine purchase

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

Say you and your spouse are buying a home in Brunswick with a mortgage, and you sign at the closing table on a Friday. The home is one parcel on the town's tax map, Map 14, Lot 22. You gave the title company both of your full legal names and your new mailing address when it first called.

The title company prepares the declaration in the Maine Tax Portal. It lists both of you as grantees and the seller as grantor, with Cumberland as the county and Brunswick as the municipality. It carries Map 14, Lot 22, the price from your contract, and that Friday as the date of transfer. No exemption box is checked, because none applies.

On Monday the Cumberland County Registry of Deeds accepts the declaration, approves the transfer tax payment, and records your deed. Within 40 days, the registry sends the declaration to the State Tax Assessor, and the Town of Brunswick's assessor can view it once Maine Revenue Services approves it. Your homestead application is still yours to file with the town.

Your next step

If you are shopping for a home in Maine, you can see your own numbers before you write an offer. When you run your numbers on the homepage, you will see rates for your scenario, your debt ratio, and closing costs priced for Maine rather than a national average. It works without a credit pull or an account, and nobody will call you.

I'm licensed in Maine through C2 Financial Corporation. Once you want a letter a Maine seller will take seriously, getting pre-approved for a Maine mortgage is where your income, debts and credit get reviewed with your documents in hand.

Nothing here is a loan approval, a denial, a commitment to lend, or legal or tax advice. The declaration requirement is set by Maine statute, the RETTD belongs to Maine Revenue Services, and your county registry of deeds decides what it needs to record your deed.

Common questions

Can a deed be recorded in Maine without a transfer tax declaration?

No. Under 36 M.R.S. § 4641-D, any deed offered for recording must be accompanied by a declaration of the value of the property transferred, on the State Tax Assessor's form. Maine Revenue Services' Property Tax Bulletin No. 31 says the Real Estate Transfer Tax Declaration has to be completed and accepted by the register of deeds before a deed is recorded. Payment of the transfer tax also has to be made to, and approved by, the register before recording.

Does a Maine RETTD need the tax map and parcel number?

Yes. Section 4641-D requires the declaration to identify the tax map and parcel number of the property transferred, entered on the form as the map, block and lot. If no tax map includes the property, the declaration has to say that an appropriate tax map does not exist. A property with more than one map and lot number gets a supplemental form.

Do I have to claim a Maine transfer tax exemption on the declaration?

Yes. Section 4641-D says that where a transfer is exempt, the reason for the exemption must be stated on the declaration of value. Bulletin No. 31 says an exemption has to be claimed and specifically identified on the RETTD. Maine's exemptions are listed in 36 M.R.S. § 4641-C. If you think your purchase qualifies, please tell your attorney or title company before the declaration is prepared.

Who files the Real Estate Transfer Tax Declaration in Maine?

Usually the attorney or title company handling the closing. Maine Revenue Services' Real Estate Transfer Tax database on the Maine Tax Portal lets originators create and file declarations electronically. The declaration goes to the registry of deeds for the county or region where the property is located, which accepts it or returns it to the preparer for correction.

What happens to the RETTD after the deed is recorded in Maine?

Under 36 M.R.S. § 4641-D, the register of deeds sends the declaration to the State Tax Assessor no later than 40 days from the date the deed was recorded. The State Tax Assessor then passes each declaration to the town's assessors on or before the 20th day of the month after it arrives. Once Maine Revenue Services approves it, the town can view and print it from the database.