"Buying a Home in South Carolina: Who Pays the Transfer Tax at Closing, and Why Is It Called a Deed Recording Fee?"

Your Closing Disclosure arrives in your inbox three business days before you close on a home in Bluffton, South Carolina. You go looking for the transfer tax, because the state you are moving from charged one. Page two, Section E, has a line called Transfer Taxes, and in your column it is blank. One column over, on the seller's side, there is a figure of a little over sixteen hundred dollars. The recording fees line above it is a separate charge.

In South Carolina the state's transfer tax is called the deed recording fee. It is $1.85 for each $500 of the sale price, charged on the deed that moves the home to you. The seller owes it by statute, the state can look to you only if the seller does not pay, and the purchase contract can change who pays. Your mortgage is never part of the formula.

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

What is the South Carolina transfer tax, and how much is the deed recording fee?

South Carolina does not use the words "transfer tax" in its law. The South Carolina Department of Revenue's deed recording fee page describes a fee the clerk of court or register of deeds collects when real estate is transferred to another person and the deed is recorded. The fee is $1.85 on the first $100 to $500 of value, and another $1.85 for each $500 after that. Of each $1.85, $1.30 goes to the state and $0.55 stays with the county.

The statute behind that page is Title 12, Chapter 24 of the South Carolina Code. Section 12-24-10 sets the rate for each five hundred dollars, or fractional part of five hundred dollars, of the real estate's value. "Fractional part" means the price is rounded up to the next $500 before the rate is applied. Section 12-24-90 of the same chapter sets the split between the state and the county.

Clients call this charge deed stamps, transfer tax or deed recording fee. The last one is the statute's name, and it says what the charge is on: the deed that transfers the home.

The whole state pays the same rate, with no county or city add-on. The one local transfer charge in South Carolina belongs to the Town of Hilton Head Island, and the Hilton Head-Bluffton buyer's guide covers how that one works on the island.

Who pays the deed recording fee in South Carolina?

The seller owes it. Section 12-24-20 says the fee is the liability of the grantor, the person signing the deed over, which in a purchase is the seller. If more than one person is selling, each of them is responsible for the whole fee. The grantee, which is you, is secondarily liable, meaning the state can look to you for the fee only if the seller does not pay it.

Custom in South Carolina follows the statute. On a purchase, the deed recording fee is written on the seller's side of the settlement statement. The closing attorney collects it from the seller's proceeds and pays it to the clerk when the deed is recorded. It shows on your Closing Disclosure, which lists both sides, but it is the seller's money leaving the table.

The purchase contract can move it. Nothing in Chapter 24 stops you and the seller from agreeing that you pay the fee, or that you split it, and the contract decides who writes the check at closing. Please read the closing cost paragraph of your contract before you sign it. If the contract is silent, the seller pays.

Fannie Mae's Selling Guide, in B3-4.1-02, Interested Party Contributions, says that typical closing costs paid by a seller under local custom are not subject to the limit on seller financing concessions. The deed recording fee is customarily the seller's in South Carolina, so a seller paying it leaves your room for a seller credit toward your own closing costs untouched.

Figuring the fee on the sale price

The fee is figured on value, and Section 12-24-30 defines value as the consideration paid or to be paid, in money or money's worth. On an ordinary purchase that is the contract price. Your loan amount is not in the definition, so raising or lowering the loan does not change the fee by a dollar.

If you assume the seller's existing loan, meaning you take over their mortgage and keep paying it, the debt you take over counts as part of the price. The Department of Revenue's rules on that are in Revenue Ruling 24-1 and the 2024 Deed Recording Fee Manual. On every purchase, the closing attorney figures this number rather than the lender.

A few deeds are exempt. Section 12-24-40 exempts a deed where the real estate is worth $100 or less. It also exempts a deed transferring real estate to the federal government, or to the state, a county or a town, and a deed otherwise exempt under state or federal law. Under Section 12-24-60 the clerk marks an exempt deed with the word "exempt" when it is recorded. On a normal purchase from a private seller, the fee is owed.

Charges the deed recording fee gets mistaken for

A mortgage tax. Some states charge a tax measured by the amount of the loan when the mortgage is recorded. South Carolina has no such tax, and the mortgage recording tax comparison shows the states that do. Recording your mortgage here carries a flat charge for the document, and the deed recording fee is charged on the deed that transfers the home, figured on the price.

A refinance charge. A refinance records a new mortgage and the paper showing the old mortgage is paid off, and no deed changes hands. Your Loan Estimate on a South Carolina refinance shows recording fees for the new mortgage and nothing on the Transfer Taxes line, because there is no deed for the deed recording fee to attach to.

The clerk's recording fee. The register of deeds charges a flat fee to record each document, one for the deed and one for the mortgage, based on the document rather than the price. Those flat charges are small and yours by custom, and they go on the Recording Fees line. The deed recording fee, despite the name, goes on the Transfer Taxes line because it is figured on the price.

The Hilton Head transfer fee. The Town of Hilton Head Island charges its own transfer fee on a home inside the Town, on top of the state's deed recording fee. Everywhere else in South Carolina, the state fee is the only one.

The fee on your Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure

The federal rule at 12 CFR 1026.37(g)(1) puts two lines under Section E, Taxes and Other Government Fees. The first line, Recording Fees and Other Taxes, holds the flat charges for recording the deed and the mortgage. The second line is Transfer Taxes, and that is where the South Carolina deed recording fee goes, because it is a charge based on the price of the home.

The Loan Estimate shows only the charges you are paying. The same rule says that when an amount on those lines is not charged to the consumer, the line is left blank. So when the seller pays the deed recording fee under the contract, your Transfer Taxes line is blank, and that blank is correct.

The Closing Disclosure shows both sides. Its Section E has a column for what you pay and a column for what the seller pays, and the deed recording fee lands in whichever column the contract put it in. On a typical South Carolina purchase, that is the seller's column. If your contract moved the fee to you, it is in your column, and it should have been on your Loan Estimate from the start.

Under 12 CFR 1026.19(e)(3)(i), transfer taxes are in the group of charges that cannot go up between the Loan Estimate and the Closing Disclosure unless the rule allows a revised estimate. If the fee is yours under the contract and the lender left it off the Loan Estimate, the lender covers the difference. The post on how to compare two Loan Estimates walks through which charges can change between the two documents and by how much, and the closing costs guide covers the rest of page two.

Three things to check before the offer is signed

1. The closing cost paragraph of the purchase contract. You'll want to read which side the contract puts the deed recording fee on. The South Carolina default is the seller, but a seller's counteroffer can move it.

2. Your own cash-to-close estimate. If the contract leaves the fee with the seller, you leave it out of your cash to close. If the contract moves it to you, you'll want to add it right away, figured at $1.85 for each $500 of the price, rounded up.

3. The Transfer Taxes line on the Loan Estimate. It should be blank when the seller pays and filled in when you do. If it does not match the contract, please send me the page of your purchase contract that has the closing cost paragraph on it, and I will have the Loan Estimate corrected before the Closing Disclosure goes out.

Mistakes to avoid

Budgeting a mortgage tax that South Carolina does not have. South Carolina charges nothing on the mortgage amount. Money set aside for a tax on the loan can go toward the owner's title policy, which is yours by custom here.

Reading the seller's column as your cost. The deed recording fee in the seller's column of the Closing Disclosure is the seller's. Your cash to close is at the bottom of your own column.

Assuming the fee is negotiable after the contract is signed. Who pays it is settled in the purchase contract, the same as the closing date, and the closing attorney follows the contract.

An illustration, so the arithmetic is clear

Numbers below are made up to show the mechanism, and nothing here is a quote.

A client is under contract on a home in Bluffton at $452,300, with the contract silent on the deed recording fee, so the seller pays it.

Sale price (invented)                      $452,300
Rounded up to the next $500                $452,500
$500 increments in the price                    905
Deed recording fee at $1.85 each          $1,674.25
  State share at $1.30 each               $1,176.50
  County share at $0.55 each                $497.75
                                          ---------
Paid from the seller's proceeds           $1,674.25
Buyer's Transfer Taxes line                   blank

Now the same price with the loan amount changed from $360,000 to $400,000. The deed recording fee is still $1,674.25, because the loan amount is not part of the formula. Two years later the same client refinances the same home, no deed is recorded, and there is no deed recording fee at all.

Next steps in South Carolina

If you are buying in South Carolina, the deed recording fee belongs on the seller's side of your plan unless your contract says otherwise. You can run your numbers and see rates for your scenario, your debt ratio and closing costs priced for South Carolina, with no credit pull, no account and nobody calling you. Choose the rate option that works best for you, and you can change it later.

If you want a letter a listing agent will take seriously, a South Carolina pre-approval is where your income, debts and credit get reviewed. The South Carolina mortgage page covers the attorney closing and the title insurance customs that go with it. And if you would rather talk it through, you are welcome to call me.

Nothing here is a loan approval, a denial, a commitment to lend, or legal or tax advice. The deed recording fee is administered by the South Carolina Department of Revenue under Title 12, Chapter 24 of the South Carolina Code. Please confirm who pays it on your purchase with your agent and your closing attorney.

Common questions

Who pays the transfer tax when you buy a home in South Carolina?

The seller, by default. South Carolina's transfer tax is the deed recording fee, and S.C. Code § 12-24-20 makes it the liability of the grantor, who is the seller on a purchase. The state can look to you for it only if the seller does not pay. Custom follows the statute, so the fee is paid out of the seller's proceeds at closing. The purchase contract can move it to you or split it.

How much is the South Carolina deed recording fee?

It is $1.85 for each $500 of the sale price, and the price is rounded up to the next full increment. S.C. Code § 12-24-10 sets the rate, and § 12-24-90 splits each increment between the state and the county. The rate is the same in every South Carolina county. If you would like to see it figured on a sample price, the illustration above walks through one Bluffton purchase line by line.

Is the South Carolina deed recording fee charged on my mortgage?

No. The fee is charged for recording a deed that transfers real estate, and it is figured on the price paid for the home, so the amount you borrow is not part of the formula. South Carolina has no tax measured by mortgage debt, and a refinance records no deed and owes no deed recording fee.

Where does the deed recording fee appear on my Loan Estimate?

On page two, in Section E, Taxes and Other Government Fees, on the Transfer Taxes line, below the flat recording fees for the deed and the mortgage. Under 12 CFR 1026.37(g)(1), your Loan Estimate shows only what you are paying, so when the seller pays the deed recording fee under the contract, your Transfer Taxes line is blank. The Closing Disclosure shows the fee in the seller's column instead.

Does the seller paying the deed recording fee count as a seller concession?

No. Fannie Mae's Selling Guide B3-4.1-02 says typical closing costs paid by a seller under local custom are not subject to the limit on financing concessions. The deed recording fee is customarily the seller's in South Carolina, so a seller paying it leaves your room for a seller credit untouched.