Georgia Transfer Tax and Intangible Recording Tax at a Cobb Closing

Georgia transfer tax and intangible recording tax are the two line items that surprise buyers and sellers at a Cobb County closing more than any others, mostly because neither one is a property tax and neither one appears in a monthly payment estimate. They are transaction taxes, they are due before a document can be recorded, and they are calculated by simple formulas that anyone can run in advance.

This is a process explainer, not tax advice. Confirm the figures for your own transaction with your closing attorney and your own licensed tax professional.

What Is the Georgia Real Estate Transfer Tax?

The real estate transfer tax is an excise tax on the transaction, not a tax on the property. The Georgia Department of Revenue describes it as applying to transactions where title to real property is transferred from the seller to the buyer, and it must be paid before the clerk of superior court can record the deed.

The Rate and How to Calculate It

The rate is $1 for the first $1,000 or fractional part of $1,000, and 10 cents for each additional $100 or fractional part of $100. In practice that works out to $1.00 per $1,000 of consideration, or one tenth of one percent.

On a $450,000 Cobb County sale, that is roughly $450. On a $750,000 sale, roughly $750. It scales linearly, which makes it one of the few closing figures you can estimate exactly before you have a settlement statement.

Who Pays It

Legal liability sits with the seller, though buyers frequently agree to cover it by contract. The person executing the deed, or the person for whose benefit it is executed, must ensure payment before recording. Because the customary allocation can be negotiated, this belongs in the offer conversation rather than in a surprise at the table.

The PT-61

Form PT-61, the Real Estate Transfer Tax Declaration, is filed electronically through the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority. GSCCCA states that only one PT-61 is filed with each applicable deed, and that a printed copy goes to the clerk's office with the deed documents. Your closing attorney handles this; you will simply see the tax on the settlement statement. The Department of Revenue's real estate transfer tax page sets out the rate and the filing requirement.

What Is the Intangible Recording Tax?

The intangible recording tax is a separate tax tied to the loan rather than to the sale price. It is assessed on the face amount of the note secured by real property, and it is the reason two buyers paying the same price can owe different amounts at closing depending on how much they borrow.

The Rate and the Cap

The rate is $1.50 for each $500.00 or fractional part of the face amount of the note. That is $3.00 per $1,000 borrowed, or three tenths of one percent of the loan. There is a ceiling: the maximum amount of recording tax on any single note is $25,000.

On a $360,000 loan, the intangible recording tax runs roughly $1,080. On a $600,000 loan, roughly $1,800. Because it follows the loan and not the price, a larger down payment reduces it, which is a small but real factor in comparing financing scenarios.

Timing and Penalties

The security instrument must be recorded within 90 days from the date of the instrument executed to secure the note. Failure to pay the tax incurs a 50 percent penalty of the tax amount plus 1 percent interest per month from the time the tax was due. In a normal purchase closing this is handled by the closing attorney the same day, so the penalty provisions rarely come into play. They matter more on refinances and on private or seller-held notes where the paperwork is handled less routinely.

Exemptions

The Department of Revenue's intangible recording tax page does not enumerate specific exemptions and directs inquiries about them to the local tax officials in the county where the property securing the note is located. For a Cobb County transaction, that means the Cobb clerk's office, and the question should be routed through your closing attorney rather than guessed at.

Putting the Two Together on a Cobb Closing

Take a $500,000 purchase in Marietta with a $400,000 loan. Transfer tax runs roughly $500, calculated off the sale price. Intangible recording tax runs roughly $1,200, calculated off the loan. Those two items alone are about $1,700 before a single other closing cost is counted.

Why This Matters in an Offer

Transfer tax allocation is negotiable. In a market where sellers are competing, a buyer can ask the seller to cover it, and in a market where buyers are competing, the reverse happens. It is a modest number relative to price, but it is a real one, and it is easier to negotiate at contract than to discover at closing.

Why It Matters on a Refinance

A refinance has no sale, so there is no transfer tax. There is still a new note, so intangible recording tax applies to the new loan amount. Owners evaluating a refinance should include it in the break-even math rather than treating it as a rounding error.

Why It Matters on Seller Financing and Assumptions

Any note secured by Georgia real property and recorded in the land records raises the intangible recording tax question, along with the 90 day recording window. These are the transactions where the penalty provisions actually bite, because the paperwork is often handled outside a routine closing. Get a Georgia real estate attorney involved.

What Else Belongs in a Cobb Closing Estimate?

These two taxes are only part of the picture, and Georgia's structure differs from many states.

Georgia Is an Attorney Closing State

Closings here are conducted by a licensed Georgia attorney rather than by an escrow or title company. That shapes the fee structure and it means the closing attorney is the right person to ask about any line item you do not recognize, including the two taxes described here.

Property Tax Proration

Cobb County property tax bills are mailed by August 15 and due October 15, and they are issued to the owner of record as of January 1. That timing determines how taxes are prorated at your closing and which year's figures are used. We walk through the mechanics in our guide to Cobb County property tax assessments and appeals, and the deadline detail in our post on 2026 appeal deadlines across Fulton, DeKalb, and Cobb.

Jurisdiction Changes the Total

Transfer and intangible taxes are state level and do not vary by city. Almost everything else in a carrying cost estimate does. A home inside Acworth, Kennesaw, Marietta, Powder Springs, or Smyrna carries a municipal millage on top of the county rate, which is why two similar houses a mile apart can produce different annual numbers. Our explainer on what an Acworth address actually means covers how those lines work.

Common Mistakes Worth Avoiding

Estimating Transfer Tax Off the Loan

The two taxes use two different bases, and mixing them up is the most frequent error we see. Transfer tax follows the sale price. Intangible recording tax follows the note. A buyer paying cash owes transfer tax and no intangible recording tax. A buyer borrowing more than the purchase price on a construction-to-permanent note can owe intangible tax on an amount larger than the price.

Forgetting the Cap on Large Notes

The $25,000 ceiling on a single note only comes into play above roughly $8.3 million of borrowing, so it is irrelevant to almost every residential transaction. It matters on commercial and portfolio financing, and it is worth knowing exists so that an unusually large figure on a settlement statement can be checked against it.

Assuming Customary Means Fixed

Customary allocation is a starting point, not a rule. Contracts govern. If your agent tells you the seller always pays transfer tax, ask to see the line in the contract that says so for your deal.

Leaving It Out of a Net Sheet

Sellers should see transfer tax on the net proceeds estimate from the first pricing conversation. Buyers should see intangible recording tax in the cash-to-close estimate before the offer goes out. Neither figure is large enough to change most decisions, and both are large enough to annoy someone who was not told.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much is Georgia's real estate transfer tax? $1 for the first $1,000 or fractional part of $1,000, plus 10 cents for each additional $100 or fractional part of $100, which works out to about $1.00 per $1,000 of consideration.

How much is Georgia's intangible recording tax? $1.50 for each $500.00 or fractional part of the face amount of the note, which is $3.00 per $1,000 borrowed. The maximum on any single note is $25,000.

Who pays the transfer tax in Georgia? Legal liability rests with the seller, though buyers frequently agree to pay it by contract. Payment must be made before the deed can be recorded.

Does a refinance trigger transfer tax? No. A refinance has no transfer of title, so no transfer tax applies. Intangible recording tax still applies to the new note.

Conclusion

Both taxes are formula driven, both are knowable weeks before closing, and one of them is negotiable. Run the two numbers when you are writing the offer rather than when you are signing. It takes about a minute and it removes one of the more common closing table surprises in Georgia.

Clareo Group, powered by The Agency Atlanta, walks buyers and sellers through the full cost picture at the offer stage, not the closing stage. Reach out and we will build a line-by-line estimate for the specific price and loan you are considering in Cobb County.