Land Transfer Tax

In 1985, Currituck County was one of the first seven counties in North Carolina to levy a local excise tax on the transfer of real estate. Authority to levy such a tax was granted by the North Carolina General Assembly by S.L. 1985-670 (House Bill 215). This authority was originally scheduled to expire after ten years, but the sunset provision was repealed in 1991 by S.L. 1991-47 (House Bill 84).

The land transfer tax equals $1.00 per $100.00 or fraction thereof (1% rounded up to the next dollar) of the sales price or value of the property. The tax is levied on deeds and certain long-term leases. The Tax Department certifies on the document the amount of transfer tax due and the tax is paid to the Register of Deeds at the time the document is recorded. The use of the tax revenue is restricted to capital expenditures for solid waste disposal and county-operated buildings and related equipment or to retire debt for these purposes.

The Land Transfer Tax was first imposed on documents recorded in Currituck begining September 1, 1985.  As of July 2007 the other counties that levied a land transfer tax were: Camden, Chowan, Dare, Pasquotank, Perquimans, and Washington. State legislation passed in 2007  allows any county in North Carolina to impose a land tranfer with a vote of the people.

                                  Click HERE for Amounts Collected for Current Fiscal Year thru 2002-2003

                                  Click HERE for Amounts Collected Fiscal Year 2002-2003 & Prior 

The Tax applies to:

• Regular property sales (regardless of profit or loss)

• Exchange of property (whether exchange is for money, real estate, personal property, or any other consideration)

• Deeds from non-profit or religious organizations

• Leases (or a memorandum of lease) that are for a term of more than 10 years or have an option to renew the lease beyond 10 years

• Leases (or a memorandum of lease) that are for substantially the same property and parties of a previous lease(s), and when the term of the new lease added to the term of the old lease(s) exceeds 10 years

• Timber deeds
  

The Tax does not apply to:

• Deeds of gift

• Deeds to mortgage holders through foreclosure or in lieu of foreclosure

• Deeds from Local, State, or Federal Government

• Certain leases with a term of less than 10 years (See above)

• Transfer in which no consideration is paid or due (consideration is an inducement, something of value given in return for a performance or a promise of performance by another)

• Transfers by operation of law, by will, by intestacy, merger or consolidation

In order to record a deed, one must present either a copy of the sales contract for the property or a completed Affidavit of Consideration or Value which shows the sales price. The value taxed includes the amount of any lien or encumbrance remaining on the property at the time of sale.