4.578% of the sale price on a Philadelphia property transfer:
On a $300,000 sale that is $13,734. There is also a $15 Demolition Fund Fee attached to deeds and mortgages.
Careful what you read elsewhere. The city rate rose from 3.278% to 3.578% effective July 1, 2025. Plenty of law firm alerts, brokerage blogs and calculators still publish the old combined figure of 4.278%. On a $300,000 sale that stale number is off by $900.
In Philadelphia the tax is customarily split evenly between buyer and seller — roughly 2.289% each. The City says so directly, and it also says that split is not a legal requirement. It is a market convention that lives in your agreement of sale, and it is negotiable.
What is not negotiable is who the government can chase. Under 61 Pa. Code § 91.111, paying the tax is the joint and several duty of both parties. The City of Philadelphia puts it plainly: it has the right to collect 100% of the tax from either party.
If you are buying: a seller "agreeing to pay the transfer tax" is not protection. If it is never remitted, the City can come after you for the whole 4.578%. Make sure it is actually paid at settlement, not just promised in the contract.
It depends on whether the deal is a real arm's-length sale.
Tax is based on the total agreed consideration — the price. Then add anything the buyer is taking on: liens or encumbrances that existed before the transfer and are not cleared by it count toward the taxable value whether or not they are formally assumed.
Gifts, nominal-consideration deeds, transfers between related parties and anything failing the arm's-length test are taxed on computed value instead:
Assessed Value × Common Level Ratio factor = Computed Value
The Common Level Ratio factor for Philadelphia is 1.06 for documents accepted 1 July 2026 through 31 December 2026, and 1.00 for documents accepted after 31 December 2026.
Why this bites investors. Buy a rowhome for $60,000 that the Office of Property Assessment values at $140,000, in a deal that is not arm's-length, and the tax is calculated on roughly $148,400 — not on your $60,000. That is around a $6,800 bill instead of $2,750.
Philadelphia's excluded transactions include:
A 2026 amendment widened the inheritance exclusion so that heirs are not pushed into a transfer tax bill simply because the family home still carries a mortgage the estate cannot pay off.
Note for buyers of estate property: inheriting a home is excluded. Buying one from an estate is not.
This is the single biggest cost difference between closing in the city and closing in the collar counties.
| Where | State | Local | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia | 1% | 3.578% | 4.578% |
| Montgomery County | 1% | 1% | 2% |
| Bucks County | 1% | 1% | 2% |
| Delaware County | 1% | 1% typical | 2% typical |
| Chester County | 1% | 1% typical | 2% typical |
The suburban figures are the norm, not a guarantee. In Pennsylvania the local 1% is levied by the municipality and school district, not the county, so it varies town by town. Delaware County publishes exceptions including Radnor, Upper Darby and Chester City at 1.5% and Upper Providence at 2%. Chester County lists Malvern and Tredyffrin at 1.5% and Coatesville at 2.5%. Always check the specific municipality.
Pennsylvania taxes transfers of beneficial ownership, not just deeds. When someone assigns an agreement of sale for a fee, that can create two taxable events: one on the original contract, one on the assignment. At Philadelphia rates, a $100,000 contract assigned at $110,000 can generate roughly $9,600 in total transfer tax on one property.
There is a narrow safe harbour for assigning into a newly formed single-purpose entity, but it only works if the original agreement was drafted for it — stating the assignor acted on behalf of an entity not yet formed, disclaiming any intent to take title, with financing and funds in the entity's name. That is a drafting decision, not something anyone can fix at the settlement table.
That second conveyance is its own taxable transfer. Take title in the entity at the original closing.
Buying the company that owns the building instead of the building does not dodge Philadelphia transfer tax the way it once did.
| Philadelphia | Pennsylvania | |
|---|---|---|
| Ownership change that triggers tax | 75% or more | 90% |
| Look-back window | 6 years | 3 years |
| Taxed on | Actual consideration paid for the company | Computed value |
The six-year look-back is designed to catch acquisitions staged in tranches.
At recording, or within 30 days of acquiring the real estate. In practice it is collected and remitted at settlement by your title company, along with the Philadelphia Real Estate Transfer Tax Certification.
Getting the transfer tax right on a Philadelphia deal — especially an assignment, an estate purchase or an entity transfer — is exactly the sort of thing that should be settled before you are at the table, not after.
Last reviewed 13 September 2026. Rates, ratios and fees in Philadelphia change — the city rate changed in July 2025 and the Common Level Ratio factor changes again on 1 January 2027. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Confirm figures for your specific transaction before relying on them.
Talk to a title professional who works in Philadelphia every day — including after 5PM, on weekends, and on holidays.
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