NJ Realty Transfer Fee: rates, who pays and how to work the math

What the Realty Transfer Fee is and who pays it

The Realty Transfer Fee (RTF) is New Jersey's fee for recording a deed. The county recording officer collects it when the deed is offered for recording, and the statute puts it on the seller: N.J.S.A. 46:15-7 says the grantor "shall pay" it. In deed language the seller is the grantor and the buyer is the grantee, and the exam uses both sets of words.

The fee is based on the consideration recited in the deed. In an ordinary sale that is the price. It is not the assessed value, the appraisal or the loan amount. Taxation can fall back on the assessed value divided by the Director's ratio in a few special cases, but exam questions give you a price, and the price controls.

For the national portion of the PSI exam, the general idea is simple: many states charge a transfer tax or stamp tax when a deed is recorded, figured as a rate per unit of price, and the contract or local custom says who pays. The New Jersey difference is that the statute puts the fee on the seller, the rates change in bands, and the whole schedule changes once the price passes $350,000. PSI's outline lists "Real property transfer fees" among the transaction calculations and names the Realty Transfer Fee in the New Jersey law section, so expect it on both halves of the test. Practice it on the RTF calculator before you rely on memory.

The rate tables, per $500

Taxation publishes two standard schedules. Which one you use depends on the total price, not on the band you are working in. At $350,000 or less, use the lower schedule. Above $350,000, the higher schedule applies to every dollar, starting from the first.

To use the table, divide each band's slice of the price by $500 to get units, multiply by that band's rate, and add the bands. Taxation's printed schedule counts any part of $500 as a full unit: its rows run from $500.01 to $1,000.00 at two units, not one and a fraction. Exam questions almost always use round prices, so this rarely changes your answer.

New construction pays the same rates as a standard sale on Taxation's current schedule. On paper the law gives new construction an 80% break on part of the State's share for the first $150,000 (N.J.S.A. 46:15-10.1) and then adds a separate $1.00 per $500 fee on that same slice (N.J.S.A. 46:15-7.1), so the two cancel out. What makes it different is paperwork: Form RTF-1 says the words NEW CONSTRUCTION must be printed at the top of the first page of the deed, and the seller must attach an affidavit stating that the transfer involves new construction. A seller who does not is guilty of a disorderly persons offense.

Three worked examples

These are illustrative sellers, and each answer was checked against the same rate tables our calculator uses. Work them on paper first, then compare.

Example 1, a standard sale under $350,000. Dana sells her condo in Edison for $325,000. The price is not over $350,000, so the lower schedule applies.

1. First $150,000: $150,000 ÷ $500 = 300 units × $2.00 = $600.
2. Next $50,000 (to $200,000): 100 units × $3.35 = $335.
3. Last $125,000 (to $325,000): 250 units × $3.90 = $975.
4. Total: $600 + $335 + $975 = $1,910, paid by Dana as the seller.

Example 2, a reduced-rate seller over $350,000. Walter is 68, lives in the single-family house he is selling in Toms River, and sells it for $485,000. He qualifies for the reduced schedule, and the price is over $350,000, so he uses the higher reduced schedule from the first dollar.

1. First $150,000: 300 units × $1.40 = $420.
2. $150,000 to $485,000: $335,000 ÷ $500 = 670 units × $2.15 = $1,440.50.
3. Total: $420 + $1,440.50 = $1,860.50.
4. Compare: a seller who does not qualify pays $4,031 on the same $485,000 sale ($870 + $425 + $2,736), so the reduction saves Walter $2,170.50.

Example 3, a sale over $1 million. Kim sells a house in Montclair for $1,650,000. It is Class 2 residential property, so both the RTF and the graduated percent fee apply.

1. RTF, higher schedule: $870 (first $150,000) + $425 ($150,000 to $200,000) + $3,360 ($200,000 to $550,000) + $3,180 ($550,000 to $850,000) + $1,740 ($850,000 to $1,000,000) + $7,865 (the $650,000 over $1 million, 1,300 units × $6.05) = $17,440.
2. Graduated percent fee: the price is over $1,000,000 but not over $2,000,000, so the rate is 1% of the whole price. $1,650,000 × 1% = $16,500.
3. Total paid by Kim: $17,440 + $16,500 = $33,940.

Transfer fees show up inside bigger closing problems too. If a question asks what the seller walks away with, the RTF is one of the seller's deductions; see seller net proceeds problems for the full setup.

Reduced rates for seniors, blind and disabled sellers

The reduced schedule is a partial exemption under N.J.S.A. 46:15-10.1. It is claimed on Form RTF-1, the seller's Affidavit of Consideration, which is filed with the deed. The statute names the categories and Taxation's form defines them:

• Senior citizen: a New Jersey resident seller aged 62 or over.
• Blind person: a seller whose better eye, with correction, does not exceed 20/200, or whose field of vision is restricted to 20 degrees or less.
• Disabled person: a seller who is permanently and totally disabled, unable to work, and receiving disability benefits or other compensation under federal or state law.
• Low and moderate income housing: a sale of housing that is affordable under recognized standards, reserved for households earning 80% or less of the regional median income, and subject to resale controls.

For the senior, blind and disabled categories, the property must be a one- or two-family home that the seller owns and occupies at the time of sale, and the seller must be a New Jersey resident. If several people own as joint tenants, all of them must qualify. Spouses or civil union partners who own as tenants by the entirety need only one qualifying spouse or partner. A transfer can use only one partial exemption.

Notice that the reduced schedule has only two bands up to $350,000 and no separate $150,000 to $200,000 band.

The graduated percent fee over $1 million

P.L. 2025, c. 69, signed June 30, 2025, rewrote N.J.S.A. 46:15-7.2. For covered deeds first submitted for recording on or after July 10, 2025, the old 1% fee that buyers paid on sales over $1 million became a graduated percent fee imposed on the seller. Taxation calls it the Graduated Percent Fee. You will still hear it called the mansion tax.

The statute covers deeds for Class 2 residential property, Class 3A farm property that includes a residence, cooperative units and Class 4A commercial property. Vacant land (Class 1), farmland without a residence (Class 3B), industrial property (Class 4B) and apartment buildings (Class 4C) are not covered. One wrinkle: Taxation's forms carry co-ops in Class 4C, but N.J.S.A. 46:15-7.2 names the cooperative unit (as defined in N.J.S.A. 46:8D-3) directly, so a co-op sale over $1 million owes the fee even though an apartment building does not. The fee is paid on top of the regular RTF, not instead of it. The statute lists three exemptions: a buyer that is a 501(c)(3) organization, certain transfers incidental to a corporate merger or acquisition, and intercompany transfers within a combined group. The reduced RTF schedule for seniors, blind and disabled sellers comes from a different section and cuts only the RTF, so a qualifying senior selling for $1.5 million pays a reduced RTF of $8,075 but still owes the full 1% graduated fee, $15,000.

Form RTF-1EE, the seller's Affidavit of Consideration for the Graduated Percent Fee, must be recorded with the deed when the price is over $1,000,000, when Class 4A property is involved, or when an exemption is claimed. The same law also put the Controlling Interest Transfer Tax on the seller and gave it the same graduated rates. That tax applies when more than 50% of an entity that owns Class 4A commercial property is sold, instead of the property itself.

Where the fee jumps: the cliffs to know

Two features make New Jersey's fee jumpy instead of smooth. The $350,000 switch moves the whole price onto the higher schedule, and the graduated percent fee rates apply to the whole price. These figures assume a standard, nonexempt sale of covered residential property.

One dollar over $350,000 adds $634.80. One dollar over $2 million adds $20,006.07. The exam likes to test exactly these edges, and sellers and their attorneys watch them when a price is negotiated close to a line.

Transfers that pay no fee at all

N.J.S.A. 46:15-10 lists 18 kinds of deeds that are fully exempt from the RTF. The ones most likely to show up on the exam are deeds:

• For consideration of less than $100.
• By or to the United States, New Jersey, or any of their agencies or political subdivisions.
• Given only to provide or release security for a debt.
• Confirming or correcting a deed already recorded.
• On a sale for delinquent taxes or assessments, or on partition.
• By a receiver, a trustee in bankruptcy or an assignee for the benefit of creditors.
• Between spouses or civil union partners, or between a parent and child.
• Recorded within 90 days after a divorce or dissolution decree that ends the marriage or civil union between the parties.
• From an executor or administrator to a devisee or heir to distribute an estate.
• In specific performance of a final judgment.
• Conveying a cemetery plot.

A seller claiming a full or partial exemption files Form RTF-1 with the deed. Transfers between related companies are not exempt just because the owners are related; Taxation says they pay the fee if the consideration is $100 or more, unless they qualify for the narrow intercompany exemption for members of a New Jersey combined tax group. Deed types and recording are covered in types of deeds and the transfer of title study guide.

What changed on July 10, 2025, and older sources

Before July 10, 2025, the buyer paid a flat 1% fee on the full price of covered sales over $1 million. Now the seller pays the graduated fee. Taxation's July 9, 2025 memo uses the date the deed is submitted to the county for recording to decide which rule applies: deeds received on or before July 9, 2025 got the old 1% fee, even if they were recorded later. The law also let sellers recover anything paid above 1% when the contract was fully signed before July 10, 2025 and the deed was recorded by November 15, 2025, with the refund claim filed within one year of recording (N.J.S.A. 46:15-7.4).

Plenty of study materials and articles still describe the buyer-paid 1% fee, and so does one of Taxation's own pages. As of October 27, 2026, the RTF FAQ page (last updated October 28, 2025) still says the grantees or buyers must remit the 1% fee, and that the purchaser pays the controlling interest tax. That page is out of date. The governing text is N.J.S.A. 46:15-7.2(a) as amended by P.L. 2025, c. 69, which imposes the fee "upon the grantor of a deed," and Taxation's main Realty Transfer Fee page and Form RTF-1EE now say the same. Taxation's July 9, 2025 memo adds that a contract clause shifting the cost is a private arrangement it will not interpret: the buyer can agree to reimburse the seller, but the seller stays legally responsible. If a PSI question asks who pays under current law, the answer is the seller.

How to solve transfer fee questions on the exam

1. Check who pays first. If the question asks, the answer is the seller.
2. Look at the total price. $350,000 or less: lower schedule. Over $350,000: higher schedule from the first dollar.
3. Check for a reduced-rate seller: 62 or over, blind, disabled, or low and moderate income housing.
4. Split the price into bands, divide each slice by $500, multiply by the band rate and add.
5. If the price is over $1 million, add the graduated percent fee on the entire price.
6. Sanity check: on a standard sale up to $1 million the RTF stays under 1% of the price, so a $400,000 sale lands in the low thousands, not the tens of thousands.

If you have the two schedules memorized, write them on your scratch paper at the start. The printable math formula sheet keeps the rest of the exam formulas on one page. Then drill a few more in the real estate math topic.