California specifics
Documentary transfer tax
The countywide rate is $0.55 per $500 of consideration, which is $1.10 per $1,000. Two details decide most exam questions on it: a partial $500 counts as a whole unit, and an assumed lien is deducted before the tax is computed.
Your figures
The full price paid. Type an exact figure in the box if you want to see the round-up rule bite.
A lien the buyer takes subject to is deducted from taxable consideration. A loan paid off at closing is not.
Charter cities may impose their own tax on top of the county rate, and several large California cities do so at much higher rates. Check the specific city ordinance.
Documentary transfer tax
$990.00
On the full $900,000 of consideration.
Exact, no rounding needed
Complete results, no email, no account. Every calculation here is backed by a tested fixture, so the figure you see is the figure the test asserts. How we verify
How this is calculated
Start with the consideration and deduct any lien the buyer assumes or takes subject to, because the statute taxes only the value actually changing hands. A loan paid off at closing is not deducted, since the buyer is not taking it on.
Divide the taxable consideration by 500 and round the result UP. A partial $500 counts as a whole unit, which is the rule most calculators get wrong and which the exam tests directly. Multiply the unit count by $0.55 for the county tax.
City tax is separate. Charter cities may impose their own documentary transfer tax, and several large California cities do so at rates far above the county figure, sometimes on a graduated scale that steps up at high price points. Because those rates change by ordinance and vary enormously, this calculator takes the city rate as an input rather than pretending to hold a current table for every jurisdiction.
For the exam, know the $0.55 per $500 rate, the round-up rule, and the assumed lien deduction. Transfer of Property covers the surrounding material.