ARS 11-1134: Affidavit of Property Value Exemptions

Arizona’s Affidavit of Property Value exemptions under A.R.S. 11-1134 let you record a deed without preparing the affidavit or paying its $2 filing fee, provided the transfer falls into one of the categories the statute lists and you cite the correct subsection on the face of the deed. The statute splits its exemptions into two groups: seven instrument-based exemptions under subsection A, and a longer set of title-transfer exemptions under subsection B covering foreclosures, family transfers, corrective deeds, beneficiary deeds, and intra-entity transfers.¹

Getting the exemption right up front matters. Without either a completed affidavit or a proper exemption notation, the county recorder must refuse to record the deed, and a rejection at the recorder’s window can hold up a closing.²

What You Avoid When an Exemption Applies

The Affidavit of Property Value is a joint declaration signed by buyer and seller that discloses the sale price, financing type, whether personal property was included, the parties’ relationship, and how the property will be used. That information flows to the county assessor and shapes property tax assessments.² Every real property transfer normally requires one, along with a $2 filing fee on top of the county’s regular recording charge.³

An exemption drops both requirements. The deed still gets recorded, but no affidavit is attached and no $2 fee is charged.

Instruments Exempt Under Subsection A

Subsection A exempts seven types of documents outright, regardless of who signs them:¹

A deed confirming that a previously recorded purchase contract was paid in full or that the buyer forfeited.
Leases and easements of any length, because they grant use rather than ownership.
Deeds, patents, or contracts where a federal, state, county, city, or political subdivision is the buyer, seller, or grantor.
Quitclaim deeds used to quiet title, or quitclaim deeds where no money changes hands.
Any conveyance executed under a court order.
Deeds to unpatented mining claims.
Deeds of gift, where property is transferred without financial exchange.

The gift exemption is one of the most commonly claimed. It applies whether the recipient is a family member, a friend, or a charity, so long as no payment passes.

Title Transfers Exempt Under Subsection B

Subsection B looks past the type of document and asks who is involved and why the transfer is happening. Several of the exemptions here are the ones people miss.¹

Security Interests and Foreclosures

A transfer made solely to provide or release security for a debt is exempt. The clearest example is a trustee’s deed recorded after a foreclosure sale under a deed of trust. Ownership changes to satisfy a loan, not through a voluntary market sale, so the affidavit doesn’t apply.

Corrective Deeds, Tax Sales, and Partitions

Three exemptions cover transfers that aren’t really new transactions:

A deed that confirms or corrects a previously recorded deed. If the original had a typo in the legal description or a misspelled name, the fix doesn’t trigger a new affidavit.
A sale to satisfy delinquent taxes or special assessments.
Deeds resulting when co-owners divide property through a partition.

The corrective deed exemption gets overlooked often. If you’re fixing an error on a deed already of record, you don’t run the affidavit process a second time.

Family Transfers

Transfers of residential property between close family members are exempt when only nominal consideration is involved. Nominal means a token amount like $1 or $10, not a discounted but substantial price. The exemption reaches transfers between:

Spouses, or an ancestor of either spouse
Parent and child, including adopted children and their descendants
Grandparent and grandchild
Siblings, whether natural or adopted

Two limits catch people out. The property must be residential, so commercial buildings and vacant land don’t qualify. And if a parent sells a child the home at a below-market but still meaningful price, the payment is no longer nominal and the exemption is lost.

Ownership Restructuring

Several exemptions apply where the name on the deed changes but the underlying ownership doesn’t shift in any real economic sense:

Transfers to and from an intermediary to create a joint tenancy or other co-ownership form, and transfers where two or more people deed property to themselves to create joint tenancy with right of survivorship.
A married couple moving property into community property with right of survivorship.
A beneficiary deed with only nominal consideration. Beneficiary deeds are a common Arizona estate planning tool that takes effect at death and avoids probate; recording one doesn’t trigger the affidavit.
Splits and consolidations by the same owner, where one parcel becomes several or several become one without any change in who owns them.
A deed recorded solely because the owner’s legal name changed.

Business and Entity Transfers

For no or nominal consideration, transfers are exempt between:

A parent company and its subsidiary
Commonly controlled entities
An LLC and its members
A partnership and its partners
A joint venture and its joint venturers
A trust beneficiary and the trustee
Any of the above and a single-purpose entity created to obtain financing

Corporate mergers have their own separate exemption. The “no or nominal consideration” limit is the one to watch across this group: if real money moves between related entities, the exemption doesn’t apply and a full affidavit is required.

How to Claim the Exemption on the Deed

Qualifying isn’t enough on its own. The specific exemption has to appear on the face of the deed before you present it for recording, citing both the statute and the subsection.¹

The Department of Revenue instructs that the notation should sit beneath the legal description. A proper notation looks like “A.R.S. 11-1134 B3” for a family transfer or “A.R.S. 11-1134 A7” for a deed of gift.³ Get the code wrong or leave it off, and the recorder’s office will reject the deed. Fixing the notation after rejection means preparing and re-presenting the document, sometimes with an additional recording fee. The Department of Revenue’s Affidavit of Property Value form carries a reference list that matches each exemption to its code, and checking it before finalizing the deed prevents a trip back to the office.

What Happens if You Claim an Exemption You Don’t Qualify For

Arizona treats false property recordings seriously. If someone records a document affecting real property knowing (or having reason to know) that it’s forged, groundless, or contains a material misstatement, the property owner can recover at least $5,000 or triple actual damages, whichever is greater, plus attorney fees. A separate penalty of at least $1,000 or triple damages applies if the person named in a false document refuses to release or correct it within 20 days of a written demand. Knowingly recording a false document affecting real property is also a class 1 misdemeanor.⁴

Claiming a subsection you don’t qualify for could count as a material misstatement. The $5,000 minimum floor means the exposure exists even where no one lost real money from the mistake.

Federal Tax Obligations the Exemption Doesn’t Touch

An Arizona exemption controls the state affidavit and its $2 fee. Nothing more. Two federal obligations that often surface in exempt transfers are worth knowing about because the state exemption does nothing to waive them.

Gifts of real property almost always exceed the federal annual gift tax exclusion, which is $19,000 per recipient for 2026 ($38,000 for married couples combining exclusions). Exceeding the exclusion doesn’t necessarily mean owing tax, because it draws against a lifetime estate and gift tax exemption of $15,000,000 per individual for 2026, but it does mean filing IRS Form 709.⁵⁶⁷ Transfers between spouses, or to a former spouse incident to divorce, are treated as gifts with no gain or loss recognized and no Form 709 required, though the receiving spouse takes over the original tax basis.⁸

Second, if the seller is a foreign person, FIRPTA requires the buyer to withhold 15% of the gross sale price and remit it to the IRS. Reduced rates of 10% and 0% apply for residential purchases the buyer will occupy, at price thresholds of $1,000,000 and $300,000, respectively.⁹¹⁰ A transfer can qualify for an Arizona 11-1134 exemption and still require federal withholding. Buyers who fail to withhold when required become personally liable for the tax.

1
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 11-1134 – Exemptions
2
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 11-1133 – Affidavit of Legal Value
3
Arizona Department of Revenue. Arizona Affidavit of Property Value
4
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 33-420 – False Documents, Liability, Special Action, Damages
5
Internal Revenue Service. Frequently Asked Questions on Gift Taxes
6
Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax
7
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 709
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 1041 – Transfers of Property Between Spouses or Incident to Divorce
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1445 – Withholding of Tax on Dispositions of United States Real Property Interests
10
Internal Revenue Service. Exceptions From FIRPTA Withholding