Erie County Transfer Tax: Rates, Mansion Tax, and Form TP-584

The Erie County transfer tax is a combined state and county levy of $4.50 for every $500 of the purchase price, which comes out to 0.9% of the sale amount.¹ The seller normally pays it, and the county clerk will not record the deed until the tax is paid and Form TP-584 is filed. Residential sales of $1 million or more carry an additional 1% “mansion tax” paid by the buyer.²

How the Tax Is Calculated

Two layers make up the rate. New York State charges $2 per $500 of consideration under Tax Law Section 1402.³ Erie County adds $2.50 per $500 under Article 31-B.¹ Combined, that’s $4.50 per $500, or 0.9%.

The tax applies only when consideration exceeds $500, and any fractional part of $500 is rounded up.³ A $250,100 sale is taxed as if it were $250,500. A few worked examples:

$200,000 sale: 400 × $4.50 = $1,800
$350,000 sale: 700 × $4.50 = $3,150
$500,000 sale: 1,000 × $4.50 = $4,500

The Mansion Tax on $1 Million Homes

Residential properties selling for $1 million or more carry an additional 1% tax on the full purchase price.² It applies to houses, condos, and co-op units usable as a personal residence. On a $1.2 million home, the mansion tax adds $12,000 on top of the $10,800 base and county transfer tax.

The buyer pays the mansion tax, not the seller.⁴ There is no phase-in: a sale at $999,999 owes nothing, a sale at $1,000,000 owes $10,000. Pricing around that line matters.

Who Pays and What Happens If They Don’t

By statute, the seller pays the base and county transfer tax, and the obligation cannot be shifted indirectly to the buyer unless the purchase contract says so.⁵

If the seller fails to pay or is exempt, the obligation shifts to the buyer, and both parties become jointly and severally liable. The county can then collect from either one. A buyer who ends up paying can sue the seller for reimbursement plus interest and penalties, but that’s a bad position to be in at closing.⁵

When a contract does shift the base tax to the buyer, the amount the buyer pays on the seller’s behalf is excluded from the “consideration” used to calculate the tax, so the tax is not calculated on top of itself.

Transfers That Are Exempt

Tax Law Section 1405 exempts several categories of transfers:⁶

Deeds to or from New York State, the United States, their agencies, and political subdivisions. A private buyer purchasing from a government entity still owes the tax.
Transfers that change the form of ownership without changing beneficial ownership, such as moving property into your own LLC.
Bona fide gifts where no money changes hands and no debt is assumed.
Transfers for consideration of $500 or less.

An exempt transfer still requires Form TP-584 with the exemption box marked. The clerk will not record the deed without it.⁷

One common misreading: a 1031 like-kind exchange defers federal capital gains tax but does not exempt the transfer from New York transfer tax. The state treats a 1031 exchange as a taxable conveyance, so the full $4.50 per $500 applies to both the relinquished and replacement properties.

Filing Form TP-584

Form TP-584 is the combined transfer tax return, credit line mortgage certificate, and estimated income tax certification. Every conveyance in Erie County requires one, whether or not tax is owed.⁷ It’s available from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance or at the Erie County Clerk’s office.

The form must be filed with the county recording officer no later than 15 days after the deed is delivered.⁷ In practice this happens the same day the deed is recorded, because the clerk requires both before recording. If a deed stays unrecorded past that 15-day window, interest and penalties can start running.

Other Recording Fees

The transfer tax is the biggest cost, but the clerk collects other fees at the same time:¹

Statutory recording fee: $45
Per-page charge: $5 for each written side
TP-584 filing fee: $10
RP-5217 Real Property Transfer Report: $125 for residential or farm property, $250 for all other types

On a typical residential sale with a four-page deed, these fees add roughly $200 on top of the transfer tax. Your attorney or title company collects them along with the tax payment.

Paying and Recording the Deed

Everything is submitted together to the Erie County Clerk when the deed is presented for recording: the deed, Form TP-584, the RP-5217, the transfer tax, and the recording fees.¹ Accepted payment methods include cash, personal or certified check, money order, and credit card (Visa, MasterCard, or Discover).

Erie County also accepts electronic recording through approved facilitators, which transmit documents and remit the taxes and fees electronically.⁸ Most Buffalo-area attorneys and title companies use e-recording, which is faster than mailing or hand-delivering. Once the clerk accepts the filing, the deed is indexed and the original is mailed back to the new owner.⁹

1
Erie County Clerk. Land Record Fees
2
New York State Senate. New York Tax Law 1402-A – Additional Tax
3
New York State Senate. New York Tax Law 1402 – Imposition of Tax
4
New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Publication 577 – FAQs Regarding the Additional Tax on Transfers of Residential Real Property
5
New York State Senate. New York Tax Law 1404 – Liability for Tax
6
New York State Senate. New York Tax Law 1405 – Exemptions
7
New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Instructions for Form TP-584
8
Erie County Clerk. e-Recording
9
Erie County Clerk. Record a Deed