The Indiana sales disclosure form is a tax document that must be completed and signed by the buyer and seller for any real property transfer made for valuable consideration. The county assessor reviews it, the county auditor collects a $20 filing fee in most cases, and the county recorder cannot record the deed until an assessor-approved form is on file. Get it wrong and your closing stalls.
What the Form Must Contain
Indiana Code 6-1.1-5.5-5 lists more than twenty categories of required information. The core items are the parcel key number for each parcel, the property address, the date of transfer, the total price paid (in money, property, services, or other consideration), and a legal description of each parcel. You must indicate whether the transfer includes land, improvements, or both, and whether personal property is included, with an estimated value if it is.1Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 6-1.1-5.5-5
The form also captures names, addresses, and phone numbers for every transferor and transferee, plus the preparer. Seller-financing terms must be disclosed. Any family or business relationship between buyer and seller must be identified. And the form doubles as an application for certain property tax deductions: a buyer claiming the homestead standard deduction can apply directly on the sales disclosure form rather than filing a separate application.1Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 6-1.1-5.5-5
How to File It
All parties to the transfer must sign. If the buyer and seller agree on the information, one shared form works. If they disagree, each side can sign and file its own version. For transactions involving more than two parties, one transferor and one transferee signing is enough.2Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 6-1.1-5.5-3 – Sales Disclosure Form Filing and Review Process
Order matters. Submit the completed form first to the county assessor, who reviews it for accuracy and completeness. If it passes, the assessor stamps it as eligible for filing. Only then does it go to the county auditor, who processes any deduction applications and sends the form back to the assessor for use in property valuation. Since January 2024, county assessors and auditors are not allowed to refuse a sales disclosure form submitted electronically.2Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 6-1.1-5.5-3 – Sales Disclosure Form Filing and Review Process
File a separate form for each parcel conveyed. The one exception: contiguous parcels located entirely within the same taxing district and transferred under a single deed can share one form.2Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 6-1.1-5.5-3 – Sales Disclosure Form Filing and Review Process
The $20 Fee
The standard filing fee is $20, paid to the county auditor at submission. No fee is due for transfers to a charity, for compulsory transactions like foreclosure, divorce, court order, condemnation, or probate, or for partition of land between co-owners. These transactions still require the form; they just don’t require the fee.3Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 6-1.1-5.5-4 – Filing Fee, Exceptions, Distribution
Which Transfers Need a Form
Indiana defines a “conveyance” as a transfer of a real property interest for valuable consideration. If consideration changes hands, a form is required. Outright gifts and other transfers for no consideration are not conveyances under this chapter and don’t trigger the requirement.4Justia. Indiana Code 6-1.1-5.5 – Sales Disclosure Forms
Several document types are excluded from the definition of “conveyance document” and don’t need a form at all:
- Mortgages and trust deeds, which create security interests rather than transfer ownership.
- Leases running less than 90 years, including standard residential and commercial leases.
- Mergers and incorporations involving solely non-listed stock.
- Quitclaim deeds not serving as a source of title, commonly used to clear clouds on title.
- Public utility and governmental easements and rights-of-way.
What Happens If the Form Is Rejected
The county auditor cannot accept a deed for recording when the sales disclosure form is missing, unsigned, or incomplete. The county recorder cannot record the deed without evidence that an assessor-approved form has been filed with the auditor.6Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 6-1.1-5.5-6 – Acceptance of Form by County Auditor
This is where deals stall. If the assessor finds the form incomplete or inaccurate, it doesn’t get stamped, and the auditor won’t take the deed. You’re frozen until a corrected form clears both offices. On a time-sensitive closing with hard financing deadlines, that delay can be worse than any penalty.
Penalties for Missing or Wrong Information
An inaccurate or incomplete form does not trigger an immediate fine. The assessor sends written notice identifying the problems, and you have 30 days to file a corrected form. Miss that window and the penalty is the greater of $100 or 0.025% of the sale price.7Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 6-1.1-5.5-12 – Civil Penalties
On a $300,000 home, 0.025% is $75, so the $100 floor applies. On a $2 million commercial deal, the penalty rises to $500. Deliberate misrepresentation, such as understating the sale price or concealing a relationship between buyer and seller, can carry consequences beyond a correction notice and reach into fraud territory.
Don’t Confuse This With the Property Condition Disclosure
Indiana also requires a separate residential real estate sales disclosure that covers the physical condition of the property, including known defects, flooding history, and environmental hazards. That form protects buyers from hidden problems with the house itself. The sales disclosure form covered here is a tax document that records the financial terms of the transfer so the assessor can produce accurate valuations. Both are typically required in a home sale, and they serve different purposes. Assuming one covers the other is a common and avoidable mistake.