Documentary Transfer Tax Across the Six Counties

Every one of the six Southern California counties charges a documentary transfer tax when a deed records, and each county recorder collects it at recording. State law sets who may levy it, not who pays it: the purchase contract decides that, and escrow collects it from the side the contract names. The tax is declared on the face of the deed, figured per 500 dollars of value, and in a few cities a city tax is added on top. The recorder of the county where the house sits is the official source for the rate, and the table below links each one.

This article is part of the seller costs, net and California rules section. Rates appear in the text with the recorder that states them; the amount column in the table is a dash because the amount depends on your price.

What is the documentary transfer tax?

It is a tax on the document that conveys real property, usually the grant deed. Revenue and Taxation Code 11911 lets each county impose it at 55 cents for each 500 dollars of value, counted without any lien or encumbrance that stays on the property, and lets a city inside the county add its own. The tax is collected once, when the deed is recorded. If it is not paid, the recorder does not record the deed, so in practice escrow pays it out of the funds it holds before closing.

The six counties, recorder by recorder

CountyRecorder's pageCity tax the recorder namesAmount on your sale

Los Angeles

Registrar-Recorder: documentary transfer taxes

Culver City, Los Angeles, Pomona, Redondo Beach, Santa Monica

-

San Bernardino

Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk: document recording

None named on the page; confirm with escrow

-

Riverside

Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder: recording requirements

City of Riverside, at a higher combined rate

-

Orange

Clerk-Recorder: fee schedule

None named on the schedule; confirm with escrow

-

San Diego

Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk: recording

Collects the tax for the county and cities; confirm any city line with escrow

-

Ventura

Clerk-Recorder: recorder forms

Confirm with escrow

-

What each recorder states, read on November 6, 2026:

• Los Angeles County. The county rate is 55 cents for each 500 dollars or fraction of 500 dollars. Five cities add their own tax: Pomona and Redondo Beach at 2.20 dollars per 1,000 dollars, Santa Monica and Culver City on tiers by price, and the City of Los Angeles at 2.25 dollars per 500 dollars plus Measure ULA above its threshold. The page adds that in those five cities the county portion is still figured at the full 1.10 dollars per 1,000, and that county and city tax must be listed separately on the deed.
• San Bernardino County. The tax is due on taxable conveyances over 100 dollars at 55 cents per 500 dollars or fraction, excluding liens of record, and a transfer tax declaration must be completed for every conveyance. A dollar figure on its own is not an acceptable declaration.
• Riverside County. The same 55 cents per 500 dollars applies countywide. Property inside the City of Riverside is taxed at 1.10 dollars per 500 dollars. A Documentary Transfer Tax Affidavit must go in with each document, whether tax is paid or an exemption is claimed.
• Orange County. The Clerk-Recorder's fee schedule, effective January 1, 2026, lists the document transfer tax at 55 cents per 500 dollars.
• San Diego County. The recorder cites Revenue and Taxation Code 11911: 55 cents per 500 dollars or fraction, excluding existing liens, on taxable conveyances over 100 dollars, collected at recording.
• Ventura County. The Clerk-Recorder's website could not be opened on November 6, 2026, so this article quotes no Ventura figure; ask escrow or the recorder's office to confirm the current line for your sale.

Who pays the documentary transfer tax in California?

None of the six recorders' pages says the seller pays, and neither does the statute. The tax is imposed on the document, and the purchase contract assigns it. In practice the contract has a line for it, escrow reads that line, and the money comes off one side of the settlement statement. Who pays is negotiable before you sign, and it is worth reading on every offer: two offers at close prices can differ by this line alone. How to lay two offers side by side is in net sheet vs. offer price.

Who signs the documentary transfer tax affidavit?

The tax is declared on the first page of the deed, in a block that states the amount and whether it was figured on the full value or on the value less liens remaining at the time of sale. On the Los Angeles County form, the line is for the signature of the declarant or the agent determining the tax, and the recorder states plainly that the calculation is the document preparer's responsibility, not the recorder's. On most sales escrow or the title company prepares the deed and fills in that block. Riverside County asks for a separate affidavit with each document. If you are selling without an escrow company, the declaration is yours to get right, and a real estate attorney is the person to ask.

How is the documentary transfer tax calculated?

The base is the price, rounded up to the next 500 dollars, divided by 500 and multiplied by the rate. The Los Angeles County recorder's own example rounds 21,100 dollars to 21,500, divides by 500 and multiplies by 55 cents, for 23.65 dollars of county tax. Any city tax is figured separately at the city's rate and listed on its own line.

The "less liens remaining" box matters less than it looks. On an ordinary sale your loan is paid off at closing rather than left on the house, so the tax is usually figured on the full price. The box comes into play when a buyer takes the property subject to an existing loan, which is a lending and legal question to settle with escrow and an attorney before you sign.

Does a city add its own transfer tax?

Sometimes, and the city line is where Southern California sellers get surprised. In Los Angeles County, a sale in Pomona pays the county tax and Pomona's city tax, while a sale a few blocks east in Claremont pays the county tax only; Claremont, La Verne, San Dimas and Glendora are not on the recorder's list of five. Inside the City of Los Angeles, Measure ULA adds a second city tax on sales above an annual threshold, explained in Measure ULA: only inside the City of Los Angeles.

Across the county line the recorder changes. An Ontario house a few blocks from the Pomona line records in San Bernardino County, so Pomona's tax does not reach it. So do Upland, Rancho Cucamonga, Chino, Chino Hills and the High Desert cities such as Victorville and Hesperia; all of San Bernardino County records with the same Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk. In Riverside County, the City of Riverside line is the one to check.

What if no tax is due?

Some transfers are exempt, and the deed must then say why. The Los Angeles, Riverside and San Diego recorders all ask for a zero on the tax line and an exemption statement on the face of the document; Los Angeles links an approved list of statements. A sale to a buyer for a price is the ordinary taxable case, whether the seller is an owner, a trustee or an estate. Whether a particular transfer qualifies for an exemption is a question for escrow and an attorney, not a form to guess at.

One related fee is easy to confuse with the transfer tax. California charges a per-document recording fee on many real estate documents, capped at 225 dollars per transaction. The San Diego recorder states that it is not imposed on documents recorded in connection with a transfer that is subject to the documentary transfer tax, or a transfer of a residential dwelling to an owner-occupier, and Riverside's page notes that a sale exempt from the transfer tax may owe the fee instead.

Where the transfer tax sits on the two numbers

On an as-is cash offer and on an open-market read of the same house, the transfer tax is close to the same: it follows the price and the contract, not the path. What differs between the two columns is the price itself, the repairs, the commissions and the months of carrying costs. A cash offer is generally below what the open market would bring, and listing nets more when the house can be financed as it is and you have time to carry it through a market period. The comparison is laid out on the cash offer vs. listing page, and every cost line, county by county, is in what selling a house costs in Southern California, and what you net.

What this looks like in practice

These are the kinds of files that come in, described without names or figures.

• A Pomona heir who compared a cash offer with a sibling's Claremont sale and could not make the nets match. The city tax line was the difference.
• A San Bernardino County owner with two offers, one assigning the transfer tax to the seller and one splitting it. The prices were close; the net sheets were not.
• A Riverside owner who assumed the countywide rate. The house was inside the City of Riverside, and the recorder's page settled it.

Next step

Send the address or call (909) 498-3977. You get a written as-is cash offer and an open-market read on the same house, each with the comps, the deductions and the net, with the transfer tax for your county and city on its own line. There is no cost and no obligation to get the two numbers and the written report.

Sources

• California Revenue and Taxation Code 11911 (documentary transfer tax): leginfo.legislature.ca.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder, Documentary Transfer Taxes, general information: lavote.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• San Bernardino County Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk, Document Recording: arc.sbcounty.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• Riverside County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder, Recording Requirements: rivcoacr.org, accessed November 6, 2026
• Orange County Clerk-Recorder, Fee Schedule, effective January 1, 2026: ocrecorder.com, accessed November 6, 2026
• San Diego County Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk, Recording: sdarcc.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• Ventura County Clerk-Recorder, Recorder forms: clerkrecorder.venturacounty.gov, could not be opened on November 6, 2026 (the server refused the request); no figure in this article relies on it
• City of Los Angeles Office of Finance, Real Property Transfer Tax and Measure ULA: finance.lacity.gov, accessed November 6, 2026

Mr. Cali Offers is not a law firm or a tax adviser. Cash offers come from independent buyers and investors who buy for their own account and may resell for profit; a cash offer is generally below what the open market would bring. Any value shown is a preliminary estimate, not an appraisal. Nothing here is legal, tax or financial advice.