Does Kansas have a real estate transfer tax?
No. Kansas doesn’t tax the transfer of real estate. There is no deed stamp, no conveyance tax and no county or city transfer tax on a sale, whether the property is a house or a 60-unit apartment complex. The only charges a register of deeds collects on a deed are recording fees.
That makes Kansas one of the cheapest states in the country to sell investment property in, at least on the closing statement. On a $2,000,000 building, a seller in Pennsylvania faces a 1% state tax before local add-ons. In Kansas, the government line on the settlement statement is usually a few dozen dollars.
Two things still show up at a Kansas closing that sellers sometimes mistake for a transfer tax: recording fees, which run by the page, and the sales validation questionnaire, which carries no tax at all but must accompany the deed.
The mortgage registration tax is gone too
Kansas used to charge a mortgage registration tax of 0.26% of the loan principal when a mortgage was recorded. The legislature phased it down over four years: 0.2% in 2015, 0.15% in 2016, 0.1% in 2017 and 0.05% in 2018, according to the Kansas Legislative Research Department. Starting in calendar year 2019, the tax was repealed altogether.
This matters to a seller even though the buyer is the one who records the mortgage. A buyer financing $3,500,000 on your building would have paid $9,100 in registration tax under the old 0.26% rate. Today that money stays in the deal. Lower closing costs on the buyer’s side leave more room in the price, and agency and bank lenders don’t have to budget for a state levy on the loan.
To replace county revenue, Kansas raised its recording fees instead. That trade explains why Kansas recording fees look high per page compared with some states, while the total is still tiny next to a percentage-based tax.
Kansas recording fees on a deed
Under K.S.A. 28-115, the base fee for recording a deed, mortgage or other instrument received on or after January 1, 2018 is $17 for the first page and $13 for each additional page. The statute adds a $3 per-page fee and a $1 per-page fee on top of those base amounts, which fund county technology and the Heritage Trust Fund.
A typical warranty deed for an apartment building runs two to four pages, so the deed recording cost is usually well under $100. Long legal descriptions, multiple parcels or recorded exhibits add pages. Your title company will quote the exact figure from the county’s current fee schedule.
The buyer usually records the deed and pays to record its own mortgage. A seller typically pays to record releases of any existing mortgages being paid off at closing. The purchase contract can assign any of these costs differently.
| K.S.A. 28-115 recording fee | First page | Each additional page |
|---|---|---|
| Base fee, filed on or after Jan. 1, 2018 | $17 | $13 |
| Base fee, filed before Jan. 1, 2015 | $6 | $2 |
| Additional statutory per-page fees | $3 + $1 | $3 + $1 |
The Kansas sales validation questionnaire
K.S.A. 79-1437c bars the register of deeds from recording a deed or other instrument transferring title unless it comes with a real estate sales validation questionnaire completed by the grantor, the grantee or an agent of either. The form asks for the sale price, financing terms, personal property included and whether the sale was arm’s length.
The register of deeds doesn’t record the questionnaire. The statute directs that it not be filed of record, that it be kept for five years and then destroyed, and that the information be used with the county clerk to assist the state’s director of property valuation.
For an apartment seller, the practical point is that your sale price reaches the county appraiser. That doesn’t create a tax for you, but the buyer should expect the appraiser to see it when valuing the property for future property tax bills. If personal property such as appliances, laundry equipment or furniture is part of the price, list it on the questionnaire so the real estate figure is accurate.
Who pays closing costs on a Kansas apartment sale?
With no transfer tax to fight over, the customary split in Kansas comes down to the usual items. Sellers typically pay for the owner’s title insurance policy where local custom calls for it, payoff and release recording, any broker commission and their share of prorated property taxes. Buyers pay for the lender’s title policy, loan costs, deed and mortgage recording, and their own inspections and third-party reports.
Escrow or closing fees are often split. None of this is set by statute, and on a commercial deal everything is negotiable. In a Kansas contract, the line to read closely is the proration of property taxes, because the credit can be meaningful on a large building.
- Transfer tax: none in Kansas, state or local.
- Mortgage registration tax: repealed beginning in 2019.
- Deed recording: $17 first page, $13 each additional page, plus $3 and $1 per-page statutory fees.
- Sales validation questionnaire: required with the deed, no fee attached.
Entity sales, LLC transfers and 1031 exchanges in Kansas
Because Kansas has no tax on deeds, there’s also no controlling-interest transfer tax. In states such as Maine and Maryland, selling the LLC that owns a building instead of deeding the building can still trigger transfer tax. In Kansas, a sale of membership interests and a sale by deed carry the same zero transfer tax.
Moving a building from your own name into an LLC you own, or out of an LLC to its members, involves only the recording fee and the questionnaire. The same goes for gifts, transfers to heirs and deeds in lieu of foreclosure. None of them face a transfer tax because there isn’t one.
A 1031 exchange doesn’t change the Kansas picture either. The relinquished property sale and the replacement purchase each record a deed, each pay recording fees, and neither pays transfer tax. What the exchange does affect is your federal and Kansas income tax on the gain, which is where most of the money is.
Worked example: closing costs on a Kansas apartment building sale
Take a 40-unit building in Wichita sold for $2,000,000, and a 90-unit building in Overland Park sold for $5,000,000. Assume a three-page warranty deed in each case.
Kansas transfer tax on the $2,000,000 sale: $0. On the $5,000,000 sale: $0. Deed recording at the base rate is $17 for the first page plus $13 for each of the two additional pages, or $43, before the $3 and $1 per-page statutory fees. Those add $12 on three pages, for $55 in total. The amount is the same whether the price is $2,000,000 or $5,000,000, because Kansas charges by the page, not by the price.
For contrast, the same $2,000,000 sale would carry $6,640 of documentary stamp tax in Nebraska and $3,000 in Oklahoma. At $5,000,000, those figures are $16,600 and $7,500. Have your title company confirm the recording total against the county’s fee schedule when you get a settlement statement.
| Line item | $2,000,000 sale | $5,000,000 sale |
|---|---|---|
| Kansas state transfer tax | $0 | $0 |
| County or city transfer tax | $0 | $0 |
| Deed recording, 3 pages, base fee | $43 | $43 |
| Statutory $3 and $1 per-page fees | $12 | $12 |
| Total government charges on the deed | $55 | $55 |
Kansas compared with neighboring states
Kansas sits in the cheapest tier in the region. Colorado charges a token documentary fee, Oklahoma and Nebraska charge stamp taxes on the deed, and Nebraska’s grantor-paid rate is the highest of the group after a recent increase. For an investor weighing a 1031 exchange out of Kansas, the replacement state’s transfer tax is a real cost to add to the purchase budget.
| State | Transfer tax on a deed | On a $2,000,000 sale |
|---|---|---|
| Kansas | None | $0 |
| Colorado | 1 cent per $100 documentary fee (C.R.S. 39-13-102) | $200 |
| Oklahoma | $0.75 per $500 documentary stamp tax (68 O.S. 3201) | $3,000 |
| Nebraska | $3.32 per $1,000 on the grantor until 2032 (Neb. Rev. Stat. 76-901) | $6,640 |
Where the real tax cost of a Kansas sale sits
With no transfer tax, the large tax bills on a Kansas apartment sale come from income tax. Federal capital gains tax applies to your gain, and the part of the gain created by depreciation you took is taxed as unrecaptured Section 1250 gain at up to 25%. Kansas taxes the gain under its own income tax as well. On a building you’ve held for a decade or more, those taxes can be many times larger than any transfer tax would be in another state.
That is why Kansas sellers spend their planning time on income tax rather than closing costs. A 1031 exchange can defer both the federal and Kansas tax if you buy qualifying replacement property within the 45-day identification and 180-day closing windows. An installment sale, where you carry part of the price as a note, can spread the gain over several years. Both work in Kansas without any transfer tax wrinkle.
Property tax is the other number that moves after a sale. Your price reaches the county appraiser through the sales validation questionnaire, and buyers underwrite the tax bill they expect at their purchase price. A building with a current appraisal close to market value is easier to price than one due for a big jump.
Selling your Kansas apartment building to Skyline
Skyline buys apartment buildings with five or more units across Kansas, from Wichita and Topeka to Lawrence, Manhattan and the Kansas City suburbs. We buy directly, can offer seller-carry terms if you want to spread out your gain, and work inside 1031 timelines when you’re exchanging into something else.
Send the property address and unit count through the form on this page, or call (469) 660-2977. We typically respond within 48 hours, and we’ll walk through how the closing costs split on your deal before you sign anything.
