Does Utah have a real estate transfer tax?
No. Utah does not impose a deed tax, documentary stamp tax, excise tax or any other tax measured by the price of real estate. A seller of a Utah apartment building pays no transfer tax, and neither does the buyer. Counties and cities do not add one either.
What Utah does charge is a recording fee, set by state law and collected by the county recorder. For most instruments it is $40, under Utah Code § 17-71-407, which was most recently amended in the 2026 General Session with an effective date of May 6, 2026. The fee is the same for a $40,000 lot and a $4,000,000 apartment complex.
That is the distinctive part of Utah’s system. In most states, the cost of transferring a deed scales with the price. In Utah, it scales with the number of documents you record.
For a seller, that changes the negotiation. There is no percentage-of-price line for the buyer to ask you to absorb, and no tax that grows as the price goes up. Every dollar of a higher offer reaches your settlement statement before loan payoff, commissions and income tax, which keeps price comparisons between offers simple.
Utah recording fees in 2026
The base fee for recording an instrument is $40. If an instrument contains more than 10 property descriptions, the recorder adds $2 for each extra description. Plats cost $50 per sheet plus $2 for each lot or unit shown. In counties of the second through sixth class, the statute adds $5 per service unless the county has a balance in its restricted recording fee account, so a smaller county can show a slightly higher figure on its fee sheet.
On a typical apartment sale you will record the deed, the buyer’s trust deed and the reconveyance of your existing loan. That is three documents, or about $120 at the base rate, with the buyer usually covering its own loan documents. Check the current fee schedule on your county recorder’s site, since some counties publish updated sheets when the statute changes.
Older closing checklists may cite Utah Code § 17-21-18.5 for recording fees. That section was the earlier home of the fee schedule; the current one is § 17-71-407, so use it when you check a figure.
- Deed or other instrument: $40 each (Utah Code § 17-71-407).
- More than 10 descriptions in one instrument: $2 per extra description.
- Plats: $50 per sheet plus $2 per lot or unit.
- Second- through sixth-class counties: an extra $5 per service in some cases.
Who pays closing costs in Utah when there is no transfer tax?
The purchase contract decides. With no transfer tax to allocate, the main questions are who pays the recording fees for each document, who pays for the owner’s title policy and how escrow and settlement fees are split. Sellers commonly pay to release their own liens, and buyers commonly pay to record their own financing, but the contract controls.
Prorations are usually the largest lines. If the current year’s property tax bill has not been paid by closing, the buyer typically receives a credit for the seller’s share of the year. Rents, tenant security deposits and any prepaid rent move to the buyer at closing as well.
Are there county or city transfer taxes in Salt Lake City, Provo or St. George?
No. Utah counties and cities do not levy transfer taxes. Salt Lake, Utah, Davis, Weber and Washington counties all record deeds for the statutory fee without a charge tied to price.
This is worth stating plainly to out-of-state buyers. Investors moving capital from California, Washington or the Northeast sometimes budget a transfer tax out of habit. In Utah the line should be zero, and the recording fee should be a two- or three-figure amount for the whole closing.
LLC transfers, entity sales and exemptions
Because Utah has no transfer tax, there are no transfer tax exemptions to qualify for. Deeding a building into your own LLC, moving it between related entities, distributing it from a trust or an estate, or conveying it by a deed in lieu of foreclosure costs only the recording fee.
Selling the entity instead of the deed is also tax-neutral from a transfer tax point of view. Some states, such as New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont, tax the sale of a controlling interest in an entity that owns real estate. Utah has no such tax, so the choice between selling the building and selling the LLC turns on liability, lender consent, title coverage and federal and state income tax.
A 1031 exchange works the same way. Neither the relinquished sale nor a Utah replacement purchase carries a transfer tax. If you exchange into another state, that state’s tax applies to the replacement purchase, and in some states it falls on the buyer.
Worked example: a $2M and $5M Utah apartment sale
Take a 24-unit building in Ogden that sells for $2,000,000. The Utah transfer tax is $0. Recording the deed costs $40, and recording the reconveyance of the seller’s loan another $40, for $80 on the seller side if the contract follows the usual split.
At $5,000,000 the numbers do not change: $0 in transfer tax and the same $40 per document. In Colorado the same sales would carry a documentary fee of $200 and $500. In a Nevada county under 700,000 people they would carry $7,800 and $19,500, and in a county of 700,000 or more, which includes Clark County, $10,200 and $25,500.
| Sale price | Utah transfer tax | Utah deed recording | Colorado (0.01%) | Nevada, smaller county (0.39%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $2,000,000 | $0 | $40 | $200 | $7,800 |
| $5,000,000 | $0 | $40 | $500 | $19,500 |
Utah compared with neighboring states
Utah is one of the cheapest states in the West to transfer real estate. Colorado’s documentary fee is a penny per $100. Nevada charges a real property transfer tax that is among the highest in the region, and the buyer and seller are jointly and severally liable for it under NRS 375.030.
| State | Statewide rate | Tax on $2,000,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Utah | None ($40 per recorded document) | $0 |
| Colorado | Documentary fee, $0.01 per $100 (0.01%) | $200 |
| Nevada, county under 700,000 | $1.95 per $500 (0.39%) | $7,800 |
| Nevada, county of 700,000 or more | $2.55 per $500 (0.51%) | $10,200 |
Where the real tax cost of a Utah sale sits
With no transfer tax, a Utah seller’s tax cost comes from income tax on the gain. That means federal capital gains tax on the appreciation, federal depreciation recapture on what you deducted over the years and, for many owners, the net investment income tax. Utah’s individual income tax applies to the gain as well, unlike in Texas, South Dakota or Nevada.
That is why exchanges and installment terms matter more than closing fees in Utah. A 1031 exchange, with replacement property identified within 45 days and closed within 180, can defer the federal gain and recapture. Seller financing can spread the gain over the years you receive principal.
The flat fee also shapes exchanges into Utah. An owner selling in a state with a transfer tax may owe it on the way out, but the Utah replacement purchase adds only recording fees, so more of the exchange equity reaches the new building. The reverse is true for a Utah owner exchanging into a state that puts its tax on the buyer.
When you compare offers, look past the closing cost section of each one. A difference of a few hundred dollars in recording and escrow fees means little next to the timing of a large federal and state tax bill.
A practical checklist for a Utah apartment closing
Use this list to make sure your settlement statement matches Utah’s rules rather than a template from another state.
- Confirm there is no transfer tax or deed stamp line on either side.
- Check that recording fees are charged per document at the current county rate.
- Confirm who pays the owner’s title policy and the escrow fee under your contract.
- Review the property tax proration for the current year.
- Reconcile rents, deposits and any prepaid rent credited to the buyer.
- Get your lender’s payoff letter, including any prepayment penalty, in writing.
Selling your Utah apartment building to Skyline
Skyline Capital Investments buys apartment buildings with five or more units across Utah, along the Wasatch Front and in St. George, Logan and Cedar City. We buy directly, can offer seller-carry terms and work inside 1031 deadlines.
Send the address and unit count through the form on this page, or call (469) 660-2977. We typically respond within 48 hours.
