Does Wyoming have a real estate transfer tax?
No. Wyoming does not impose a deed tax, documentary stamp tax, conveyance tax or excise tax on real estate sales, and no Wyoming county or city has one either. There is no mortgage recording tax.
That holds for every kind of property, including a 5+ unit apartment building sold by an investor, and for every price. The seller doesn’t pay it, the buyer doesn’t pay it, and there is nothing to split in the contract.
What Wyoming does require is a sworn statement of the price, filed with the deed but kept confidential, and a recording fee paid to the county clerk.
What you file instead: the statement of consideration
Under W.S. 34-1-142, every deed, contract or other instrument transferring legal or equitable title to real property must come with a sworn statement from the grantee or the grantee’s agent. The statement lists the parties, the transfer and sale dates, a legal description, the full amount paid or to be paid, the terms of the sale and an estimate of any personal property included.
The county clerk can’t accept the deed for recording until the statement is received. Failing to file it doesn’t make the transfer invalid between buyer and seller, but it does hold up recording, which no buyer or lender will accept.
Senate File 39, effective July 1, 2020, set the current form of this requirement. Because the buyer signs it, the seller’s role is mostly to make sure the contract price and the personal property allocation match what the buyer reports.
Your sale price stays private
Wyoming is a non-disclosure state. The statute says the statement of consideration is not a public record and must be kept confidential by the county clerk, the assessor, the state board of equalization and the Department of Revenue.
Assessors use the statements to build county sales ratio studies. Under subsection (d), a single statement may not be used by itself to adjust the assessed value of that particular property. The main exception to confidentiality is a taxpayer contesting an assessment, who may see the sale data for comparable properties the assessor used.
For an apartment seller this has two effects. Competitors and future buyers can’t pull your exit price from the county, and your buyer’s sale price doesn’t automatically become the new assessed value the day after closing.
- Price can be left off for a gift of more than half the property’s value.
- Price can be left off for transfers between spouses, or parent and child, for nominal consideration.
- Price can be left off for a sale for delinquent taxes or a foreclosure transfer.
Recording fees: the only charge on the deed
Under W.S. 18-3-402, the county clerk charges $12 for the first page of any recorded instrument and $3 for each additional page. Small add-ons apply when an instrument has more than five grantors or grantees with different surnames ($1 each), more than ten section, block, lot or tract descriptions ($1 each), or more than two descriptions referenced only by book and page ($2 each).
A typical five-page warranty deed costs $24 to record. Your buyer’s mortgage or deed of trust is recorded separately at the same page rate.
Why the missing tax still shows up in negotiations
No transfer tax means one less line to fight over, but it changes how buyers think about price. A buyer coming from Washington or Nebraska is used to setting aside tens of thousands of dollars for transfer tax at closing. In Wyoming that money can go into the price, the deposit or a faster close.
It also affects how you allocate the price. Because no tax rides on the real estate value, the split between the building and personal property such as appliances and furniture matters mainly for federal depreciation and the buyer’s property tax, not for any transfer tax. Agree on the allocation in the purchase agreement so the buyer’s statement of consideration matches it.
Finally, a clean, quick closing is easier. With no tax to compute, file or prove, the deed and the statement of consideration are the whole filing.
- Signed and acknowledged deed with the grantee’s mailing address.
- Sworn statement of consideration, signed by the buyer or the buyer’s agent.
- Recording fee at $12 for the first page and $3 for each additional page.
Selling the LLC, gifts, foreclosures and 1031 exchanges
With no transfer tax, the usual planning questions disappear. Selling membership interests in the LLC that owns your building triggers no Wyoming transfer tax, and neither does deeding the building into a new LLC, a trust or a family partnership. There is no controlling interest tax to watch.
Gifts and inheritances move without a transfer tax as well, and the statement of consideration can omit the price on a gift of more than half the value. Foreclosures and deeds in lieu record for the same page fee, and a foreclosure transfer can also omit the price.
A 1031 exchange works the same way. There is no Wyoming transfer tax on the relinquished sale, the transfer to or from a qualified intermediary, or a Wyoming replacement purchase. The exchange still matters for federal income tax, which is the real cost of selling.
Worked example: a $2,000,000 and a $5,000,000 Wyoming apartment sale
Take a 20-unit building in Cheyenne selling for $2,000,000. The transfer tax is $0. The five-page deed costs $12 for the first page plus 4 × $3 for the rest, or $24 to record.
Now a 60-unit building in Casper selling for $5,000,000. The transfer tax is again $0, and a seven-page deed with an exhibit costs $12 plus 6 × $3, or $30.
For contrast, the same $5,000,000 sale would carry $16,600 of documentary stamp tax in Nebraska and $5,000 of transfer fee in South Dakota. In Washington it would be $144,075 including Seattle’s local tax. A Wyoming seller keeps all of that.
| Line item | $2,000,000 sale | $5,000,000 sale |
|---|---|---|
| State transfer tax | $0 | $0 |
| County or city transfer tax | $0 | $0 |
| Deed recording fee | $24 (5 pages) | $30 (7 pages) |
| Statement of consideration filing | No fee stated in statute | No fee stated in statute |
| Total government charges on the deed | $24 | $30 |
Wyoming compared with neighboring states
Wyoming is one of four no-tax states in its corner of the West. Montana’s constitution, in Article VIII, Section 17, bars state and local transfer taxes, and Idaho and Utah don’t levy one. Colorado’s state documentary fee is a token 1 cent per $100 on sales over $500.
The real outlier is Nebraska. Its documentary stamp tax is $3.32 per $1,000 for transfers before January 1, 2032, falling to $2.32 after that, and the grantor pays it. South Dakota charges the grantor 50 cents per $500.
| State | Rate | On a $5,000,000 sale |
|---|---|---|
| Wyoming | None | $0 |
| Montana | None (constitutional ban) | $0 |
| Idaho | None | $0 |
| Utah | None | $0 |
| Colorado | $0.01 per $100 state documentary fee | $500 |
| South Dakota | $0.50 per $500 | $5,000 |
| Nebraska | $3.32 per $1,000 | $16,600 |
Where your real selling costs are
Wyoming has no state income tax, so the gain on your building is taxed only at the federal level. That still adds up: long-term capital gains tax on the profit, depreciation recapture on the unrecaptured section 1250 gain at up to 25%, and the 3.8% net investment income tax for many owners.
A 1031 exchange is the main tool for deferring that federal bill. If you exchange into a state with a transfer tax, budget for it on the purchase side and again when you eventually sell the replacement property. Exchanging from Wyoming into Nebraska, for example, means a future grantor tax that Wyoming never charged.
The rest of your costs are commercial: brokerage if you list, title insurance, escrow or closing fees, and any prorations of rent, deposits and property taxes.
Selling your Wyoming apartment building to Skyline
Skyline Capital Investments buys apartment buildings with five or more units across Wyoming, from Cheyenne and Casper to smaller markets. We buy directly, can offer seller-carry terms, and work within 1031 exchange deadlines. With no transfer tax in the way, the net number is mostly price, terms and timing, and we keep all three clear from the first conversation.
Send the address and unit count through the form on this page, or call (469) 660-2977. We typically respond within 48 hours.
