Chester County Transfer Tax: Rates, Exemptions, and Form REV-183

The Chester County transfer tax is 2% of the sale price in most municipalities, split evenly between a 1% Pennsylvania state tax and a 1% local tax. Three areas charge more: Malvern Borough and Tredyffrin Township each add a 1.5% local rate for a 2.5% total, and Coatesville charges a 2.5% local rate for a 3.5% total. On a $400,000 sale, that difference between a standard-rate township and Coatesville works out to $6,000 in extra tax at closing.

How the Rate Is Built

Pennsylvania imposes a flat 1% realty transfer tax on the value of real estate conveyed by deed or similar instrument.¹ The Chester County Recorder of Deeds collects that state portion when the deed is recorded and remits it to the Department of Revenue. Local municipalities and school districts add their own layer on top.

For most Chester County boroughs and townships, the local share is 1%, producing the standard 2% combined rate. The exceptions:²

Malvern Borough: 1.5% local, 2.5% total
Tredyffrin Township: 1.5% local, 2.5% total
Coatesville: 2.5% local, 3.5% total

Before signing an agreement of sale, confirm which municipality the property sits in. Township and borough lines don’t always match mailing addresses.

Who Pays

Pennsylvania law makes buyer and seller jointly and severally liable for the full amount.¹ If the tax goes unpaid, the state can pursue either party for the entire balance regardless of any private agreement between them.

Custom in Chester County is a 50/50 split, so on a standard 2% sale each side pays 1%. That split is a convention, not a rule. The purchase agreement can allocate the tax any way the parties negotiate, including one side absorbing all of it, and the closing disclosure records the arrangement. Just remember that a private allocation doesn’t override the state’s right to collect from either party if the tax isn’t paid.

When the Sale Price Isn’t the Taxable Amount

The taxable amount is normally the actual sale price. When a transaction has no clearly stated price or looks like a non-arm’s-length deal, the county uses a computed value and taxes whichever figure is higher.²

That computed value comes from the common level ratio (CLR). The Department of Revenue publishes a CLR factor for each county every year, drawn from sales data compiled by the State Tax Equalization Board.³ The county’s assessed value gets multiplied by the current factor to produce an estimated market value, and the tax is applied to that number if it’s higher than what the deed says was paid. Gift transfers, transactions between related parties, and other non-market sales are where the CLR usually comes into play. The current factors apply to documents accepted from July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026.

Family Transfers Are Exempt

Transfers between close family members are exempt from both the state and local tax. The qualifying relationships include:⁴

Husband and wife
Parent and child, including the child’s spouse
Stepparent and stepchild, including the stepchild’s spouse
Siblings, including a sibling’s spouse
Grandparent and grandchild, including the grandchild’s spouse

Property placed into a trust also qualifies, as long as every beneficiary of the trust falls inside one of those relationships. Claiming the trust exemption means handing the Recorder a full copy of the trust agreement and every amendment, plus documentation showing how the grantor is related to each beneficiary.⁵

The One-Year Clawback

Here’s the trap. If you receive property through a family exemption and then sell it to someone outside the family within one year, the transfer tax applies retroactively as if the original family transfer never happened.⁴ The tax on that later sale is calculated as though the original family member had sold directly to the outside buyer. Anyone treating a family exemption as a shortcut to a quick resale will lose the savings on the back end.

Divorce Transfers

Transfers between former spouses are exempt when the property was acquired by one or both spouses before or during the marriage, and the transfer arises from a divorce decree or property settlement agreement.⁶ Property purchased after the final divorce decree does not qualify.

Other Exemptions

Beyond family, several other transaction types are excluded. Transfers to government entities, transfers between religious organizations, and transfers involving nonprofit industrial development agencies are exempt.¹ Corrective or confirmatory deeds that fix errors in a previously recorded deed are also excluded, but the Recorder will want a copy of the original deed being corrected.⁵

Transferring Property Through a Business Entity Won’t Avoid It

The tax isn’t limited to traditional deed recordings. It also reaches transfers of ownership interests in a “real estate company,” meaning any entity whose real estate holdings make up 90% or more of its assets. When 90% or more of the interests in such a company change hands within any three-year window, the transfer triggers the tax on the value of the underlying real estate.

The common workaround, transferring 89% now with an option on the remaining 11%, does not work. Pennsylvania treats granting the option itself as a transfer for purposes of the 90% threshold, even if the option is never exercised. The Department of Revenue has said so explicitly.

Form REV-183 and Paying at Recording

The Realty Transfer Tax Statement of Value (Form REV-183) has to be filed with the Recorder of Deeds in three situations: the full sale price isn’t stated in the deed, the deed involves no consideration or is a gift, or any party is claiming an exemption.⁵ Incomplete or inaccurate forms can lead the Recorder to refuse the deed altogether.

Some exemptions require specific attachments:

Trust transfers: the full trust agreement, all amendments, and each beneficiary’s relationship to the grantor
Agent or straw party transfers: a full copy of the agency or straw party agreement
Transfers to government by condemnation: a copy of the resolution authorizing the taking
Mortgage default transfers: copies of the mortgage, the note, and any assignment documentation
Corrective deeds: a full copy of the deed being corrected

For exemptions that don’t have a checkbox on the form, filers have to write a detailed explanation in Section IV. The information on the form has to match the deed itself. Mismatched language between the two is one of the most common reasons documents get bounced back at the counter.

On payment: Chester County does not accept credit cards, personal checks, or estate checks for transfer tax. Acceptable methods are business checks, cashier’s checks, and money orders, and you need two separate checks, one for the municipal tax and one for the state tax.⁷ A single combined check will slow the closing down. Recording fees themselves, which are separate from the transfer tax, can be paid by cash or credit card at the counter, with a small processing fee on card payments. The base recording fee for a standard deed is $94.75, covering one uniform parcel identifier, up to four pages, one notation fee, and up to four names; extras add to the cost.²

Deeds can be submitted in person or through the county’s e-recording partners, Simplifile and CSC eRecording.⁸

1
Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Realty Transfer Tax
2
Chester County, PA – Official Website. Fee Schedule
3
Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Realty Transfer Tax Common Level Ratio Real Estate Valuation Factors January 2026
4
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 72 P.S. 8102-C.3 – Excluded Transactions
5
Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Realty Transfer Tax Statement of Value
6
Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Pennsylvania Realty Transfer Tax No. RTT-11-001 – Exempt Transactions
7
Chester County. Chester County Recorder of Deeds Fee Brochure
8
Chester County, PA – Official Website. Electronic Recording