The tax on the sale, before you price the house.
Enter your numbersChoose your state, property type and town to estimate the transfer tax.
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Selling in Rhode Island? Run the net sheet, which covers it.
Connecticut brackets the state rate for a house or condo and charges a flat rate on everything else, so this changes more than the percentage.
The consideration on the deed, not the assessed value.
Only towns that change the rate are listed. Everywhere else uses the state’s standard rate.
What the seller owes
Enter a sale price to see the tax
Connecticut’s brackets and municipal rates, or the Massachusetts deeds excise, whichever applies.
Details and assumptions
At the rate this town charges, .
The seller pays this in Connecticut, and it is settled at the closing table out of the sale proceeds rather than written as a separate check.
The excise is charged on each $500 or fraction of it, so a sale at $250,001 owes the same as one at $250,500. That is why the figure steps rather than sliding.
Stamford charges 0.35% below $1,000,000 and 0.50% at $1,000,000 or more. The rate applies to the whole sale price.
Nantucket and the Martha’s Vineyard towns add a 2% land bank fee on top. It is the buyer’s cost, not the seller’s, so it is not in the figure above, but it will shape what a buyer is willing to pay.
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These calculators produce estimates for general information, not legal advice. Every transaction is different. Reach out to talk through yours.
About this estimate
Estimates only. Tax sources checked September 15, 2026: CT DRS, Stamford Resolution 3687, West Haven council minutes of May 24, 2021, and Massachusetts Deed Indexing Standards. The calculator includes the price thresholds: Connecticut tax starts at $2,000; Massachusetts tax starts above $100. Other transaction-specific exemptions and additional taxes on classified farm, forest or open-space land are not modeled here. Mixed-use property needs individual review. Confirm your transfer’s treatment with us; your settlement statement gives the final figures.
How Connecticut charges it.
A state tax and a municipal tax. The brackets below apply to single-family homes and condos. Other property types use a flat state rate.
The rate most residential sales in Connecticut sit inside from top to bottom. On a $450,000 sale the state portion is $3,375.
Marginal, not retroactive. Only the slice above $800,000 is charged at the higher rate, which is why a sale just over the line does not jump.
Again marginal, and again only on the portion above the line.
Every town charges a municipal conveyance tax. The base is 0.25%. Seventeen towns charge 0.50%, and Stamford sits on its own at 0.35% below $1,000,000, rising to 0.50% at $1,000,000 or more. This is the piece people forget, and on a $450,000 sale the difference between a 0.25% town and a 0.50% town is $1,125.
How Massachusetts charges it.
One rate, no municipal layer, and a rounding rule worth knowing about.
Which is $4.56 per $1,000, or about 0.456% of the price. Flatter than Connecticut’s: there are no brackets, so the rate on a $2 million sale is the rate on a $200,000 one.
The fifteen Cape towns pay a surcharge funding the Cape Cod and Islands Water Protection Fund. It is the highest transfer-tax rate in Massachusetts, not the lowest, which catches people out because the underlying statute reads the other way around.
The excise is charged on each $500 of consideration or fraction of it. A sale at $250,001 owes the same as one at $250,500. It is a small effect, but it is why a flat percentage gets the round numbers right and everything else slightly wrong.
These towns pay the standard excise, but their Land Bank Commissions add a 2% fee. That one falls on the buyer, so it never reaches a seller’s net sheet, though it certainly reaches the negotiation.
Where these numbers come from.
The calculator uses state tax guidance and adopted municipal rates. Sources checked September 15, 2026.
The property types, state brackets and $2,000 minimum come from Connecticut’s OP-236 return and instructions. State tax is rounded to the nearest dollar as the return requires.
The OLR municipal table is supplemented by Stamford Resolution 3687 and West Haven’s 2021 council vote, page 5. West Haven charges 0.50%; Stamford’s 0.50% rate starts at $1,000,000.
Deed Indexing Standards, section 16-7, gives the $2.28 per $500 rate, Barnstable’s $3.24 rate, and the $100 threshold. Each partial $500 counts as a full unit.
Questions people ask about it.
How much is the Connecticut conveyance tax?
For a single-family home or condo, the state portion is 0.75% on the first $800,000 of the sale price, 1.25% on the portion between $800,000 and $2.5 million, and 2.25% above that. Every Connecticut town adds a municipal conveyance tax on top, usually 0.25%, though seventeen towns charge 0.50% and Stamford charges 0.35%, rising to 0.50% at $1,000,000 or more. The seller pays it at closing. For most residential sales the two together come to roughly 1% of the price.
Who pays the conveyance tax, the buyer or the seller?
The seller. In Connecticut the tax is owed by the party making the conveyance, and it is settled at the closing out of the sale proceeds rather than paid separately. Massachusetts works the same way: the deeds excise is the seller’s.
How much is the Massachusetts deeds excise?
$2.28 for each $500 of consideration or fraction of it, which works out to $4.56 per $1,000. The fifteen Barnstable County towns pay $3.24 per $500 instead, a surcharge that funds the Cape Cod and Islands Water Protection Fund. Because the rate applies to each $500 or fraction, a $250,001 sale owes the same excise as a $250,500 one.
Is there conveyance tax on a refinance?
No. The tax is triggered by a transfer of ownership. A refinance replaces your mortgage but does not transfer the property, so no conveyance tax is due and no deed is recorded.
Are there exemptions?
The calculator includes the price thresholds: Connecticut tax starts at $2,000 and Massachusetts tax starts above $100. It does not decide whether another exemption applies to your transfer. Call us with the details so we can review it.