Documentary Transfer Tax – You Can’t Hide It After Jan 1, 2015

Anyone submitting a document for recording can no longer “hide” its associated transfer tax from the public records by use of a separately attached declaration. Presently, Section 11932 of the California Revenue and Taxation Code provides an option permitting that the amount of transfer tax due for a taxable document not be disclosed on public record but, rather, declared in a separate paper attached thereto when presented for recording. Pursuant to Assembly Bill 1888 of 2014, effective January 1, 2015, Section 11932 is amended to repeal this option, thereby requiring that all documentary transfer tax declarations thereafter must be included in taxable documents and become part of the public record. This post is for informational purposes only.