PT-61 Transfer Tax Form: Filing, Exemptions, and Calculation

The PT-61 transfer tax form is Georgia’s real estate transfer tax declaration, and it must be electronically filed through the Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority (GSCCCA) portal before the Clerk of Superior Court will record any deed that passes title. The form travels with the deed to closing, the clerk collects the transfer tax at recording, and the tax runs at roughly $1 per $1,000 of the sale price. As of January 1, 2025, e-filing is mandatory and the PT-61 must accompany every deed filing that transfers ownership.¹

When a PT-61 Is Required

Any deed or instrument that transfers an ownership interest in Georgia real property needs a PT-61. Under O.C.G.A. § 48-6-4, the clerk cannot record a covered deed until the tax has been paid and the actual consideration disclosed on the state-prescribed form.² This holds whether money changes hands or not. A gift deed owes no tax but still requires a PT-61 with the correct exemption code.

Several documents fall outside the requirement entirely: security deeds and other instruments given to secure a debt, releases of a security interest (including quitclaims used solely to release a lien), leases of land or timber, and affidavits filed in aid of title.³ Watch one trap here. A quitclaim deed used for any purpose other than releasing a security interest does require a PT-61, even if the transfer itself is tax-exempt.

How the Transfer Tax Is Calculated

The rate is $1.00 for the first $1,000 (or fraction of $1,000) of consideration and $0.10 for each additional $100 (or fraction of $100).⁴ On a $300,000 sale, that works out to $300. The tax only kicks in when consideration exceeds $100.

The important wrinkle: existing liens or encumbrances that were in place before the sale and are not removed by the sale come out of the taxable amount.⁴ If a buyer assumes a $150,000 mortgage on a property selling for $300,000, the tax applies only to the $150,000 balance. That can cut the bill in half on assumption deals.

For transfers that are not straight sales, the tax basis is the actual consideration, or the fair market value of the property if the actual consideration is not readily determinable.⁵ Most non-sale transfers qualify for an exemption anyway, so the tax due is often zero.

Who Pays

Georgia custom puts the transfer tax on the seller, and closing statements typically reflect that. The statute doesn’t lock it in, though. Buyers and sellers can negotiate who pays as part of the purchase contract, and the closing attorney will allocate the charge accordingly.

Exemptions From the Tax

A PT-61 is still required for exempt transfers, but no tax is owed. O.C.G.A. § 48-6-2 lists the categories, and the ones that come up most often are:

Deeds of gift, regardless of the property’s value.
Transfers between spouses in connection with a divorce.
Transfers between an individual and an entity (corporation, LLC, partnership) where the individual holds a majority ownership interest, in either direction.
Deeds involving the United States, Georgia, their agencies, political subdivisions, public authorities, or nonprofit public corporations.
Deeds of assent or distribution by executors, administrators, guardians, trustees, or custodians, where no valuable consideration is involved.
Foreclosure deeds from the debtor to the first buyer at sale, and deeds in lieu of foreclosure when the underlying purchase money security deed has been recorded for at least 12 months.
Partition deeds among joint tenants or tenants in common, where the only consideration is the division itself.
Court orders awarding real property as year’s support under Georgia probate law.

To claim an exemption, you still have to disclose the total consideration on the form.⁶ The GSCCCA portal offers a drop-down of exemption codes matched to each statutory category. The wrong code, or a blank consideration field, will draw a rejection from the clerk’s office. Match the code carefully to your transaction type.

What to Gather Before You File

Assemble everything before you log in. The system won’t let you advance through sections that are incomplete, and once you submit, you cannot edit anything. Any correction means restarting the form.⁷

Full legal name and mailing address for each seller, and whether the seller is an individual or a business.
The same details for each buyer.
The county, physical address, map and parcel numbers, and legal description of the property. Map and parcel numbers appear on prior tax bills or your county tax assessor’s online database.
The actual sale price (or fair market value for non-sale transfers), any exemption code, and the amount of existing liens not removed by the sale.

The sale price entered on the PT-61 has to match what the deed states. Mismatches cause delays or rejection. The GSCCCA system validates certain fields in real time and will flag some errors before you submit.⁷

How to File the PT-61

The form only exists online. There is no paper PT-61 you can download, fill out by hand, and hand to the clerk. The GSCCCA e-filing system is free and does not require an account.⁸

You work through the sections in order: seller, buyer, property, financial details and exemption code. Each section has to be complete before the next opens. A preview screen shows everything before submission; you check an acceptance box and submit. Once submitted, the entries are locked.⁷

The system then generates a PDF of your completed PT-61. Print it and bring it to the Clerk of Superior Court with the deed for recording.⁹ You pay the transfer tax directly to the clerk at recording. Since January 1, 2025, e-filing has been mandatory for every deed that passes title.¹

What Happens After the Clerk Records the Deed

Once the clerk accepts the deed and collects the tax, a certification is attached to the deed confirming payment.¹ By the fifteenth day of the following month, the clerk forwards a copy of the PT-61 disclosure to the state auditor and to the county tax commissioner and board of tax assessors.² That is how local assessors learn about the ownership change and update their records for future property tax bills. If you recently bought and your next tax notice already shows your name, the PT-61 is what got you there.

Not the Same as the Intangible Recording Tax

A separate Georgia tax often gets confused with the transfer tax at closing: the intangible recording tax. That one applies to security instruments (mortgages and deeds to secure debt) securing long-term notes, not to the deed of conveyance. The rate is $1.50 per $500 of the note’s face amount, capped at $25,000 per instrument, and it must be paid within 90 days of the security instrument’s execution.¹⁰

The two taxes appear as separate line items on your closing disclosure. Transfer tax follows the deed; intangible tax follows the mortgage. A cash buyer owes only the transfer tax. A refinance without a new deed triggers only the intangible tax on the new loan. A financed purchase pulls in both, which is where the confusion usually starts.

1
Georgia Department of Revenue. Real Estate Transfer Tax
2
Justia. Georgia Code 48-6-4 – Payment of Tax
3
Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority. PT-61 E-Filing Help – Important Information for New Users
4
Justia. Georgia Code 48-6-1 – Transfer Tax Rate
5
Legal Information Institute. Georgia Comp. R. and Regs. R. 560-11-2-.16 – Real Estate Transfer Tax
6
Justia. Georgia Code 48-6-2 – Exemption of Certain Instruments, Deeds, or Writings From Real Estate Transfer Tax
7
Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority. PT-61 E-Filing Help
8
Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority. PT-61 eFiling FAQ
9
Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority. PT-61 eFiling
10
Georgia Secretary of State. Subject 560-11-8 – Intangible Recording Tax