DC Transfer Tax: What Sellers Pay in 2026 (and the $400,000 Cliff)

The DC transfer tax is 1.1% of the sale price on residential transfers under $400,000 and 1.45% on the whole amount at $400,000 or more. In the District the seller owes it by statute. On a $700,000 sale that’s $10,150, due the day your deed gets recorded.

I’ve spent a lot of the last year pulling apart seller closing statements market by market, and Washington DC is the one that surprises people most. Not because the rate is outrageous. Because of how it’s built. There’s a threshold that punishes you for pricing a hair too high, a buyer program that can quietly double your bill, and a second tax with almost the same name that everyone confuses with the first one.

So let’s go through what you’ll actually sign for, in order, with real numbers off the current District median.

How the DC transfer tax works in 2026 (and who legally owes it)

Two rates. That’s the whole structure.

• Under $400,000: 1.1% of the consideration or fair market value
• $400,000 and above: 1.45%, applied to the entire amount, not just the part over the line

Those come straight off the DC Office of the Chief Financial Officer’s published rate schedule. The 1.45% is really 1.1% plus a 0.35% surtax that kicks in at the $400,000 mark, which is why the arithmetic looks a little odd at first.

Here’s the part I’d underline if you’re selling without an agent. DC Code § 47-903 says “the transferor in a transfer shall have responsibility for payment of the taxes.” Transferor means you, the seller. This isn’t a local custom you can shrug off. It’s written into the code, and if you don’t pay it the buyer becomes jointly liable, which is exactly the kind of thing that blows up a settlement table at 4pm on a Friday.

You can still negotiate it. Plenty of DC contracts move some or all of the deed taxes around. But the default position, and the one every title company in the District will assume unless your contract says otherwise, is that the seller writes that check.

The $400,000 cliff that costs sellers $2,822

This is my favorite piece of DC tax trivia, and it’s genuinely useful if you’re pricing a condo.

The 1.45% rate isn’t marginal. It doesn’t apply only to the dollars above $400,000. It applies to the whole sale price the moment you touch $400,000. Run it both ways:

One thousand dollars more on the contract price. Two thousand eight hundred and twenty-two dollars more in deed taxes across the table. Your own share of that DC transfer tax jump is $1,411, so accepting $400,000 instead of $399,000 leaves you $411 poorer.

Practically speaking: if you’re a DC condo seller sitting on offers in the high $390s, a $399,000 contract is worth more to you than a $402,000 one after tax. And a savvy buyer’s agent knows it, which gives you a real negotiating chip. I’ve watched sellers give away thousands because nobody at the table did that subtraction.

DC transfer tax vs. recordation tax: who pays what

These two get mixed up constantly, and I don’t blame anyone. They’re the same rates, on the same transaction, recorded on the same form.

The buyer’s side has a break you don’t get. Under the first-time DC homebuyer recordation tax reduction, a qualifying buyer pays 0.725% instead of 1.45%, with a FY2026 sales price ceiling of $777,000. There’s no equivalent relief on the seller side. Your 1.45% is your 1.45%.

Both taxes get reported on the same document, Form FP-7/C, which the Recorder of Deeds requires with every deed. Buyer and seller both sign it. Recording the deed itself runs $31.50 on top.

What you actually pay on a $700,000 DC sale

The median home in Washington DC sold for about $700,000 in July 2026 according to Redfin’s District data, with homes averaging roughly 49 days on market. Across the wider metro, Bright MLS put the June 2026 median at $675,000, up 3.8% year over year, with active inventory up 9%.

So here’s a realistic District seller’s closing sheet at $700,000:

Look at the shape of that. The DC transfer tax is a real cost, and there’s nothing you can do about it. The commission line above it is twice as big and completely negotiable.

The DC Tax Abatement credit that can double your tax bill

This one catches sellers flat. If your buyer qualifies for the DC Tax Abatement Program, which currently applies to purchases at or under $576,000 with household income limits starting around $89,760 for a single buyer, two things happen at settlement. The buyer is exempt from recordation tax. And the seller is customarily asked to credit the buyer an amount equal to the transfer tax.

Read that again. You pay your own transfer tax, then you hand over a credit of the same size. On a $550,000 sale that’s $7,975 in tax plus a $7,975 credit, so $15,950 out of your proceeds instead of $7,975. Federal Title describes it as a 2.9% swing at settlement in the buyer’s favor, and that’s exactly right.

It’s not automatic and it’s not law. It’s a contract term. But it shows up in DC offers under $576,000 all the time, and if you’re selling on your own and you don’t recognize the clause, you’ll sign it without pricing it.

Three DC rules that catch for-sale-by-owner sellers off guard

The disclosure statement has a five-day trapdoor. Under DC Code Title 42, Chapter 13, a seller of residential property with four or fewer units has to deliver a signed disclosure statement before or at the time the buyer signs the purchase agreement. Deliver it late and the buyer can walk within five calendar days and take their deposit with them. Never having lived in the house doesn’t excuse you.

TOPA still applies even after the 2018 fix. The District’s Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act used to give any tenant a right of first refusal, which made selling a rented rowhouse genuinely painful. The TOPA Single-Family Home Exemption Amendment Act took effect July 3, 2018 and exempted single-family accommodations. But you still owe your tenant notice within three calendar days of receiving an offer of sale, and elderly or disabled tenants who signed a lease by March 31, 2018 and took occupancy by April 15, 2018 kept their full TOPA rights. If you have a tenant, get this checked before you accept anything.

You don’t need a lawyer, but you do need a settlement company. The District isn’t an attorney-closing jurisdiction. Title and escrow companies run DC settlements, calculate the deed taxes, and file the FP-7/C. Budget for one, ask for a preliminary settlement statement early, and have them confirm your DC transfer tax figure in writing before you’re sitting at the table.

The line item that dwarfs the DC transfer tax

Sellers spend hours trying to shave the tax. It doesn’t move. Commission does.

Clever’s 2026 survey of 533 agents, reported by Yahoo Finance, put the national average total commission at 5.70%, split roughly 2.88% to the listing side and 2.82% to the buyer’s side. That’s a five-year high. On the District’s $700,000 median, the listing half alone is $20,160.

A flat fee MLS listing gets your home onto Bright MLS, where every DC agent and every syndication feed pulls from, for $95. You keep control of pricing, showings, and negotiation. You still decide separately what, if anything, to offer a buyer’s agent.

That’s not a rounding difference. $20,065 is roughly two years of DC property tax on a median home, and it’s the single biggest number on your closing statement that you actually control.

If you’re selling in the District, start at our flat fee MLS Washington DC page for what’s included and how listings go live. Neighborhood specifics live on the Capitol Hill and Georgetown pages. If you’re new to selling without an agent, the for sale by owner guide walks through the whole sequence, and what a flat fee MLS listing actually is covers the mechanics.

Selling across a District line? The math changes fast. We’ve broken down for sale by owner in Maryland and selling by owner in Virginia, and the general seller closing costs breakdown covers what’s common to all three.

DC transfer tax questions I get most

Who pays the DC transfer tax, the buyer or the seller?
The seller. DC Code § 47-903 puts responsibility for payment on the transferor, and if the seller doesn’t pay, the buyer becomes jointly and severally liable. Market custom follows the statute: seller pays the 1.1% or 1.45% transfer tax, buyer pays the matching recordation tax. It’s negotiable by contract, but the default is the seller’s cost.

What is the DC transfer tax rate in 2026?
It’s 1.1% of the sale price for residential transfers under $400,000, and 1.45% for transfers of $400,000 or more. The higher rate applies to the entire sale price, not just the amount above $400,000. There’s no separate rate band above that, so a $600,000 sale and a $3 million residential sale are both taxed at 1.45%.

Is there a DC transfer tax exemption for sellers?
Not a general one. DC’s tax breaks on deed taxes are aimed at buyers: the first-time homebuyer recordation reduction to 0.725% and the DC Tax Abatement Program. Sellers get no rate discount. Worse, when a buyer uses the Tax Abatement Program, the seller is typically asked to credit the buyer an amount equal to the transfer tax on top of paying it.

Do I have to pay DC transfer tax if I sell my house myself?
Yes. The tax is triggered by transferring title, not by using an agent. Selling for sale by owner in DC saves you commission, not deed taxes. Your settlement company will still calculate the transfer tax, collect it at closing, and file Form FP-7/C with the Recorder of Deeds along with the $31.50 recording fee.

Can I sell my DC house if a tenant is living in it?
Usually yes, and more easily than before 2018. Single-family accommodations are exempt from TOPA’s right of first refusal, but you still have to give the tenant notice within three calendar days of receiving an offer of sale. Elderly and disabled tenants who signed a lease by March 31, 2018 and took occupancy by April 15, 2018 kept full TOPA rights, so verify your tenant’s status first.

Do I need a real estate attorney to sell a home in Washington DC?
No. DC closings are handled by title and settlement companies, not attorneys. You’ll want a settlement company to run the escrow, calculate the DC transfer tax and recordation tax, prepare the deed, and file the FP-7/C. Many DC sellers hire an attorney anyway for contract review, but it isn’t required.

The DC transfer tax is fixed. The commission isn’t. That’s the whole decision.