Chicago Transfer Tax

The City of Chicago is trying to expand the scope of its real estate transfer tax to to be paid even when the buyer forfeits the down payment: City transfer tax may expand to cover incomplete real estate deals. I assume the idea is that the seller got some cash out of the deal and the city wants its piece of it.

This expansion is on top of the increase in the transfer tax from $7.50 to $10.50 for every $1000 of consideration starting on April 1

Thanks to David Stejkowski of the The Dirt Lawyer's Blog for pointing this out: Chicago's transfer tax: good grief - what next?

Toronto's Land Transfer Tax

From Bruce McKenna at the Canadian Commercial Real Estate Law Blog, is this piece on the increase Toronto's Land Transfer Tax. Here is a copy of the Municipal Land Transfer Tax By-law from Toronto.ca.

I spend a fair amount time structuring transactions to avoid triggering the payment of transfer tax. Massachusetts has proposed closing some of those loopholes, but not taken any action. Maryland has a new law effective later this spring that extends the reach of that state's transfer tax.