Florida Deeds and Transfer Taxes

There have been several inquiries regarding the transfer of real estate in the State of Florida into the name of a Limited Liability Company. Many Florida property owners have voiced a concern as to the amount of tax they would have to pay when transferring a Florida property to their LLC.

Responding to this questions, the owners of One Good Deed, a deed preparation company, found an interesting case which should clarify this question. On May 19, 2005, the Florida State Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision. They decided that "a transfer from or to a party or parties, to or from a wholly owned transferee company, absent any exchange of value, is not subject to the Florida documentary stamp tax on deeds." Now that sounds like legalese!

What this means is you can now (as of May 2005) transfer property from an owner to a single member LLC (or from a husband and wife to an LLC in which the husband and wife each own one-half of the membership interests) with no transfer tax. The exemption number for use on such a deed complies with Floria Statutes section 201.02.

For those who would like a reference to this court case, it is cited as Crescent Miami Center, LLC vs. Florida Department of Revenue, 903 So. 2d 913 (Fla. 2005).

Hope this simplifies things for you Florida property owners!