Use consideration. Divide by 100, round up, then multiply by $0.70.
Printable cheat sheet
Florida documentary stamp tax cheat sheet
Built for Florida sales associate exam prep. Use this as a quick rate reference, then practice the setup without labels.
Use only when the question clearly identifies the deed as a single-family residence transfer.
$0.60 base rate plus $0.45 surtax for multifamily, commercial, vacant land, or other non-single-family transfers.
No $2,450 cap. Calculate intangible tax separately when required.
The cap applies to the unsecured note tax, not to recorded mortgages.
Do not round intangible tax into $100 units.
The exam setup rule
- Identify the document first: deed, mortgage, lien, note, or intangible tax.
- Pick the correct rate before touching the numbers.
- For documentary stamps, divide by 100 and round up to a whole unit.
- For deed stamps, include assumed mortgage balance when the buyer assumes debt.
- For intangible tax, multiply the secured obligation by 0.002.
Four worked examples
$425,450 rounds up to 4,255 units. 4,255 x $0.70 = $2,978.50.
Vacant land is not a single-family residence transfer. 5,000 units x $1.05 = $5,250.00.
Mortgage stamps: 3,400 x $0.35 = $1,190. Intangible: $340,000 x 0.002 = $680.
Raw note tax is 10,000 x $0.35 = $3,500, so the result is capped at $2,450.
Traps to check
- Do not use the Miami-Dade single-family rate unless the question clearly says Miami-Dade single-family residence.
- Do not forget to round documentary stamp calculations up to each $100 or portion of $100 before multiplying.
- Do not apply the $2,450 unsecured-note cap to recorded mortgages or liens.
- Do not use the deed rate on a mortgage. Recorded mortgages use $0.35 per $100 or portion of $100.
- Do not round nonrecurring intangible tax into $100 units. Multiply the secured obligation by 0.002.
Sanity check
- Higher consideration or loan amount should usually mean higher tax before any unsecured-note cap.
- A price just over a $100 boundary rounds to the next taxable unit.
- If intangible tax changes because of $100-unit rounding, you used the documentary stamp rule on the wrong tax.
Practice the patternPass Florida drills doc stamps, intangible tax, and mixed closing math.
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