Tennessee Mortgage Tax Calculator
Tennessee charges 11.5¢ per $100 of indebtedness to record a deed of trust — and the first $2,000 is exempt. Enter your loan amount for the exact figure, on a purchase or a refinance.
Calculate Your Tennessee Mortgage Tax
11.5¢ per $100 of indebtedness, first $2,000 exempt, under Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-4-409(b).
Rate and exemption per Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-4-409(b) and the Tennessee Department of Revenue Realty Transfer & Recordation Tax Manual. Buying rather than refinancing? Add the transfer tax, or run a full closing cost estimate.
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What the Tennessee mortgage tax is
Tennessee charges a recordation tax on the privilege of publicly recording an instrument that evidences a debt — in a home purchase or refinance, the deed of trust. The rate is 11.5¢ on each $100 of the indebtedness, and it is levied for state purposes only. It is often called the mortgage tax or the indebtedness tax, and it sits in Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-4-409(b).
Note the word indebtedness. The tax follows the amount of the debt being secured, not the price of the house. A cash purchase records no deed of trust and therefore owes no mortgage tax at all.
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The first $2,000 is exempt
The statute does not apply the tax to the first $2,000 of the indebtedness. That exemption is easy to overlook and it is the single most common reason a quoted figure is a couple of dollars off. On a $320,000 loan the taxable base is $318,000, not $320,000 — a difference of $2.30. Small, but it is the kind of discrepancy that makes a settlement statement fail to balance.
Refinances still owe it
Because the tax attaches to recording the debt instrument rather than to transferring the property, a refinance owes mortgage tax even though no transfer tax is due. There is no new deed, so § 67-4-409(a) is not in play, but there is a new deed of trust, so § 67-4-409(b) is. Borrowers who assume a refinance is tax-free at recording are frequently surprised by this line.
If you are refinancing and you have a prior owner’s title policy, ask about the reissue rate — the mortgage tax is fixed by statute, but the title premium is often not.
Closing in Tennessee? We are a licensed Tennessee title agency — see how we handle Tennessee title insurance and closings, or read how a Tennessee mail-away or RON closing works if you are signing from another state.
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