Maine Real Estate Transfer Tax Calculator

Maine's Real Property Transfer Tax under 36 M.R.S. Section 4641 is unusual in how explicitly it addresses payment: the statute itself splits the $2.20 per $500 rate equally between buyer and seller, for a combined $4.40 per $1,000, or 0.44%, of the sale price, with each party statutorily responsible for half. That is a firmer rule than most states, where payer allocation is left entirely to the purchase contract.

In practice this means a $380,000 Maine sale generates $1,672 in total tax, split into two $836 halves rather than one combined bill assigned to a single party. Maine's flat 0.44% rate sits above flat-rate states like Alabama or Georgia at 0.1% but below bracketed high-end states like Connecticut or New Jersey once their upper tiers are reached, placing Maine in the middle of the national range.

Unlike New Hampshire's similarly split 1.5% combined rate just across the border, Maine's statutory split produces a materially smaller total bill, so a buyer relocating between the two states should not assume the "split tax" structure implies a similar dollar amount.

The calculation is a flat-rate multiplication against the full sale price: Tax Due = Sale Price x 0.0044, derived from the combined $4.40-per-$1,000 statutory rate under 36 M.R.S. 4641 (the sum of the buyer's and seller's separate $2.20-per-$500 obligations). The engine applies this rate using arbitrary-precision decimal arithmetic so the result matches the Registry of Deeds' stamp calculation exactly.

Because Maine's combined rate does not vary with transaction size, the "effective rate" output will always read 0.440% for any Maine transaction under this model, and there is no separate mansion tax or luxury surcharge layered on top in Maine's transfer tax statute, so that output remains $0.00 across all price points this calculator supports. This calculator presents the total combined tax due on the transaction as a single figure; readers who need each party's individual share should divide the result in half, since the buyer and seller each owe exactly $2.20 per $500 (0.22%) of their own.

Baseline: $380,000 sale price. Applying the combined 0.44% rate: $380,000 x 0.0044 = $1,672.00. Split evenly, the buyer's share is $836.00 (at 0.22%) and the seller's share is $836.00 (at 0.22%). Net proceeds to the seller after their half of the transfer tax come to $379,164.

Higher-value sale: $1,500,000. Applying the same flat combined rate: $1,500,000 x 0.0044 = $6,600.00. Split evenly, each party owes $3,300.00. As expected for a proportional tax, the total scales in exact proportion to sale price: $6,600 / $1,672 approximately equals $1,500,000 / $380,000, both approximately 3.947.

Zero-price check. At a sale price of $0, the calculated tax due is $0.00, confirming there is no fixed minimum transfer tax baked into this calculator's Maine model.

• Individual buyer/seller allocation: This calculator reports the total combined transfer tax; it does not separately break out each party's $2.20-per-$500 statutory half, though that figure is simply the total divided by two.
• Registry of Deeds recording fees: Separate from the transfer tax itself, Maine county Registries of Deeds charge their own flat recording fees to file the deed and any related mortgage discharge or assignment.
• Statutory exemptions: Maine law exempts certain transfers, including many transfers between spouses, transfers to a revocable trust for estate planning, and transfers for nominal consideration, from all or part of the transfer tax; these are not captured by a simple sale-price calculation.
• Controlling interest transfers: Maine's transfer tax framework can extend to transfers of a controlling interest in an entity that owns real property, a more complex scenario this calculator's simple sale-price model does not address.
• Maine Real Estate Withholding: Non-resident sellers may be subject to a separate Maine income tax withholding requirement on the sale, which is unrelated to the transfer tax computed here.

• Assuming the whole tax falls on the seller. Unlike many states, Maine's transfer tax is split equally by statute between buyer and seller; assuming the seller owes the full combined amount overstates their individual liability by half.
• Confusing the combined rate with the per-party rate. The 0.44% figure this calculator reports is the sum of both parties' obligations; each party individually owes 0.22%, not 0.44%.
• Overlooking Maine Real Estate Withholding for non-resident sellers. This is a separate income tax mechanism, distinct from the transfer tax, and can catch out-of-state sellers off guard if not planned for ahead of closing.
• Forgetting Registry of Deeds recording fees. These are billed alongside the transfer tax at closing but are calculated under a completely separate, flat fee schedule.
• Applying a bracket mentality from another state. Maine's rate is flat and proportional across the entire sale price, unlike Hawaii's marginal bracket system, so there is no need to track different rates at different price tiers.

• Maine Revenue Services, Real Property Transfer Tax guidance and 36 M.R.S. 4641
• See engine/tables/2026/state-real-estate-transfer-tax.json for the verified combined rate and citation used in this calculator