NEW CITY OF CHICAGO RE TRANSFER TAX FINALLY APPROVED - There's Good News, and There's Bad News!
BUYER'S TAX TO REMAIN AT OLD $7.50/M RATE, BUT CHICAGO SELLERS MUST NOW PAY ADDITIONAL $3.00 PER THOUSAND OF PURCHASE PRICE!
Under the final City of Chicago Real Estate Transfer Tax plan, due to take effect on April 1, 2008, the total tax burden to sell and purchase a home anywhere in Chicago is going up to $10.50 per thousand of sales price. The increased Transfer Tax was imposed as part of a plan to bail out Mass Transit, and the Chicago Transit Authority, approved by the State of Illinois in January.
However, the responsibility for paying this recently-increased tax will now be shared, between buyer and seller.
As originally conceived, the BUYER was to pay the entire transfer tax. With new legislation enacted last Wednesday, however, by a near-unanimous vote of the Chicago City Council, the SELLER in a Real Estate Transactions will pay $3.00/M when they sell. This is IN ADDITION TO the mandated State and County Transfer Taxes of $1.50 per thousand of sales price.
In sum, when a property sells within the City of Chicago, except for certain trust, court-ordered, or in-family transfers, the BUYER will be liable for a Transfer Tax from the city calculated at $7.50 per thousand of sales price. The SELLER will pay $4.50/M total - $3.00 per M for the Chicago tax, $1.50 per thousand to Illinois and the county in which the house is located.
Chicago Home buyers and home sellers need take these new figures into account when calculating closing costs on their next real estate transaction, buy or sell.
Review more details in Gary Washburn's article in last Thursday's Chicago Tribune.
DEAN & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
