Florida documentary stamp tax and intangible tax on commercial mortgages

Documentary stamp tax on the note

Under Fla. Stat. §201.08, every promissory note or written obligation to pay money owes documentary stamp tax at $0.35 per $100 (or fraction thereof) of the amount. On a commercial mortgage loan, that means the tax base is the face amount of the note — a $5 million note owes $17,500; a $20 million note owes $70,000.

Here is the misconception worth correcting directly: many borrowers have heard that Florida documentary stamp tax is capped at $2,450. That cap is real, but it applies exclusively to notes that are not secured by Florida real property — unsecured corporate notes, for instance. A note secured by a mortgage, which is what every commercial real estate loan is, does not benefit from the cap. Tax accrues on the full note amount no matter how large the loan.

Nonrecurring intangible tax on the mortgage

A second, separate tax applies to the mortgage itself under Fla. Stat. §199.133: 0.2% of the amount secured, assessed once at recording rather than annually — which is what "nonrecurring" refers to. It is not a substitute for documentary stamp tax; both apply to the same transaction on their own respective bases (the note for doc stamps, the mortgage for intangible tax), and in practice they are nearly always the same dollar figure since the note amount and the secured mortgage amount typically match.

Combined, the two taxes run about 0.55% of the loan amount — $0.35 doc stamps plus $0.20 intangible tax per $100, i.e. $0.55 per $100. On a $5 million commercial mortgage that's $17,500 plus $10,000, or $27,500 total.

No CEMA equivalent — refinances pay in full every time

New York borrowers can reduce recording tax on a refinance using a CEMA assignment structure that taxes only the new money above a surviving balance. Florida has no comparable mechanism. Every mortgage recorded in Florida — whether it's a first-time loan or the fifth refinance on the same property — pays both documentary stamp tax and intangible tax on the full new loan amount. There is no assignment structure, no partial-tax gap treatment, and no way to carry forward tax already paid on a prior mortgage.

That changes the refinance math for Florida owners in a way it doesn't for New York owners: a borrower who expects to refinance again in a few years should weigh the recurring 0.55% tax hit each time against the rate or term improvement being chased. The loan comparison calculator runs exactly that tradeoff. For the New York contrast, see how refinance transactions are structured and how CEMA works on a commercial refinance.

Deed doc stamps: a separate, seller-side tax

Documentary stamp tax also applies to deeds transferring Florida real property — a different tax, on a different document, at a different rate: $0.70 per $100 of the purchase price in most counties. Miami-Dade County is the notable exception: its rate is generally $0.60 per $100 on most property, plus a $0.45 per $100 surtax that applies to transfers other than single-family residences — which effectively brings most commercial transfers back to a comparable combined rate, though the mechanics differ from the rest of the state.

Deed doc stamps are customarily a seller-side cost, negotiated in the purchase contract, and are triggered by the transfer of the property regardless of how it's financed. They're separate from and additional to the mortgage doc stamps and intangible tax covered above, which are triggered by the financing, not the sale.

Multistate mortgages: apportioning Florida's share

When a single mortgage secures property in Florida and one or more other states — common in portfolio and cross-collateralized financings — Florida generally taxes only the portion of the debt apportioned to Florida collateral, rather than the full loan amount. Apportionment calculations are fact-specific and worth confirming with Florida tax counsel before closing; this is a brief flag that the scenario exists, not a substitute for that analysis.