A North Carolina quitclaim deed is acknowledged before a notary, shows the name of the person who drafted it on page one, and is registered with the register of deeds in the county where the land lies for a flat $26 for the first 15 pages. The tax is the part people get backwards: the $1 per $500 excise tax is paid by the transferor, the person giving up the land, not the person receiving it, and a gift is exempt.
This is general information, not legal advice. A real estate attorney in your state can confirm how it applies to you.
If you need the basics first, read how a quitclaim deed works in general.
What does a North Carolina quitclaim deed need?
Three things come from the statutes. First, an acknowledgment: N.C.G.S. 47-17 says deeds "before registration" must be acknowledged by the grantor, or the signature proven on oath by witnesses, and a registered deed passes title without any ceremony of delivering the land. Section 47-38 gives the notary's certificate wording, which says the person "personally appeared before me this day and acknowledged the due execution of the foregoing instrument." The certificate can be used whether the person signs for themselves or for an entity.
Second, the drafter line. Section 47-17.1 says the register of deeds "shall not accept for registration" a deed executed after January 1, 1980 unless the first page shows the name of the drafter. The register does not check that the named drafter had authority. It is one line of text, and a hand-typed deed that forgets it will not be accepted.
Third, a legal description good enough to find the land. There is no state-form quitclaim in the statutes we read, so the wording of the grant is drafted by whoever you hire. Quitclaim deed vs warranty deed shows what a bare quitclaim leaves out.
If you attach a map to the deed, 47-30(m) caps it at 8.5 by 14 inches and requires it to meet the section's standards. A survey that cuts a new lot from a larger tract also comes with a surveyor's certificate on whether it creates a subdivision under local ordinance, which can mean a county approval stamp before the register will record the plat.
Do you have to record a North Carolina deed right away?
You do not have to, but you should, and the reason is in 47-18(a). A conveyance of land is not valid against lien creditors or purchasers for value "but from the time of its registration" in the county where the land lies. Priority goes by the time of registration. If the grantor gives a deed to a child and a lender records a judgment lien the next morning, the lien can come first because the deed sat in a drawer.
How much does it cost to record a quitclaim deed in North Carolina?
Section 161-10(a)(1) sets the register's fee at $26.00 for the first 15 pages plus $4.00 for each additional page or fraction, and says these fees "shall be uniform throughout the State." That means a deed costs the same to record in Wake as in a small mountain county, so you do not need a county-by-county table. A multi-instrument document, where a deed carries a second separately executed instrument, adds $10 per extra instrument.
A short deed is almost always under 15 pages, so the recording fee for a family quitclaim is $26. The tax is the number that moves.
Who pays the excise tax on a North Carolina deed?
The transferor. N.C.G.S. 105-228.30(a) taxes each instrument conveying an interest in real property at "one dollar ($1.00) on each five hundred dollars ($500.00) or fractional part thereof of the consideration or value of the interest conveyed" and says "the transferor must pay the tax to the register of deeds of the county in which the real estate is located before recording." The register splits the proceeds with the state.
"Fractional part" means the tax rounds up each $500.
| Consideration | Excise tax |
|---|---|
| $12,300 | $25 (24.6 rounds up to 25) |
| $25,000 | $50 |
| $40,000 | $80 |
The exemptions in 105-228.29 are what matter for a quitclaim between relatives. The tax does not apply to a transfer "by gift," or "if no consideration in property or money is due or paid by the transferee to the transferor," or to transfers by will, by intestacy, by operation of law, by merger or conversion, or by an instrument securing a debt.
A deed that recites "$10 and other valuable consideration" is not the same as one that says no consideration, and the exemption turns on whether anything is "due or paid." If the transfer is a true gift, say so and ask the register how that county wants the exemption shown.
What mistakes get a North Carolina deed rejected?
Two, both from the statutes above. A first page without the drafter's name will not be accepted (47-17.1). And the excise tax, or the exemption that excuses it, has to be dealt with before the register records (105-228.30(a)). Miss the notary's certificate and you do not have a deed the register can record at all (47-17).
A third trap is not a rejection but a title problem. A quitclaim passes only what the grantor owns. If the grantor owns the surface but not a severed mineral estate, or has no legal access to the road, the grantee inherits both. Our perc test in North Carolina guide covers the other surprise rural buyers in the state hit, which is whether the soil will support a septic system.
What a quitclaim deed does not do in North Carolina
It does not touch the loan. If the parcel has a mortgage or deed of trust, the lender is not a party to your deed, and a transfer to a relative may let the lender call the loan; the full explanation is at quitclaim deed and a mortgage.
It does not make a sale. If the plan is to sell the land, not move it within the family, a buyer's title company usually wants a deed with warranties, and owners of unwanted rural parcels often skip the process by choosing to sell land in North Carolina for cash and close in 7 to 21 days. For the cost picture in other states, see what a quitclaim deed costs and our forms-by-state guide.
FAQs
Who pays the excise tax on a deed in North Carolina?
The transferor, meaning the grantor (N.C.G.S. 105-228.30(a)). The rate is $1 per $500 or fractional part of the consideration or value, paid to the register of deeds before recording.
How much does the register of deeds charge to record a deed in North Carolina?
$26.00 for the first 15 pages and $4.00 for each additional page, the same in every county (N.C.G.S. 161-10(a)(1)).
Does a gift deed owe excise tax in North Carolina?
No. N.C.G.S. 105-228.29 exempts transfers "by gift" and transfers where no consideration in property or money is due or paid.
Does a North Carolina quitclaim deed need a notary or witnesses?
A notary's acknowledgment, which can take the place of proving the signature by witnesses (N.C.G.S. 47-17 and 47-38). The first page must also name the drafter (47-17.1).