Is recording a deed that conveys a South Carolina easement or right of way subject to the deed recording fee?

Plain-English summary

South Carolina Revenue Ruling 06-10 says recording a deed that conveys an easement or right of way to another person is subject to the deed recording fee unless an exemption applies.

The Department treated an easement or right of way as an interest in real property. It relied on the statutory fee for recording a deed that transfers lands, improvements, tenements, or other realty and on longstanding treatment under the former documentary-stamp tax.

The amount is based on the value of the transferred easement or right of way as determined under § 12-24-30. The ruling points to RR 04-6 for the Department's broader discussion of value. RR 17-5 later incorporated this conclusion into its comprehensive deed-recording-fee guidance.

What this means for you

Property owners granting an easement

Do not assume that transferring less than full ownership avoids the fee. A deed transferring an easement or right of way is still a deed conveying realty under the ruling.

Closing professionals

Determine the value of the interest actually conveyed and review the statutory exemptions before calculating the fee.

Utilities and developers

Recorded access, utility, or similar rights may trigger the fee even though the grantor retains the underlying land.

Common questions

Q: Is the fee based on the full parcel value?
A: The ruling says it is based on the value of the easement or right of way under § 12-24-30.

Q: Can an exemption still apply?
A: Yes. The conclusion expressly applies unless the transfer is otherwise exempt under the law.

Q: Is this conclusion reflected in later Department guidance?
A: Yes. RR 17-5 cites RR 06-10 in its comprehensive deed-recording-fee discussion.

Citations and references

• S.C. Code Ann. § 12-24-10 — imposition of the deed recording fee
• S.C. Code Ann. § 12-24-30 — value of the transferred realty
• S.C. Code Ann. § 12-24-40 — deed-recording-fee exemptions
• Act 323 of 2006 — decedent-estate deed provision discussed in the ruling
• SC Revenue Ruling #17-5 — later comprehensive deed-recording-fee guide

Source

• Landing page: SC Advisory Opinion Search
• Original PDF: RR06-10.pdf
• Later comprehensive guidance: RR17-5.pdf

Original ruling text

State of South Carolina
Department of Revenue
301 Gervais Street, P. O. Box 125, Columbia, South Carolina 29214
Website Address: http://www.sctax.org

SC REVENUE RULING #06-10

SUBJECT:

Easements and Right of Ways
(Deed Recording Fee)

EFFECTIVE DATE:

Applies to all periods open under the statute.

SUPERSEDES:

All previous documents and any oral directives in conflict
herewith.

REFERENCES:

S. C. Code Ann. Section 12-24-10 (2000)
Act No. 323 of 2006 (Effective June 2, 2006)
S. C. Code Ann. Section 12-24-30 (2000)
S. C. Code Ann. Section 12-24-40 (2000; Supp. 2005)

AUTHORITY:

S. C. Code Ann. Section 12-4-320 (2000)
S. C. Code Ann. Section 1-23-10(4) (Supp. 2005)
SC Revenue Procedure #05-2

SCOPE:

The purpose of a Revenue Ruling is to provide guidance to
the public and to Department personnel. It is an advisory
opinion issued to apply principles of tax law to a set of
facts or general category of taxpayers. It is the
Department’s position until superseded or modified by a
change in statute, regulation, court decision, or another
Departmental advisory opinion.

Question:
Is the recording of a deed that conveys an easement or a right of way to another person
subject to the deed recording fee?
Conclusion:
The recording of a deed that conveys an easement or a right of way to another person is
subject to the deed recording fee, unless otherwise exempt under the law, based on the
value of the easement or right of way as determined by Code Section 12-24-30.
Note: In addition to the discussion portion of this document, see Questions #1 through #4
of SC Revenue Ruling #04-6 for a discussion of “value” as determined by Code Section
12-24-30.

1

Discussion:
Code Section 12-24-10 imposes the deed recording fee and reads:
(A) In addition to all other recording fees, a recording fee will be imposed
for the privilege of recording a deed in which any lands and all
improvements on the land, tenements, or other realty is transferred to
another person. The fee is one dollar and eighty-five cents for each five
hundred dollars, or fractional part of five hundred dollars, of the realty's
value as determined by Section 12-24-30.
(B) An instrument or deed of distribution assigning, transferring, or
releasing real property to the distributee of a decedent's estate pursuant to
Section 62-3-907 as evidence of the distributee's title to the property is not
a deed subject to this chapter 1 .
Code Section 12-24-30 defines the term “value” as used in the imposition and reads:
(A) For purposes of this chapter, the term “value” means the consideration
paid or to be paid in money or money’s worth for the realty including
other realty, personal property, stocks, bonds, partnership interest, and
other intangible property, the forgiveness or cancellation of a debt, the
assumption of a debt, and the surrendering of a right. The fair market
value of the consideration must be used in calculating the consideration
paid in money’s worth. Taxpayers may elect to use the fair market value
of the realty being transferred in determining fair market value of the
consideration under the provisions of this section. However, in the case of
realty transferred between a corporation, a partnership, or other entity and
its stockholder, partner, or owner, and in the case of realty transferred to a
trust or as a distribution to a trust beneficiary, “value” means the realty’s
fair market value.
(B) A deduction from value is allowed for the amount of any lien or
encumbrance existing on the land, tenement, or realty before the transfer
and remaining on the land, tenement, or realty after the transfer.
(C) Taxpayers may elect to use the fair market value as determined for
property tax purposes in determining fair market value under the
provisions of this section.

1

The provisions of subsection (B) became effective June 2, 2006. See Act No. 323 of 2006

2

Code Section 12-24-40 provides several exemptions from the fee 2 .
Based on the above, the deed recording fee is imposed for the privilege of recording a
deed based on the transaction of transferring realty from one person to another person,
unless the deed is exempt under the provisions of Code Section 12-24-40. For a more
detailed discussion of the deed recording fee, see SC Revenue Ruling #04-6.
It must now be determined if a deed that conveys an easement or right of way is a deed
that conveys realty. In other words, is an easement or right of way real property?
In South Carolina Pipeline Corporation v. Lone Star Steel Company, 345 S.C. 151, 345
S.E. 2d 654 (2001), the South Carolina Supreme Court stated:
We recently stated that “[a]n easement gives no title to land on which [the]
servitude is imposed, but it is a property or an interest in land.” Main v.
Thomason, 342 S.C. 79, 92, 535 S.E.2d 918, 924 (2000). American
Jurisprudence describes an easement as “neither an estate in land nor the
‘land’ itself. It is, however, property or an interest in land. Thus, an
easement is real property.” 25 AM. JUR. 2D Easements and Licenses § 2
(1996). We hold that this easement is real property within the ambit of
§15-3-640, and that it is capable of being improved.
Furthermore, under the similar, now-repealed documentary stamp tax on deeds, the State
Attorney General stated in 1966-67 Opinions of the Attorney General, No. 2310, p. 131:
You request the opinion of this office as to whether an instrument that
conveys a right of way to a power company is the subject of the
documentary tax. The tax is imposed is provided in Section 65-689 and is
imposed upon:
“A deed, instrument or writing whereby any lands, tenements or
other realty sold shall be granted, assigned, transferred or otherwise
conveyed to or vested in the purchaser or any other person * * *.”
The instrument referred to in your letter would, as a general rule, be within
the provisions of the statute and therefore subject to taxation thereunder.
Your attention is however called to Section 23, Part 2 of House Bill No.
1547, Appropriations Bill of 1967-68, wherein such an instrument is
exempt from the tax when it conveys the easement to the State of South
Carolina or its political subdivisions for highway or other public purposes.

2

For example, deeds that convey an easement or right of way “in which the value of the realty, as defined
in Code Section 12-24-30, is equal to or less than one hundred dollars” are exempt from the deed recording
fee under Code Section 12-24-40(1) (Emphasis added.).

3

In addition, it has been the longstanding position of the Department of Revenue that an
easement or right of way is realty for purposes of the deed recording fee as well as for
purposes of the former documentary stamp tax on deeds under Code Section 65-689 and
later Code Section 12-21-380.
Administrative interpretations of statutes by the agency charged with their administration
and not expressly changed by the legislative body are entitled to great weight. Marchant
v. Hamilton, 279 S.C. 497, 309 S.E.2d 781(1983). When as in this case, the construction
or administrative interpretation of a statute has been applied for a number of years and
has not been changed by the legislature, there is created a strong presumption that such
interpretation or construction is correct. Ryder Truck Lines, Inc. v. South Carolina Tax
Commission, 248 S.C. 148, 149 S.E.2d 435 (1966); Etiwan Fertilizer Company v. South
Carolina Tax Commission, 217 S.C. 354, 60 S.E.2d 682 (1950).
Based on the above, the recording of a deed that conveys an easement or a right of way to
another person is subject to the deed recording fee, unless otherwise exempt under the
law, based on the value of the easement or right of way as determined by Code Section
12-24-30.
SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

s/Ray N. Stevens
Ray N. Stevens, Director
November 16
, 2006
Columbia, South Carolina

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