Transfer Calculator | See How Much You’ll Pay and Receive

A South African transfer calculator breaks the cost of registering a property into five core line items: transfer duty (a SARS tax calculated on the property’s value using a sliding-scale bracket table), conveyancing attorney fees (regulated under the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014 and read with the Deeds Registries Act), bond registration attorney fees (where the buyer finances via a mortgage), deeds office registration fees, and FICA compliance costs. For the seller, the “what you’ll receive” figure is the gross sale price less the outstanding bond amount, the agent’s commission, the seller’s cancellation attorney fees, the seller’s share of rates and levies adjustment, and any credits agreed to the buyer. For the buyer, it is the bond advance plus any cash deposit, less the transfer duty and fees due at registration.

What a Transfer Calculator Computes (and Why It Matters)

A transfer calculator takes a single input — the purchase price (or fair market value, whichever is higher) — and outputs the full set of costs the parties will face on registration day. The five standard line items appear on every South African property transfer: transfer duty, conveyancing attorney fees, deeds office fees, FICA compliance, and (where applicable) bond registration attorney fees and bond registration duty. Each line item is governed by a separate statutory or regulatory regime, which is why no single tariff covers them all.

Transfer duty is the single largest component for buyers of properties above the bracket threshold (R1,210,000 at the rates effective from 1 April 2026). Conveyancing attorney fees are the largest for buyers below that threshold. Both are unavoidable, both are quoted on a binding basis by the conveyancer, and both feed the deposit-and-bond-affordability conversation on the buyer’s side of the transaction.

The two most commonly confused registrations are transfer cost (the buyer’s cost to register ownership of the property in their name) and bond registration cost (the cost to register a mortgage over the property). These are separate deeds office registrations with separate attorney fees and separate deeds office fees, even where the same firm handles both.

Transfer Duty: How It Is Calculated

Transfer duty is calculated on the higher of the purchase price or fair market value, not on the bond amount. SARS publishes a sliding-scale bracket table each year in the national budget; for transfers concluded in 2026, the rates effective from 1 April 2026 apply. The current schedule for natural persons is set out below.

Property value (R)	Rate of transfer duty
1 – 1,210,000	0%
1,210,001 – 1,663,800	3% of the value above R1,210,000
1,663,801 – 2,329,300	R13,614 + 6% of the value above R1,663,800
2,329,301 – 2,994,800	R53,544 + 8% of the value above R2,329,300
2,994,801 – 13,310,000	R106,784 + 11% of the value above R2,994,800
13,310,001 and above	R1,241,456 + 13% of the value exceeding R13,310,000

No transfer duty is payable on properties valued at or below the bottom bracket. A separate schedule applies to companies, close corporations and trusts — generally a flat rate with no exemption — so a transfer calculator that returns only the natural-person table is incomplete for non-natural buyers.

A single exemption overlaps with the duty table: property bought by a registered VAT vendor from a registered VAT vendor is zero-rated under section 9(15) of the Value-Added Tax Act 89 of 1991, which removes the duty entirely. Outside that scenario the standard bracket table applies.

Conveyancing Attorney Fees: The LPC Tariff

Conveyancing attorney fees for property transfers are not freely negotiated. They are tied to the tariff published under the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014, read with the Deeds Registries Act 47 of 1937, and are charged as a sliding-scale percentage of the purchase price on a tiered basis, plus VAT at 15%. The Legal Practice Council is the body that publishes and maintains the current tariff, and attorneys may not deviate from it below the prescribed scale.

Where the buyer finances the purchase via a mortgage, a second attorney — the bond registration attorney — is appointed by the bank to attend to the registration of the bond at the Deeds Office. This attorney is usually, but not always, the same firm as the transfer attorney; whether the bank allows the same firm to act depends on the bank’s panel arrangements. Either way, the bond registration attorney is paid separately for that registration, and that fee is also LPC-tariff regulated (on a different, typically lower, sliding scale than the transfer attorney’s fee).

The seller pays their own attorney for the cancellation of any existing bond over the property — another LPC-tariff-regulated fee, separate from the buyer’s fees. The seller does not pay the transfer attorney or the bond registration attorney.

Deeds Office and FICA Compliance Costs

Deeds office fees are charged per the fee schedule to the Deeds Registries Act, applied separately to the transfer and to any bond registration. They are modest by comparison with transfer duty and attorney fees but unavoidable, and they appear on the buyer’s statement of account as a discrete line item.

FICA compliance costs cover the conveyancer’s anti-money-laundering checks on the buyer and seller under the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001. The Financial Intelligence Centre publishes the obligations applicable to accountable institutions, which include attorneys acting in conveyancing transactions: client identification, beneficial-ownership verification, source-of-funds confirmation, record-keeping, and suspicious-transaction reporting. The cost of those checks is charged to the parties as a disbursement, not as attorney fees.

Postage and petties cover courier fees for documents, deeds office tracing fees, and minor administrative items — small but real, and bundled into the conveyancer’s disbursement schedule rather than charged separately as attorney time.

Bond Registration Costs (Buyer Side)

Where the buyer finances the purchase via a mortgage, the registration of that mortgage carries its own set of costs. Three sit alongside the buyer’s transfer costs:

• Bond registration attorney fees — LPC-tariff regulated, on a separate (typically lower) sliding scale than the transfer attorney’s fee.
• Bond registration duty — a separate SARS duty calculated on the bond amount, not on the purchase price. It is distinct from transfer duty and is paid before the bond can be registered.
• Bank-side charges — the bank’s initiation fee, the property valuation fee, and the bank’s own administrative charges. These are charged by the bank, not by the attorneys, and are recovered from the bond advance or paid separately by the borrower.

None of these costs are negotiable through the transfer attorney; the bond registration attorney is appointed by the bank, and the bank-side charges are set by the bank. They should still appear in the transfer calculator’s output, because they affect the cash the buyer must produce on registration day.

What You’ll Receive: Working Out the Net Proceeds (Seller Side)

The seller’s net proceeds are calculated as the gross sale price minus every debit charged against that price at registration. The standard formula is:

Seller’s net proceeds = gross sale price − outstanding bond amount − agent’s commission − seller’s cancellation attorney fees − seller’s share of rates and levies adjustment − any agreed credits to the buyer

Agent’s commission is typically 5–7.5% plus VAT and is negotiable with the agent, subject to the terms of the mandate. The seller’s cancellation attorney fee applies only where there is an existing bond being cancelled; it is the LPC-tariff fee for attending to that cancellation. Rates and levies are adjusted between the parties from the date of occupation (or another agreed date) and the registration date, with the seller typically receiving a credit for the period they occupied before transfer.

Capital gains tax is not deducted at registration — SARS assesses it separately after the tax year-end — but it should be provisioned. For individuals, the annual exclusion is R40,000 in the year of disposal, the inclusion rate is 40%, and the effective rate is the marginal income-tax rate applied to 40% of the net capital gain. A transfer calculator that does not surface this provision understates the seller’s real liability on the transaction.

The seller’s conveyancer prepares a statement of account reflecting all debits and credits, with the net amount being what the seller receives on the day of registration.

What You’ll Receive: Working Out the Cash Needed (Buyer Side)

The buyer’s total cash needed at registration is the deposit paid on signature of the sale agreement plus every transfer-related cost charged to the buyer. The standard formula is:

Buyer’s total cash needed = deposit + transfer duty + transfer attorney fees + bond registration attorney fees + bond registration duty + FICA and deeds office fees + VAT on attorney fees

The bond advance (what the bank pays out at registration) typically equals the purchase price less the deposit; the buyer must fund the deposit and all transfer-related costs in cash. A transfer calculator that returns only the cost side, without the cash-needed reconciliation, leaves a buyer underprepared for registration day — particularly first-time buyers who have not budgeted for VAT on attorney fees, FICA costs, and rates clearance at the same time.

Step-by-Step: Using a Transfer Calculator

1. Enter the purchase price — or the fair market value, whichever is higher. The calculator runs the higher-of test internally.
2. Confirm whether transfer duty applies. The duty is zero-rated only if both buyer and seller are registered VAT vendors; otherwise the standard bracket table applies.
3. The calculator estimates transfer duty using the current SARS bracket table effective from the most recent budget.
4. The calculator adds conveyancing attorney fees using the LPC tariff.
5. The calculator adds bond registration attorney fees (LPC tariff) — only where the buyer is registering a bond.
6. The calculator adds deeds office fees and FICA costs (small but unavoidable).
7. The calculator adds VAT on attorney fees at 15%.
8. The result is the buyer’s total upfront transfer cost; for the seller, the same calculator typically outputs net proceeds after running the seller’s debits.

Comparison Table: Cost Components

Cost component	Who pays	When due	Who calculates
Transfer duty	Buyer	Before registration (paid to SARS)	SARS / conveyancer
Transfer attorney fees	Buyer	On registration	LPC tariff (regulated)
Bond registration attorney fees	Buyer (via bond)	On registration	LPC tariff (regulated)
Bond registration duty	Buyer (via bond)	Before registration (paid to SARS)	SARS (on bond amount)
Deeds office fees (transfer)	Buyer	On registration	Deeds Registries Act schedule
Deeds office fees (bond)	Buyer (via bond)	On registration	Deeds Registries Act schedule
FICA compliance costs	Both parties	On instruction	Attorney / conveyancer
Rates and levies clearance	Seller (paid to body corporate / municipality)	On or before registration	Body corporate / municipality
Agent’s commission	Seller	On registration (from gross proceeds)	Negotiated; typically 5–7.5% + VAT
Cancellation attorney fees (seller’s existing bond)	Seller	On registration	LPC tariff
Capital gains tax	Seller (assessed separately, post-year-end)	After tax year-end	SARS

Transfer Cost Calculation in Gauteng

Property transfers in Gauteng are lodged through the centralised Deeds Office registry covering the province. There is no suburb-specific filing layer for the transfer itself — the same registry receives transfers from Johannesburg, Sandton, Randburg, Roodepoort, Pretoria, Centurion, Midrand, Bedfordview and Alberton alike. The transfer duty bracket table, the LPC conveyancing tariff and the Deeds Registries fee schedule apply uniformly to every Gauteng transaction.

The Gauteng practice differs from the coastal metros in one practical respect that online calculators do not capture: rates clearance certificates are issued separately by each metropolitan municipality, and turnaround on rates clearance is the most common source of practical delay in registration. The City of Johannesburg covers the greater Johannesburg area; the City of Tshwane covers Pretoria and Centurion; Ekurhuleni covers Alberton, Benoni, Boksburg, Germiston, Kempton Park and surrounding areas. A buyer or seller using a transfer calculator should budget seven to twenty-one working days on top of the calculation itself for rates clearance to come back.

For a binding quote, confirmation of whether VAT-vendor or first-time-buyer exemptions apply, and a conveyancing team that takes the file from sale agreement through to registration, contact Burger Huyser Attorneys’ notary and conveyancing practice on 011 201 7190 (Bedfordview — Amanda le Roux) or any of the firm’s Gauteng branches.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is transfer duty calculated on the purchase price or the bond amount?

Transfer duty is calculated on the higher of the purchase price or fair market value, not on the bond amount. SARS publishes the bracket table each year in the national budget; for transfers concluded in 2026 the rates effective from 1 April 2026 apply.

Who pays transfer costs in South Africa?

By long-standing convention, the buyer pays transfer duty, transfer attorney fees, bond registration attorney fees (if applicable), bond registration duty, and the deeds office fees; the seller pays their own cancellation attorney fees (if there is an existing bond), the agent’s commission, and the rates and levies adjustment. The allocation is negotiable in the sale agreement, but the default position is buyer-pays-transfer-costs and seller-pays-commission-and-cancellation.

How accurate are online transfer calculators?

Online calculators estimate using the public SARS bracket table and the LPC fee tariff; they are accurate for the duty and fee components but cannot account for VAT-vendor scenarios, the bond registration duty (calculated on the bond amount, not the price), rates clearance figures, or seller-side calculations like commission and CGT provision. Treat any online estimate as a planning figure, not a binding quote.

What is the “what you’ll receive” figure for the seller?

The seller’s net proceeds are the gross sale price less the outstanding bond amount, the agent’s commission, the seller’s cancellation attorney fees, the seller’s share of the rates and levies adjustment, and any agreed credits to the buyer. Capital gains tax is not deducted at registration — it is assessed by SARS after the tax year-end — but should be provisioned.

When is transfer duty paid?

Transfer duty is paid before registration. The buyer’s conveyancer pays it to SARS, the Deeds Office will not register the transfer until SARS has issued a transfer duty receipt, and the duty must therefore be cleared at least a few working days before the registration date to avoid delays.

Can transfer duty be avoided by buying through a company?

Not in the way that phrase usually implies. A company buying a property from a non-VAT vendor pays transfer duty like any other buyer; only a transaction between two registered VAT vendors is zero-rated under section 9(15) of the VAT Act. Buyers cannot structure around that exemption simply by registering a company. Speak to a tax attorney before relying on any structure.

What is the difference between transfer duty and bond registration duty?

Transfer duty is a SARS tax on the property transaction itself, calculated on the higher of the purchase price or fair market value. Bond registration duty is a separate SARS duty on the registration of the mortgage, calculated on the bond amount. Both are payable to SARS before registration, but they are charged on different bases.

A transfer calculator tells you roughly what a property transfer will cost, but the figures it produces are estimates based on the public SARS bracket table and the LPC fee tariff. For a binding quote, confirmation of whether VAT-vendor or first-time-buyer exemptions apply to your specific transaction, and a conveyancing team that takes the file from sale agreement through to registration, contact Burger Huyser Attorneys’ notary and conveyancing practice on 011 201 7190 (Bedfordview — Amanda le Roux) or any of the firm’s Gauteng branches. Initial consultations cover the calculation of your specific transfer cost, an estimate of net proceeds (if selling) or cash needed (if buying), and a timeline from instruction to registration. The firm carries a 4.8/5 average across 250+ Google reviews (Trustindex verified “Top Rated Law Firm in South Africa”) and has been recognised as Commercial Law Firm of the Year 2025 (5 Star Lawyers Awards) and Best Family Law Firm 2024 (Lawyers Monthly Legal Awards).