What are the transfer tax rates in Berks County, Pennsylvania?

There is a Pennsylvania State Tax on real estate transfers equal to 1% of the value of the property or interest being conveyed. In Berks County, each municipality has also enacted a transfer tax, and the rate in all municipalities in Berks County, Pennsylvania is 1% of the value of the property or the interest being conveyed, except in the City of Reading. In the City of Reading, the municipal transfer tax rate is 4% of the value of the property or interest being conveyed. Therefore, in Berks County, Pennsylvania, the combined real estate transfer tax rate is 2% of the value of the property conveyed, except within the city limits of the City of Reading. In the City of Reading, the combined real estate transfer tax rate is 5%. Note that the value of the property or interest being conveyed is presumptively the purchase price, but this is not always true. Pennsylvania has adopted complex rules which address exempt conveyances of real estate, meaning transfers for which no transfer tax ...  more