Washington State Excise Tax

[Jake]

Client sold a house in the State of Washington last year. He was charged an excise tax (over$10,000) My research seems to indicate that it is not deductible as property tax on the Schedule A. But I want to make sure.

Thanks for any help.

[David1980]

The Washington state excise tax is a transfer tax and not a property tax so it's not deductible. See pages 149-150 of Publication 17 for "taxes you cannot deduct" which lists transfer taxes.

You can add them to the basis as a selling expense, but if it's a personal home that probably doesn't matter anyway.