We all face the inevitability of death and taxes. While a real estate career won’t expose you to the former, tax calculation is a necessary evil of property sales. The part of the HUD 1 settlement sheet that trips up many professionals is the section on property transfer taxes, lines 1203-1205.
Even in the easiest of cases, property transfer taxes can be daunting. A dizzying array of tiers and rates and caps and percentages often end up confusing even experienced real estate agents. To make matters worse you have both state taxes and city/county taxes. Trying to find the right numbers on the HUD-1 settlement statement and do the calculations by hand is a nightmare.
It gets even worse if you practice in certain geographical areas. Some states have as many as six different tax tables depending on factors such as the type of property, the local tax rate and the length of the mortgage. Get it wrong and you will have city, county and state tax agencies knocking at your door taking a very close look at all of your financial records.
There is good news, though. Computers are quite good with numbers. Tax calculations that would cause an experienced accountant to need to go lie down won’t phase real estate software. Easysoft Legal Software’s Easy HUD program contains over 40 built-in tax tables. Simply plug in the jurisdiction and the software calculates the taxes automatically. No headaches, no errors, and no angry tax agencies.
If you live in one of the few jurisdictions not covered by the Easy HUD tax tables then you have two choices. One is to use the manual setting and enter your city/county and state tax rates yourself. The software handles the calculations for you. However a better option is to contact us and we will add your jurisdiction to Easy HUD. That way you never have to worry about entering the information again, and other professionals in your area will appreciate the update.
Stop wrestling with confusing tax codes and complicated calculations. Simply enter the numbers and let Easy HUD do the work for you. Download a demo of Easy HUD or any of our law practice management software to discover all the tools Easysoft Legal Software places at your disposal.
