ROD 7 - Exemptions (Recordation) – Washington, DC

ROD 7 - Exemptions (Recordation) is the DC Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) publication that lists the deeds and security instruments exempt from the recordation tax in the District of Columbia, with the conditions and accompanying papers some exemptions require.

The PDF is a numbered list of exemptions. Paragraphs (1) and (16) are marked repealed. The rest cover, among others:

• deeds to property acquired by the United States or the District of Columbia, unless Congress has authorized its taxation (paragraph 2);
• deeds to organizations entitled to real property tax exemption under § 47-1002 (paragraph 3);
• purchase money mortgages and deeds of trust recorded with the deed (paragraph 5);
• deeds between spouses, parent and child, grandparent and grandchild, or domestic partners without actual consideration (paragraph 7);
• tax deeds and deeds of release (paragraphs 8 and 9);
• transfers by a personal representative to a distributee (paragraph 10);
• revocable trust transfers (paragraphs 17 to 19);
• deeds executed under a divorce or separate maintenance decree (paragraph 26);
• special needs trust transfers of residential property (paragraph 28).

Several paragraphs name property, projects or housing programs specifically, such as lower income homeownership households, cooperative housing associations, resident management corporations and limited-equity cooperatives.

ROD 7 is not a tax return and not a bill. It identifies when no recordation tax is imposed and what must accompany the deed when it is offered for recordation.

The main group is anyone offering a deed or security interest instrument for recordation in the District of Columbia who believes it falls within one of the listed exemptions. Each exemption has its own condition:

• Family transfers: deeds between spouses, parent and child, grandparent and grandchild, or domestic partners qualify only when made without actual consideration.
• Exempt organizations: deeds to an institution, organization, corporation or government entitled to exemption under § 47-1002 qualify, but not property exempt under § 47-1002(29) or § 47-1002(30).
• Estates: deeds of personal representatives acting under Title 20 transferring a decedent's real property to a distributee without additional consideration.
• Revocable trusts: a deed conveying bare legal title to the trustee where the transferor is the beneficiary and no consideration is given; a transfer to a beneficiary after the grantor's death; and a transfer by the trustee that would be exempt if made by the grantor.
• Divorce: deeds executed under a decree of divorce or separate maintenance, or a written instrument incident to it.
• Lenders and owners of Class 1 Property with no more than 5 dwelling units: security interest instruments, with an affidavit affixed.

Paragraphs 23 to 25 apply only to the specific properties and projects they describe.

The triggering event is the moment a deed or security instrument is offered for recordation: that is when the paperwork supporting an exemption must accompany it. ROD 7 sets no calendar due date of its own.

Some timing rules appear in the exemptions themselves:

• Paragraphs (3), (4), (27) and (32) require specific papers to accompany the deed at the time of recordation or at the time it is offered for recordation.
• Under paragraph (22), a limited liability company relying on the exemption must notify the Recorder of Deeds within 30 days of any change to the members or interests in profits and losses during the 12-month period after the conversion's effective date.
• Paragraph (29) applies as of January 1, 2009, and paragraphs (30) and (31) apply beginning October 1, 2009.

ROD 7 names no filing portal, mailing address or fee of its own. Its text says that supporting papers go with the deed when it is offered for recordation, and it refers to the Recorder of Deeds in the notice rule for limited liability companies. In practice, the documents each exemption requires travel with the deed or instrument being recorded.

What to include depends on the exemption you claim:

• Paragraphs (3) and (27): a copy of a filed real property tax exemption application, unless waived by regulation.
• Paragraph (4): a return, under oath, showing the purposes for which the property was acquired.
• Paragraph (21): an affidavit affixed to each security interest instrument.
• Paragraph (32): a copy of the Mayor's certification, unless waived by regulation.
• Paragraph (11): a reference in the permanent loan deed to the construction loan deed and its recording date and instrument number.

For questions about how or where to record, contact OTR through its publication page for ROD 7 at https://otr.cfo.dc.gov/publication/rod-7-exemptions-recordation. FillingPDF lets you fill out and download the PDF; submission follows the agency's channels.