Do you pay stamp duty when you sell a house? (What sellers actually pay in 2026)

If you’re about to sell, one worry tends to come up early: is stamp duty about to take a bite out of your sale? It’s a fair thing to wonder, because stamp duty is one of the biggest costs in a property deal, and nobody wants a surprise like that landing on their settlement statement.

So let’s settle it.

No. In Australia, stamp duty (now usually called transfer duty) is paid by the buyer, not the seller. When you sell your home, you don’t pay stamp duty on the sale. You do face a handful of other costs, and since 1 January 2025 there’s one piece of paperwork every seller has to sort before settlement, so it’s worth knowing exactly where your money goes. We’ll walk through all of it below.

So who actually pays stamp duty?

Stamp duty is a state government tax on the purchase of a property, so it’s the buyer who pays it, calculated on the price they pay and lodged as part of their side of the settlement. As the seller, it isn’t your bill.

That doesn’t mean it’s irrelevant to you. Because stamp duty is one of the largest upfront costs a buyer faces, it shapes what they can afford to offer. A buyer in a state with higher duty, or one who misses out on a first-home-buyer concession, has less cash to put on the table. It’s one more reason to price sensibly and market well: you want the largest possible pool of buyers who can comfortably meet your figure.

Rates and concessions differ in every state and territory and change from time to time, so if you’re also buying your next place and want to work out the duty on that purchase, use your state revenue office’s stamp duty calculator rather than a rule of thumb. For your sale, though, you can set stamp duty aside. It simply isn’t a seller cost.

What a seller actually pays

Here’s where your money really goes when you sell. Four costs affect you directly, and it pays to factor them in early so you know your likely net proceeds before you set an asking price.

1. Agent commission (or what you save without it)

For most sellers who use a traditional agent, commission is the single biggest cost of selling, usually somewhere between about 1.6% and 3.5% of the sale price, sometimes higher in regional markets, depending on your state and the agent. On an $800,000 sale, a 2.5% commission is $20,000 gone from your proceeds. Commission is unregulated and negotiable everywhere, so it’s always worth a conversation, and our guide to what a fair commission looks like and how to negotiate it can save you thousands in one chat.

It’s also the cost you have the most control over, because selling privately removes it almost entirely. PropertyNow lists your property on the major portals with licensed agent support for a flat fee of $979, which is where most of the saving comes from. If you want to see the gap on your own place, our commission savings calculator puts a typical commission next to that flat fee in about ten seconds.

2. Conveyancing and legal fees

Selling is a legal process, so you’ll need a licensed conveyancer or a property solicitor to prepare the contract of sale and the disclosure documents your state requires (a Section 32 in Victoria, a Seller Disclosure Statement in Queensland, a Form 1 in South Australia, and so on), then steer the settlement through. Professional fees generally run from around $700 to $2,500, plus roughly $300 to $800 in disbursements for the searches and certificates. It’s worth getting a couple of quotes, and if you’re weighing whether you even need one, we cover that in do you need a conveyancer to sell privately.

3. Capital gains tax (only sometimes)

This one trips people up, so here’s the plain version. If the property you’re selling is your main residence, it’s generally exempt from capital gains tax, and you pay nothing on the gain. CGT usually only comes into play when you sell an investment property or a home that’s been rented out or used to produce income. If it does apply and you’ve owned the property for more than 12 months, you’re generally entitled to a 50% discount on the gain (the government has announced that this discount is set to be replaced from 1 July 2027, so check the current rules if your sale settles after then). The rules around part-exemptions and homes that were rented for a while can get fiddly, so if there’s any chance CGT touches your sale, check the ATO’s main residence exemption guidance and talk to a registered tax agent about your situation.

4. Presentation and marketing

You’ve got a vested interest in showing your home at its best, so budget a little for the practical repairs and cosmetic touches that lift your sale price: a fresh coat of paint, a tidy garden, maybe professional photography. None of it has to be expensive, and our room-by-room guide to preparing a house for sale shows where the effort actually pays off.

The seller’s cost list at a glance

Cost	Who it hits	Rough figure
Stamp duty	The buyer, not you	$0 for the seller
Agent commission	Seller (avoidable)	~1.6% to 3.5%+ of sale price, or a $979 flat fee privately
Conveyancing / legal	Seller	~$700 to $2,500 + ~$300 to $800 disbursements
Capital gains tax	Seller, usually only if it’s an investment or income-producing property	Nil on your main residence; 50% discount if owned 12+ months (discount changing from 1 Jul 2027)
Presentation / marketing	Seller	Your choice, from a few hundred dollars up
ATO clearance certificate	Seller (all sellers, since 1 Jan 2025)	Free, but essential (see below)

The one job every seller now has: your ATO clearance certificate

This one catches sellers out, because it sounds like it’s only for foreign residents. It isn’t.

Under the ATO’s foreign resident capital gains withholding rules, if you sell Australian property you need to give the buyer a clearance certificate confirming you’re an Australian resident for tax purposes, at or before settlement. If you don’t, the buyer is legally required to withhold 15% of your sale price and send it to the ATO. You don’t lose that money, but you only get it back as a credit when you lodge your next tax return, and only if you’ve no tax owing on the sale, so it can be tied up for months. On a $700,000 sale that’s $105,000 parked with the tax office.

One thing to know if you own with a partner: each person named on the title needs their own certificate, so a couple applies for two. If one of you has it at settlement and the other doesn’t, the buyer still has to withhold 15% of the missing person’s share.

The trap is that this used to only apply to sales of $750,000 or more. From 1 January 2025, that threshold is gone and the rules apply to every sale at any price, including a modest home well under seven figures. So it’s now something every seller has to deal with.

The good news is it’s easy and free. You apply to the ATO (you can do it as soon as you’re thinking of selling, before you’ve even signed a contract), and once issued the certificate is valid for 12 months. The only real risk is leaving it late: applications can take up to 28 days to process, so apply early rather than in the fortnight before settlement. Your conveyancer can help you complete the form. If you’d like the detail, the ATO’s clearance certificate page for Australian residents lays it out, and we go deeper in our guide to the foreign resident capital gains withholding rules.

The bottom line

So, do you pay stamp duty when you sell? No. That cost belongs to the buyer. What you actually pay comes down to conveyancing, presentation, capital gains tax if the place was an investment, and, if you use one, an agent’s commission, which is both the biggest cost and the one you can avoid. Sort your free ATO clearance certificate early so 15% of your sale doesn’t get parked with the tax office, and you’ll head into settlement knowing your real numbers. For the full picture of every cost from listing to settlement, our complete guide to the costs of selling a house runs through them in order.

See the commission you would not be paying

Agent commission is the one big selling cost you can dodge. Put your sale price into the calculator and compare a typical commission with our flat fee of $979. The difference is usually five figures.

Work out your commission

Frequently asked questions

Do you pay stamp duty when you sell a house in Australia? No. Stamp duty (transfer duty) is a tax on buying a property, so it’s paid by the buyer, not the seller. When you sell, you don’t pay stamp duty on the sale.

Who pays stamp duty, the buyer or the seller? The buyer. Stamp duty is calculated on the purchase price and forms part of the buyer’s costs at settlement. As the seller it doesn’t appear on your bill, though it does affect how much buyers can afford to offer.

What costs does a seller actually pay? Conveyancing or legal fees (roughly $700 to $2,500 plus disbursements), any presentation and marketing you choose, agent commission if you use an agent (or a flat fee if you sell privately), and capital gains tax only if the property was an investment. Every seller also needs a free ATO clearance certificate before settlement.

Do you pay capital gains tax when you sell your home? Generally no, if it’s your main residence and hasn’t been rented out or used to produce income. CGT usually applies only to investment properties or homes used to earn income, and if you’ve owned the property more than 12 months a 50% discount generally applies to the gain (the government has announced this discount is set to be replaced from 1 July 2027). Check with a registered tax agent for your situation.

What is the ATO clearance certificate and do I need one? It’s a free certificate confirming you’re an Australian resident for tax purposes. Since 1 January 2025 every seller needs one, at any sale price, and must give it to the buyer at or before settlement. Without it the buyer must withhold 15% of your sale price and send it to the ATO. Apply early, as it can take up to 28 days.

Does the seller pay any government fees when selling a house? Not stamp duty, that’s the buyer’s. Your government-related costs are the search and lodgement disbursements your conveyancer handles (a few hundred dollars), and capital gains tax only if the property was an investment.