Iowa Quitclaim Deed: Requirements, Recording and Transfer Tax

An Iowa quitclaim deed passes whatever interest the grantor holds in a tract of land, with no promise that the title is good; Iowa Code 558.19 gives a short statutory form in which the grantor says "I hereby quitclaim to" the grantee "all my interest" in the described real estate. To be lawfully recorded it must first be acknowledged before a notary or other officer (Iowa Code 558.42), and it is recorded with the county recorder of the county where the land is located (Iowa Code 558.41). For other states, see our guide to quitclaim deed rules by state.

Information last verified on 2026-10-09. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers Iowa law on quitclaim deeds: the conveyance and recording provisions of Iowa Code chapter 558 (including the statutory forms in 558.19 and the groundwater hazard rule in 558.69), the county recorder provisions in chapter 331 (331.604, 331.606A and 331.606B), the homestead joinder rule in 561.13, the real estate transfer tax in chapter 428A as amended by 2026 Iowa Acts chapter 1112, and the homestead credit in chapter 425, with federal mortgage and gift-tax points where they affect a family transfer. It does not cover title insurance, a lender's own underwriting rules, county fees or programs beyond those named, transfer-on-death or other estate-planning tools, or other states' laws.

What a quitclaim deed does in Iowa

Iowa Code 558.19 says the forms it lists "or other equivalent forms of conveyance, varied to suit circumstances, are sufficient," and the first one listed is "For a quitclaim deed." In that form the grantor recites a consideration in dollars and states: "I hereby quitclaim to ................................ all my interest in the following tract of real estate (describing it)."

The words "all my interest" are what make it a quitclaim. The deed passes whatever the grantor holds, if anything, and contains no warranty of title. The same section gives separate forms for a deed in fee simple without warranty and for a warranty deed, which is the form that adds the title promise. For how those deeds compare, see quitclaim vs. warranty deeds.

People in Iowa use a quitclaim to add or remove a spouse, give a home to a child, move a home into a trust, or clear up title after a divorce. Each of those situations raises its own transfer-tax, homestead and mortgage points, covered below.

Iowa does not publish a state quitclaim deed form; the statute supplies only the short form in 558.19. The state does publish the Declaration of Value and the groundwater hazard statement forms that may need to go with the deed. Your county recorder can explain local recording requirements, though recorders cannot give legal advice, and a lawyer licensed in Iowa can prepare the deed.

Iowa quitclaim deed requirements

Acknowledgment before a notary

Iowa Code 558.42 says "a document shall not be deemed lawfully recorded, unless it has been previously acknowledged or proved in the manner prescribed in chapter 9B." Iowa Code 558.20 requires acknowledgments of conveyances, whether taken in Iowa, in another state, abroad or under federal authority, to comply with chapter 9B.

Under chapter 9B (Iowa Code 9B.15), the notarial certificate must be signed and dated by the officer and show the jurisdiction, the officer's title, and the commission expiration, with an official stamp on a paper record. The acknowledgment of a married person may be taken as if the person were unmarried (Iowa Code 558.35).

Witnesses

Iowa does not require witnesses on a deed. None of the sections of Iowa Code chapter 558 (558.1 through 558.72) addresses witnesses to a deed; the signing-related provisions deal with acknowledgment (558.20, 558.31 through 558.36 and 558.42), and Iowa Code 331.606B governs signature ink and printed names. A corporate seal "may but need not be attached or affixed" to the instrument (Iowa Code 558.2). If you are unsure about a local practice, ask the county recorder.

First-page and format standards

Iowa Code 331.606B sets statewide standards for every recorded document. The first page must have a top margin of at least three inches reserved for the recorder, and the other margins must be at least three-fourths of an inch. Pages are loose white paper, not bound, with preprinted text of at least 8 point and other text of at least 10 point.

Below the recorder's margin, the first page must show the preparer's name, address and phone number; for a conveyance, "the name of the taxpayer and a complete mailing address"; a return address; the document title; the names of all grantors and grantees; and "the legal description of the property and parcel identification number, if required."

A document dated on or after July 1, 2005 that does not meet the standards can still be recorded with an additional $10 fee. For documents dated on or after July 1, 2009, the recorder does not accept a document that fails the legibility, signature-ink or taxpayer-address requirements at all.

The preparer also must not include personally identifiable information, such as a Social Security number or account numbers, in a document presented for recording (Iowa Code 331.606A).

Groundwater hazard statement

Iowa Code 558.69 ties a groundwater hazard statement to the declaration of value. When a declaration of value is submitted and the property has one of the listed conditions (a private burial site, a well, a solid waste disposal site, an underground storage tank, hazardous waste, or a private sewage disposal system), a signed groundwater hazard statement on Iowa Department of Natural Resources Form 542-0960 is filed with the recorder.

If none of those conditions exists, no statement is submitted. Instead, the statute requires the deed itself to include, on its first page, a statement that there is no known private burial site, well, disposal site, storage tank, hazardous waste or private sewage disposal system on the property. The recorder must refuse to record a deed missing the required statement or sentence, although recording one in violation does not invalidate the deed. There is no recording fee for the groundwater hazard statement.

A separate septic rule can apply to a sale. When property with one to four dwelling units is conveyed by sale, exchange, real estate contract or another method by which it is purchased, and a building is served by a private sewage disposal system, Iowa Code 455B.172(11) bars the recorder from recording the deed until a certified inspector's report is provided (or, when weather or other temporary conditions prevent the inspection, the buyer has submitted a binding acknowledgment with the county board of health). The statute excludes many family transfers, including transfers to a spouse or a lineal relative, transfers between joint tenants or tenants in common, transfers under a dissolution decree, transfers by a fiduciary administering an estate or trust, and transfers for $500 or less.

The DNR's form instructions add: "If the transaction is exempt from filing a declaration of value pursuant to Iowa Code 428A.1(2), STOP HERE. Pursuant to Iowa Code section 558.69(1), when no declaration of value is submitted during a transaction, you are not required to submit a groundwater hazard statement or include the statutory language in Iowa Code section 558.69(8A)." For a family quitclaim that needs no declaration of value, confirm with your county recorder whether it expects the first-page sentence.

Does a spouse have to sign an Iowa quitclaim deed?

For the homestead, yes. Iowa Code 561.13 provides: "A conveyance or encumbrance of, or contract to convey or encumber the homestead, if the owner is married, is not valid, unless and until the spouse of the owner executes the same or a like instrument, or a power of attorney for the execution of the same or a like instrument, except as provided in subsection 3."

That rule applies even when the spouse is not on title. The exceptions in 561.13(3) include a spouse whose interest has been ended by a dissolution decree or other court order, a claim barred under Iowa Code 614.15, a purchase-money mortgage, and an equitable decree based on unjust enrichment. A spouse who holds only homestead rights may give them up in the deed without joining in the granting clause (Iowa Code 561.13(2)).

A spouse who is on title must sign to convey their own interest. If the deed is part of a divorce, see our guide to Iowa divorce laws.

Recording a quitclaim deed with the county recorder

Record the deed with the county recorder of the county in which the real estate is located (Iowa Code 558.41). Once recorded, it becomes part of the county's land records; see our guide to Iowa property records for how to search them.

What recording does

Iowa's recording act protects later buyers who lack notice. Iowa Code 558.41 states: "An instrument affecting real estate is of no validity against subsequent purchasers for a valuable consideration, without notice, or against the state or any of its political subdivisions during and after condemnation proceedings against the real estate, unless the instrument is filed and recorded in the county in which the real estate is located, as provided in this chapter."

That rule does not make an unrecorded deed void between the people who signed it. Recording is how the grantee protects the new ownership against a later buyer for value who has no notice of the deed.

A deed conveying agricultural land must be recorded by the grantee within 180 days, with a fine of up to $100 per day for failing to do so, but late recording does not invalidate the conveyance (Iowa Code 558.44).

Recording fees

Iowa sets recording fees by statute. Under Iowa Code 331.604, "the recorder shall collect a fee of five dollars for each page or fraction of a page of an instrument which is filed or recorded in the recorder's office." The same section adds a $1 records management fee and a $1 electronic transaction fee for the county land record information system for each recorded transaction.

A document that does not meet the format standards in 331.606B may carry the additional $10 fee described above. Separately, the county auditor charges $5 for each transfer entered in the transfer records, up to $50 per instrument (Iowa Code 331.507(2)(a)).

E-recording

Iowa Code 331.604 states: "Each county shall participate in the county land record information system and shall comply with the policies and procedures established by the governing board of the county land record information system." That statewide system, Iowa Land Records, is how documents are submitted electronically. Your county recorder's page explains how to set up an account.

Is there a transfer tax on an Iowa quitclaim deed?

Sometimes. Iowa imposes a state real estate transfer tax under Iowa Code chapter 428A. The grantor is liable for it (Iowa Code 428A.3), it is paid to the county recorder, and the amount is shown on the face of the document (Iowa Code 428A.5).

When there is consideration over $500, Iowa Code 428A.1 sets the rate: "the tax is eighty cents for each five hundred dollars or fractional part of five hundred dollars in excess of five hundred dollars." Consideration "means the full amount of the actual sale price of the real property involved, paid or to be paid, including the amount of an encumbrance or lien on the property, if assumed by the grantee."

Many quitclaims owe nothing. Iowa Code 428A.1 provides: "When there is no consideration or when the deed, instrument, or writing is executed and tendered for recording as an instrument corrective of title, and so states, there is no tax."

Exemptions that fit common quitclaim situations

Iowa Code 428A.2 lists the transfers excepted from the tax. Those that most often fit a quitclaim include:

Under 428A.2(11), the cancellation of secured debt alone is not actual consideration if it is not greater than the property's fair market value. No item in 428A.2 names a deed into the owner's own revocable trust or a gift to someone outside the family, but such a deed given for no consideration owes no tax (Iowa Code 428A.1) and fits 428A.2(21), which covers deeds in which the consideration is five hundred dollars or less. Exemption 21 is one of those Iowa Code 428A.1(2) excuses from the declaration of value, so if the deed states that it is exempt under 428A.2(21), no Declaration of Value is required (Iowa Code 428A.4). If the exemption is not stated on the deed, the Department of Revenue says the Declaration of Value must be completed, and the groundwater hazard rule in 558.69 then applies. Confirm with your county recorder before you record.

Declaration of value and exemption statements

A Real Estate Transfer Declaration of Value, on the Iowa Department of Revenue's 57-011 form, goes to the recorder with each conveyance except listed exemptions, and it must "state the full consideration paid for the real property transferred" (Iowa Code 428A.1). The recorder must refuse to record a deed that needs one without it.

The Department of Revenue's instructions say: "This form is not required for any document presented for recording which clearly indicates on such document that it is an exempt transaction. However, exception numbers 1, 6, and 23 require a Declaration of Value form to be completed." Under Iowa Code 428A.4, the recorder "shall not refuse to record the document if there is filed with or endorsed on it a statement signed by either the grantor or grantee or an authorized agent, that the instrument or writing is excepted from the tax under section 428A.2."

2026 Iowa Acts chapter 1112 (H.F. 2749), effective July 1, 2026, widened the list of exempt transfers that need no declaration of value to include exemptions 14, 15 and 22, among them distributions of trust assets to beneficiaries. The exemptions most family quitclaims use (10, 11 and 16) already needed no declaration of value. The Department of Revenue's instructions also say exception 23 will require a declaration of value beginning January 1, 2027; it concerns assignment agreements under Iowa Code chapter 681A, not family deeds.

No local transfer tax in chapter 428A

Chapter 428A does not authorize a separate county or city transfer tax. The state tax is shared: the county recorder sends 82.75 percent of receipts to the Department of Revenue, and "the county recorder shall deposit the remaining seventeen and one-fourth percent of the receipts in the county general fund" (Iowa Code 428A.8).

Property tax after an Iowa quitclaim deed

The homestead credit does not move with the deed. Iowa Code 425.2 provides: "When the property is sold or transferred, the buyer or transferee who wishes to qualify shall refile for the credit." A claim filed by July 1 counts for that year, and a later claim counts for the next year.

A spouse who keeps the property under a dissolution decree does not need to refile. A person who sells or transfers a homestead must give the assessor written notice that it is no longer the claimant's homestead (Iowa Code 425.2). The assessor learns of each deed through the recorder: "The county recorder shall give notice to the assessor of each transfer of title filed in the recorder's office" (Iowa Code 425.3).

Mortgages and quitclaim deeds

Iowa's quitclaim form conveys the grantor's interest in the land and says nothing about the loan, so this section rests on federal regulations. A deed does not remove anyone from a mortgage; only the lender can release a borrower. Under 12 CFR 191.5(b)(4), if the lender and the new owner agree in writing, before the transfer, that the new owner will be obligated on the loan, then on that agreement "a lender shall release the existing borrower from all obligations under the loan instruments."

Federal law limits when a lender can call a home loan due because of a transfer. Under 12 U.S.C. 1701j-3(d), for a loan secured by residential property with fewer than five dwelling units, a lender may not use a due-on-sale clause for certain transfers, including a transfer where the borrower's spouse or children become an owner and a transfer on the death of a joint tenant or tenant by the entirety. The federal regulation, 12 CFR 191.5(b), applies these limits to a loan on a home occupied or to be occupied by the borrower, and covers:

• a transfer where the spouse or children become an owner, or a transfer from a divorce decree, legal separation agreement or property settlement by which the spouse becomes an owner, where the person taking title occupies or will occupy the property (12 CFR 191.5(b)(1)(v));
• a transfer into a living (inter vivos) trust in which the borrower is and remains the beneficiary and occupant, unless the borrower refuses to give the lender reasonable means of notice of later transfers (12 CFR 191.5(b)(1)(vi)).

These limits are conditional, and a lender keeps the right to enforce the clause if a later event disqualifies the transfer (12 CFR 191.5(b)(5)). Transfers outside the listed categories, such as to a sibling or friend, are not covered. Talk to the lender before signing. Federal servicing rules also recognize a "successor in interest," such as a spouse or child who receives an ownership interest from a borrower (12 CFR 1024.31).

Federal gift tax on a quitclaim to a family member

Giving property away by quitclaim can be a gift for federal tax purposes. The IRS says the gift tax "applies to the transfer by gift of any type of property." For 2026, "the annual exclusion for gifts remains at $19,000" per recipient. The IRS lists gifts to your spouse among gifts that are not taxable and says the donor is generally responsible for paying any gift tax. If your spouse is not a U.S. citizen, the IRS limits tax-free gifts to that spouse to an annual exclusion of $194,000 for 2026.

The IRS also says the recipient's basis in gifted property is generally the same as the donor's basis. Ask a tax professional before deeding a home as a gift; this page does not give tax advice.

Deed fraud protections in Iowa

Some Iowa county recorders offer free alerts when a document is recorded in your name. The Linn County recorder describes its service this way: "Property Fraud Alert is a free online service that lets you sign up to have your name monitored. If a document is recorded with your name on it, you’ll get notified." The Jasper County recorder offers the same service. These programs run county by county, so check your own recorder's page.

Iowa law also limits what personal data appears in the land records. The preparer of a document must not include personally identifiable information in it (Iowa Code 331.606A), and recorders must redact that information from online copies on request, at no fee.

The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center has warned about impersonators using fictitious deeds to sell vacant land, and advises owners to check whether their county recording office offers a service that sends an email or text when a document is recorded in their name (IC3 PSA I-061626-PSA).

If the owner has died and the property passes through an estate, a quitclaim from the heirs is not the only route; see our guide to Iowa probate. If the new owner wants the grantor to stand behind the title, a quitclaim is the wrong tool; the warranty deed form in Iowa Code 558.19 adds a warranty of title.

Common myths about Iowa quitclaim deeds

• "The deed is not valid until it is recorded." Unrecorded, it still works between the parties; it has no validity against a later buyer for value without notice (Iowa Code 558.41). A transfer-tax or declaration-of-value lapse does not change that either: "The validity of an instrument as between the parties, and as to any person who would otherwise be bound by the instrument, is not affected by the failure to comply with this section" (Iowa Code 428A.4).
• "A gift deed never owes transfer tax." Only where there is no consideration or an exemption applies. A mortgage the grantee assumes counts as consideration (Iowa Code 428A.1), and canceling secured debt greater than fair market value is consideration under 428A.2(11).
• "A spouse who is not on title does not need to sign." Not for the homestead. A married owner's conveyance of the homestead is not valid until the spouse signs (Iowa Code 561.13).
• "A quitclaim takes me off the mortgage." No. Only the lender can release a borrower (12 CFR 191.5(b)(4)).

Related

• Quitclaim deed rules by state
• Iowa property records
• Quitclaim vs. warranty deeds
• Iowa divorce laws
• Iowa probate

This article provides general legal information about Iowa law on quitclaim deeds, verified on 2026-10-09. It is not legal or tax advice. For your situation, contact your county recorder (who cannot give legal advice), a legal aid office, or a lawyer licensed in Iowa.

Last updated: 2026-10-09.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I file a quitclaim deed in Iowa?

The grantor signs the deed and acknowledges it before a notary under Iowa Code chapter 9B (Iowa Code 558.42), with the first-page items Iowa Code 331.606B requires. Then record it with the county recorder of the county where the land is located (Iowa Code 558.41), along with a Declaration of Value and any groundwater hazard statement the transfer needs.

Does a quitclaim deed need to be notarized in Iowa?

Yes, to be recorded: a document is not lawfully recorded unless it was first acknowledged or proved under chapter 9B (Iowa Code 558.42). Iowa Code chapter 558 sets no witness requirement for a deed.

How much does it cost to record a quitclaim deed in Iowa?

The recorder charges $5 per page or fraction of a page, plus a $1 records management fee and a $1 electronic transaction fee per transaction (Iowa Code 331.604). A document that does not meet the format standards may cost $10 more (Iowa Code 331.606B).

Do you pay transfer tax on a quitclaim deed in Iowa?

Only if there is consideration over $500 and no exemption applies; the rate is 80 cents for each $500 or fraction over $500 (Iowa Code 428A.1). There is no tax when there is no consideration, and deeds between spouses or parent and child without actual consideration, and between former spouses under a dissolution decree, are exempt (Iowa Code 428A.2(11), (16)).

Do I need a Declaration of Value for a quitclaim deed in Iowa?

Yes, unless the transfer is one of the 428A.2 exemptions excused from the form, and the recorder must refuse to record without it. A deed given for no consideration, such as a deed into your own revocable trust, fits exemption 21 (consideration of $500 or less) and needs no Declaration of Value if the exemption is stated on the deed (Iowa Code 428A.1(2), 428A.4). The Iowa Department of Revenue says the form is not required when the deed clearly states on its face that it is an exempt transaction, except for exemptions 1, 6 and 23.

Does my spouse have to sign a quitclaim deed in Iowa?

If the property is the homestead and the owner is married, yes: the conveyance is not valid until the spouse executes the same or a like instrument, even if the spouse is not on title, subject to the exceptions in Iowa Code 561.13(3).

Does a quitclaim deed remove me from the mortgage?

No. Iowa Code 558.19's quitclaim form conveys only the grantor's interest in the land; under 12 CFR 191.5(b)(4), a lender releases a borrower only when the lender and the new owner agree in writing, before the transfer, that the new owner is obligated on the loan.

Will a quitclaim deed affect my Iowa homestead credit?

Yes. When the property is transferred, the new owner who wants the homestead credit must refile for it (Iowa Code 425.2), and a claim filed after July 1 counts for the following year. A spouse who keeps the home under a dissolution decree does not need to refile.

Is a quitclaim deed valid in Iowa if it is not recorded?

Between the parties, yes. It has no validity against a later buyer for value without notice unless it is filed and recorded in the county where the land is located (Iowa Code 558.41).