Foreclosure; deeds in lieu of foreclosure

From the 2024 DOR Tax Exemption Study

Det. No. 17-0033, 36 WTD 496 (September 29, 2017) 498 the parties’ competing interests were considered, the transfer was pursuant to a court ordered sale and exempt from REET under WAC 458-61A-208. [Male 1] presented additional, alternative arguments during the course of the administrative review process. [Male 1] argues that RCW 82.45.010(3)(e), which exempts, “[t]he partition of property by tenants in common by agreement or as the result of a court decree” from REET, applies in this case. [Male 1] also argues that the bankruptcy trustee, not [Couple 2], possessed the controlling interest at issue at the time of sale, and therefore, the sale in this case represents a “sale by the United States,” and is exempt from REET pursuant to RCW 82.45.010(3)(n). ANALYSIS RCW 82.45.060 imposes REET on the sale of real property in Washington measured by the selling price.6 RCW 82.45.010(1) broadly and inclusively defines the term “sale” as “any conveyance, grant, assignment, quitclaim, or transfer of ownership of or to title to real property . . . or any estate or interest therein for a valuable consideration.” RCW 82.45.010(2)(a) provides that the term also includes the transfer or acquisitio