At the close of escrow for the sale of a property, the title insurance company obtained transfer tax stamps for the purchase price of $387,600. How much was the transfer tax charged?

At the close of escrow, a tax is paid to the county as part of the recording process. The basic tax rate is $0.55 per $500. For this problem, first determine the rate per $1,000.
$0.55 x 2 = $1.10 per $1,000
Remember, transfer tax is charged by rounding up to the next $500 increment. Therefore, in this problem, the value is rounded up to $388,000. Since the tax rate will be calculated on a per $1,000 basis, divide the rounded sales price by 1,000.
$388,000 / 1,000 = $388
Next, multiply this total by the $1.10 transfer tax stamp rate.
$388 x $1.10 = $426.80