Short answer: yes. A $1 land sale is legal in Georgia and the deed will record. But the dollar figure on the deed is a legal formality, not a valuation — and the IRS, the county tax assessor, Medicaid, and your creditors all ignore it entirely.

People ask this question for good reasons. You want to move a parcel to your daughter. You are tired of paying taxes on land you will never build on. You want to get a lot out of your name before something happens. A neighbor offered to take it off your hands. Somewhere along the way, someone told you that you can just sell it for a dollar.

They were not lying. They were just leaving out the part that costs money.

Why a $1 Sale Is Legal in the First Place

Contract law requires consideration — something of value exchanged — for a binding agreement. What it does not generally require is that the consideration be adequate. Courts have long declined to sit as appraisers of private bargains. If you agree to convey land for one dollar, a dollar is consideration, and the transfer is valid.

This is why you see deeds reciting “$10.00 and other good and valuable consideration.” It is boilerplate. It satisfies the technical requirement without disclosing the actual price. A $1 recital does the same job.

So the deed is enforceable, the clerk will record it, and title will pass. That is the entire good news section of this article.

Nobody Who Matters Believes the Dollar

Here is the misunderstanding at the center of almost every regretted $1 transfer. People assume that if the deed says one dollar, the transaction is treated as a one-dollar transaction. It is not. Four different authorities will look straight past that number to the property’s fair market value.

• The IRS treats the gap between what you received and what the land was worth as a gift.
• The county board of assessors values property for tax purposes on its own schedule. A $1 sale is not a comparable sale and will not lower anyone’s assessment.
• Medicaid reviews transfers made for less than fair market value during a look-back period when someone applies for long-term care coverage.
• Creditors can challenge transfers made without reasonably equivalent value under Georgia’s Uniform Voidable Transactions Act.

A dollar buys you a valid deed. It does not buy you a different tax result, a lower assessment, or protection from anyone.

The Gift Tax Side

If you convey land worth $60,000 for $1, the IRS generally treats roughly $59,999 of that as a gift from you to the buyer. That is not automatically a disaster, but it does have mechanics worth knowing.

For 2026, the annual gift tax exclusion is $19,000 per recipient, per donor. A married couple electing to split gifts can reach $38,000 to the same person. Anything above that must be reported on IRS Form 709, generally due April 15 of the following year.

Reporting is not the same as paying. Amounts above the annual exclusion reduce your lifetime exemption, which for 2026 sits at $15 million per individual. Most people will never approach that, so the practical consequence of a modest land gift is usually a form, not a tax bill. The gift tax is also owed by the giver, never the recipient.

Two traps, though. Filing Form 709 is mandatory once you cross the exclusion, whether or not tax is due, and people routinely skip it because no money changes hands. And the land must be valued honestly — which usually means an appraisal, not a guess.

The Basis Trap — The Part That Actually Costs Money

This is the single most expensive thing most people do not know, and on land it can be brutal.

When you gift property, the recipient generally takes your cost basis. If you bought that lot in 1994 for $8,000 and it is worth $80,000 today, your daughter’s basis is $8,000. When she eventually sells for $80,000, she has roughly $72,000 of taxable gain.

Now compare inheritance. Property passing at death generally receives a stepped-up basis equal to its fair market value on the date of death. Had she inherited the same lot at $80,000 and sold it for $80,000, her taxable gain would be close to zero.

So a well-meant $1 deed to a family member can hand them a tax bill that simply would not have existed if the land had passed through an estate. On appreciated land held for decades — exactly the kind of parcel people are most eager to hand off — this frequently outweighs every other consideration in this article combined.

If the land came to you through a death in the family, this is worth working through carefully before you deed it anywhere. See selling inherited property in Atlanta and our overview of probate real estate in Georgia.

Georgia Transfer Tax and the PT-61

Georgia charges a real estate transfer tax under O.C.G.A. § 48-6-1 of $1.00 for the first $1,000 of consideration plus 10 cents for each additional $100 — roughly a tenth of a percent. On a $1 sale, the tax is negligible.

There is also an exemption worth knowing: under § 48-6-2(a)(2), a deed of gift is exempt from the transfer tax entirely. Transfers from individual owners to an entity in which they hold a majority interest are also exempt, which is why moving a parcel into your own LLC rarely triggers transfer tax.

But exemption from the tax is not exemption from the paperwork. Every deed conveying Georgia real property requires a PT-61 Real Estate Transfer Tax Declaration, filed electronically through the Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority — taxed or exempt. The clerk will not record the deed without it, and the form is transmitted to the state auditor, the county tax commissioner, and the county board of assessors. The grantor is legally responsible for filing it.

Read that last part again. The county assessors receive a copy of every one of these. Your $1 transfer is not private, and it is not invisible.

Liens and Problems Travel With the Land

A $1 price does not clean anything. Whatever is attached to the parcel goes with it.

• Delinquent property taxes stay with the land and continue accruing.
• Code enforcement liens, HOA assessments, and judgment liens remain.
• Easements, restrictive covenants, and access problems are unaffected.
• A quitclaim deed — the usual instrument for these transfers — conveys whatever interest you have and warrants nothing. If your title is defective, you have handed someone a defective title.

This matters enormously with land, because the reason people want to give a parcel away is often the reason nobody wants it: unpaid taxes. Handing a tax-burdened lot to a relative for $1 transfers the problem, not the solution. Our guides on what happens if you don’t pay property taxes, how many years you can be behind in Georgia, and tax foreclosure explain where that road ends. If taxes are already delinquent, start with our tax-delinquent property page.

Four Situations Where a $1 Deed Causes Real Damage

1. There is a mortgage on the property. Nearly every security deed contains a due-on-sale clause. Transferring the property without lender consent can let the lender accelerate the loan. It can also forfeit federal pre-foreclosure protections if you are already behind, since the 120-day rule has an express exception for due-on-sale violations.
2. Long-term care is anywhere on the horizon. Medicaid applies a five-year look-back to transfers made for less than fair market value. A $1 deed inside that window can create a penalty period of ineligibility measured against the property’s actual value — often the worst possible outcome for a family that was trying to protect an asset.
3. You have creditors or a judgment against you. Under Georgia’s Uniform Voidable Transactions Act, a transfer made without reasonably equivalent value while you are insolvent, or made to hinder or delay creditors, can be unwound by a court. The deed does not protect the land; it just adds a lawsuit.
4. The “buyer” does not fully understand what they are taking. A relative who accepts a $1 parcel inherits the tax bill, the maintenance, the liability, and the carryover basis. Generosity that arrives without a conversation frequently ends in resentment.

When a Nominal Transfer Genuinely Makes Sense

None of this means $1 deeds are always wrong. They have legitimate, routine uses:

• Moving a parcel into an LLC or trust you control, for liability or estate planning, with your attorney’s guidance.
• Correcting title or adding a spouse to a deed.
• Transfers between spouses, which carry an unlimited marital deduction for gift tax purposes.
• Genuine gifts made deliberately, with the basis and reporting consequences understood and accepted.
• Deeding a strip of land to a neighbor to resolve a boundary or access dispute.

The distinction is not the dollar. It is whether the transfer was planned or improvised.

Better Options for Land You Simply Do Not Want

If the real goal is to stop owning a parcel, a $1 sale is rarely the best route. Consider:

• Sell it, even cheaply. An actual sale gives you a clean break, a real closing, and a recorded price that reflects reality. Vacant land in metro Atlanta is often worth more than owners assume — see vacant land.
• Donate it to a qualified charity or land trust. Done properly, this can produce a charitable deduction rather than a gift tax filing. Appraisal requirements are strict.
• Hold it and let it pass through your estate. For appreciated land, the stepped-up basis at death is often worth more than any convenience gained by transferring now.
• Deal with the taxes first. A parcel with clear title and current taxes is far easier to sell, gift, or donate than one under a Fi.Fa.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a $1 land sale legal in Georgia?

Yes. Consideration must exist but generally need not be adequate. The deed is valid and will record, provided it is properly executed, witnessed, notarized, and accompanied by a PT-61.

Will I owe gift tax on a $1 sale?

Probably not out of pocket, but you may have to file. The difference between the price and fair market value is treated as a gift. Above $19,000 per recipient in 2026, Form 709 is required, and the excess reduces your $15 million lifetime exemption rather than generating an immediate tax bill.

Does a $1 sale lower my property taxes?

No. County boards of assessors value property independently of what a deed recites. A nominal-consideration deed is not a valid comparable sale and will not reduce anyone’s assessment.

Can I sell land for $1 if I still owe money on it?

Not safely. The lien survives the transfer, and the due-on-sale clause in most security deeds lets the lender accelerate the balance. If you are behind on payments, transferring the property can also cost you federal pre-foreclosure protections — see can I sell my house if it’s in foreclosure.

What if I live out of state and just want the parcel gone?

That is one of the most common situations we see, and it usually has a cleaner solution than a $1 deed. See how we work with out-of-state owners.

The Bottom Line

You can sell a piece of land for $1. The deed will record and title will pass. But the dollar is a formality that convinces nobody with authority over the outcome — not the IRS, not the assessors, not Medicaid, not your creditors.

The real cost of a $1 land transfer is usually not a tax bill you pay this year. It is the carryover basis you hand to somebody you were trying to help, or the lien you passed along with the deed, or the look-back period you triggered without knowing it existed. Talk to a Georgia real estate attorney and a CPA before you sign. It is a short conversation that regularly saves five figures.

And if the goal is simply to stop owning land you no longer want — a vacant lot, an inherited parcel with back taxes, or acreage you will never build on — selling is usually cleaner than gifting. We buy land and houses across metro Atlanta as-is, with no fees or commissions, and most closings run 7 to 14 days. Call (404) 913-7086, request a no-obligation cash offer, or contact us with a question about your parcel. We will give you a straight answer either way — including when the answer is to keep it.