The closing paperwork includes an Indiana sales disclosure form for the county's property-tax records. Its similar name to the seller's condition disclosure makes it important to identify which document is being discussed.
Who signs the county form
Both sides. The seller or their representative signs a sales disclosure form and so does the buyer.
The county assessor reviews it for completeness, then it goes to the county auditor, and it travels with the deed to recording. The filing fee is ten dollars.
It is not the seller's disclosure about the house
The seller's residential real estate disclosure is the one about the roof, the furnace and the water in the basement. The sales disclosure form is a property tax document. It records what changed hands, between whom, for how much, and under what conditions, and it goes to the people who assess property, not to the buyer as a warning.
What counts as a conveyance
The Department of Local Government Finance instructions define it: "CONVEYANCE to means any transfer of a real property interest for valuable consideration." That covers deeds, contracts, judgments, and a lease "that includes the fee simple estate and is for a period in excess of ninety (90) years." Leases for a term of less than ninety years are not conveyance documents and do not require the form.
Who signs, and who may sign for you
The instructions say "The seller/grantor or their representative must sign one (1) sales disclosure form," and the buyer signs as well. If anyone other than the buyer, the seller, or an attorney for either is signing, "a properly executed Power of Attorney must be completed and attached." That matters in an estate sale, a sale run from out of state, and any sale where the owner cannot be at the table.
The fee, and when there is none
The instructions state the fee: "A person filing a sales disclosure form marked only with sales conditions subject to a disclosure filing fee shall pay a fee of ten dollars ($10.00) to the county auditor." Three categories are exempt from the fee: foreclosures and transfers made under court order, land partitions between co-owners, and transfers to charities, nonprofits and government entities. The form is still filed in those cases. The fee is a flat amount, not a share of the sale price.
Recording the deed is its own charge. The State Board of Accounts fee reference for county recorders lists it under IC 36-2-7-10(c)(1) as twenty five dollars for any deed or other instrument other than a mortgage, split between the county general fund, the surveyor's corner perpetuation fund, the recorder's record perpetuation fund, identity security protection and elected officials training. Those figures are the schedule effective July 1, 2017 as that reference prints them.
Confirm the current amount with the county recorder, because it is set in statute and statutes change.
What the county does with it
The data is how assessed values get checked against real sales. The instructions describe it being used to evaluate modifications to the structure or use of a property and to establish market values for ratio and other studies. Your sale becomes one line in the evidence the assessor uses on everyone else's house, which is the reason the conditions boxes on the form matter.
A sale between relatives, a sale of a partial interest, a sale with personal property included: those are conditions, and they are on the form because a sale like that is not a clean market comparison.
The deduction that rides on it
The instructions say the form "may be used to apply for the Homestead Deduction (IC 6-1.1-12-37) for this property." So the buyer's homestead claim can start here. Whether it did is worth asking out loud at the table, because the alternative is finding out from a tax bill a year later.
Whether a particular conveyance needs the form, what the conditions boxes should say about your sale, and whether your house qualifies for a deduction belong to the county assessor, the county auditor and your attorney. What any of it does to your taxes belongs to your CPA.
The notes on the Indiana seller disclosure form, on closing costs and who pays them and on filing the homestead deduction again when you move cover the rest of the paper.
Sources: Indiana Department of Local Government Finance, Sales Disclosure Form Instructions, revised July 20, 2021, citing IC 6-1.1-5.5; and the Indiana State Board of Accounts recorder's fees reference for county recorders, fees effective July 1, 2017, citing IC 36-2-7-10. Read at source, October 5, 2026. Rechecked October 27, 2026: the Department of Local Government Finance still posts the July 20, 2021 instructions as current, with the ten dollar fee.
This note is general. It is not tax or legal advice. Fees and filing requirements are set by state law and applied by your county.