CONFOTUR Decompiled: What Each Tax Break Is Really Worth

A developer selling a $300,000 pre-construction unit in Las Terrenas will tell you CONFOTUR "saves you over $50,000." A different developer selling a nearly identical unit two streets over will say $70,000. Neither shows you the math, and both numbers are technically achievable — under completely different assumptions about how you use the property. CONFOTUR isn't a single discount. It's three separate exemptions, each triggered by different conditions, each worth a different amount depending on whether you rent the place out or just visit twice a year.

01What Does CONFOTUR Actually Save You?

CONFOTUR combines three exemptions — a one-time 3% transfer tax waiver at purchase, a 15-year exemption from the 1% annual property tax (IPI) on value above roughly $182,000, and a 15-year exemption from income tax on rental profit. On a $300,000 property, that's roughly $9,000 upfront, about $17,700 in IPI relief over 15 years, and — only if you rent it — another $45,000 in income tax relief. Skip the round numbers agents throw around and demand this breakdown for any property you're evaluating.

That's the short version. The long version is where the real decisions get made, because two of those three numbers depend entirely on what you do with the property after you buy it.

02Why One Number Hides Two Different Buyers

Here's the split nobody explains upfront: if you buy a CONFOTUR unit and use it purely as a personal vacation home — no rentals, ever — you only get to keep two of the three exemptions. The transfer tax waiver and the IPI break apply regardless of use. The income tax exemption applies to rental income specifically, and if there's no rental income, there's nothing to exempt. Agents selling to lifestyle buyers who say "I'll never rent it" are quietly promising a benefit that mathematically doesn't exist for that buyer's situation.

This matters because the income tax line is usually the single biggest number in a CONFOTUR pitch, and it's the one most likely to be irrelevant to a given buyer.

03Line One: The 3% Transfer Tax Waiver

What it's worth: exactly 3% of the property's value, paid once, at closing. On a $300,000 unit, that's $9,000 back in your pocket on day one — not a projection, not a multi-year accrual, just money you don't wire to DGII at closing.

Ley 158-01, Article 4(b), exempts CONFOTUR-classified projects from national and municipal taxes on real estate transfers. This is the exemption every developer leads with because it's the easiest to understand and the fastest to realize. It's also the smallest of the three in most price brackets, which is worth remembering when a sales sheet lists it first and biggest.

One important caveat that catches almost every resale buyer off guard: this waiver does not survive a change of ownership. Ley 195-13 added a paragraph to Article 4 explicitly excluding "any subsequent transfer to third-party acquirers" from CONFOTUR benefits. Buy resale from someone who bought new from the developer, and you owe the full 3% transfer tax yourself — no inherited discount. Budget accordingly if you're eyeing a five-year-old CONFOTUR unit rather than pre-construction.

04How Much Does CONFOTUR's 15-Year IPI Exemption Actually Save?

The IPI exemption saves you 1% annually on the portion of your property's value above roughly $182,000, compounded over 15 years — on a $300,000 property, that's about $1,180 per year, or roughly $17,700 total, assuming values and the threshold stay flat. This is the exemption most CONFOTUR marketing gets subtly wrong, either by taxing the full value instead of the excess, or by pretending the property tax would otherwise apply to the whole purchase price.

The IPI (Impuesto al Patrimonio Inmobiliario) is Ley 18-88's annual property tax, and it only applies to the amount by which your combined real estate holdings exceed the exempt threshold — RD$10,695,494 for 2026, roughly $182,000 depending on the exchange rate (DGII resolution DDG-AR1-2026-00001). A non-CONFOTUR owner of a $300,000 unit owes 1% on $118,000, or $1,180 per year. Multiply by 15 years and you get the $17,700 figure. If your property appreciates — DR real estate has been running around 3-10% nominal annual growth depending on the year — the exemption compounds in your favor, since the taxable excess grows too.

Worth noting: the threshold itself adjusts annually for inflation, so the exact dollar savings will drift year to year. Treat $17,700 as an informed estimate anchored to today's threshold, not a locked-in figure.

05Line Three: The Rental Income Tax Exemption

This is where the real money sits, and it's also the exemption with the biggest asterisk. CONFOTUR exempts rental income generated by the property from income tax for 15 years, counted from the completion of construction — not from your purchase date, and not from the CONFOTUR resolution date (Ley 158-01, Art. 7, as amended by Ley 195-13).

For a two-bedroom unit in Las Terrenas pulling in roughly $18,000–$20,000 gross per year at market-median short-term rental rates (Evalúa market model, May 2026), after property management and platform fees the owner is typically looking at something in the $13,000–$15,000 net range. Individuals pay Dominican income tax on that on a progressive 0/15/20/25% scale with an annual exemption around $6,700; a company structure (SRL) pays a flat 27%. Using a simplified 20% effective rate as a midpoint, that's roughly $3,000 a year in tax the CONFOTUR owner doesn't pay. Over 15 years — and assuming rental income stays roughly flat, which is a real assumption, not a guarantee — that's approximately $45,000.

Add it up and a fully-rented $300,000 CONFOTUR unit is looking at roughly $71,700 in total exemptions across all three categories ($9,000 + $17,700 + $45,000). A personal-use-only unit, with no rental income to exempt, is looking at roughly $26,700 — the transfer tax waiver plus the IPI break, nothing more. That's a $45,000 gap, and it's entirely about whether you rent the place.

06Does CONFOTUR Transfer to a Resale Buyer?

No. Dominican counsel has confirmed that DGII grants CONFOTUR exemptions only to the party who buys directly from the classified developer, and Ley 158-01's Article 4 Párrafo IV explicitly excludes later transfers to third parties. If you're buying a five-year-old unit from someone who bought it new, budget the full 3% transfer tax and full IPI as if CONFOTUR never existed for your purchase.

There's a legitimate structural workaround worth knowing about, though it requires real legal diligence: if the unit is owned by an SRL (a Dominican limited company) rather than by an individual, the developer sells the property to that SRL, which holds the title and the exemptions. The SRL's shareholders can then sell their shares to a new buyer without the property itself changing hands — meaning the exemptions arguably stay intact because ownership of the company changed, not ownership of the real estate. This is a recognized structure, but it is not something to attempt without your own Dominican attorney confirming the mechanics apply to your specific case. Do not treat pre-completion contract assignments as an equivalent shortcut — counsel has flagged those as potentially simulated transactions that expose the seller to tax-evasion liability.

For a deeper look at how ownership structures interact with DR tax exposure generally, our guide on fideicomiso trusts for DR property covers a related but distinct structuring question.

07Watch for These Common CONFOTUR Pitches

• "CONFOTUR saves you $50K+" with no breakdown. Ask for the three-line decomposition every time — transfer tax, IPI, income tax — and verify each against the purchase price and rental assumptions being used.
• A 10-year exemption period. That's the original 2001 figure. Ley 195-13 raised it to 15 years in 2013. Any current marketing citing 10 years is either outdated or citing the wrong law.
• The IPI exemption calculated on full property value. It only applies above the ~$182,000 threshold. A developer who quotes "1% x $300,000 x 15 years" is overstating your savings by roughly $28,000.
• No CONFOTUR resolution number provided. Classification is granted project-by-project by the Consejo de Fomento Turístico, never automatically by location. If a developer can't produce a resolution number, there is no exemption to inherit — verify directly with CONFOTUR before signing anything.
• The clock starting at your purchase date. It starts at completion of construction and equipping of the project (Ley 158-01, Art. 7). For pre-construction, that could be years after you sign.

Before committing to any pre-sale contract, run the numbers through our CONFOTUR Savings Calculator, which decomposes the exemption the way this article does rather than spitting out one inflated total. It's also worth cross-referencing the underlying property data through the Evalua Property Analyzer to confirm the purchase price you're being quoted matches area norms — some developers pad the base price to compensate for the "free" tax savings they're advertising.

08A Note on the 2026 Tax Reform

Ley 30-26, passed in June 2026, is phasing in changes to several Dominican tax rates over the coming years, including a reported restriction on stacking multiple incentive regimes for the same economic activity. CONFOTUR has not been cut or repealed, and existing classified projects are likely protected under Ley 158-01's own transition provisions — but the scope of the new stacking restriction hasn't been clarified by regulation yet. Confirm current rates and any project-specific implications with your own Dominican tax attorney before finalizing a purchase, particularly for anything closing after 2026.

09Frequently Asked Questions

Does CONFOTUR eliminate property tax entirely?

No. It exempts you from IPI only on the portion of value above the annual threshold (~$182,000 for 2026), and only for 15 years from construction completion. After the exemption expires, or on value below the threshold, standard IPI rules apply.

Can I get CONFOTUR benefits on a resale property?

Generally no. Ley 158-01's Article 4 Párrafo IV excludes third-party transfers from the exemptions, and DGII does not recognize them in favor of resale buyers. A legitimate exception exists if the property is held through an SRL and you buy the company shares rather than the real estate directly — confirm this structure with your own attorney.

Does the 15-year clock start when I buy or when I sign the contract?

Neither. It starts when construction and equipping of the project is completed, per Ley 158-01 Article 7. For pre-construction purchases, this means your effective exemption window may start well after your purchase date.

Do I still get the income tax exemption if I never rent the property?

No. The rental income tax exemption only applies to income the property actually generates. A personal-use-only property has no rental income to exempt, so that portion of CONFOTUR's value doesn't apply to you.

How do I verify a project actually has CONFOTUR status?

Ask for the CONFOTUR resolution number and verify it directly with CONFOTUR or an independent Dominican attorney. Classification is granted project-by-project — it's never automatic based on location or developer reputation.

Is CONFOTUR the same everywhere in the Dominican Republic?

Since Ley 195-13, CONFOTUR is available nationwide rather than limited to specific tourist zones — but each project still needs individual classification by the Consejo de Fomento Turístico. Location alone doesn't guarantee eligibility.

The next twelve months will likely bring clearer regulatory guidance on how Ley 30-26's incentive-stacking language applies to CONFOTUR specifically — worth watching if you're weighing a purchase that closes in 2027 or later. Until then, the safest approach is treating every CONFOTUR pitch as three separate claims to verify rather than one number to trust. Run your own numbers, ask for the resolution, and use tools like the Evalua Property Analyzer to sanity-check the base price before the tax savings get layered on top.