Individual vs SRL vs CONFOTUR Entity: $400K Las Terrenas Tax Math

A $400,000 condo in Las Terrenas costs exactly the same whether the deed says your name, a Dominican SRL, or a CONFOTUR-classified company — right up until the first tax bill arrives. Then the three structures diverge by tens of thousands of dollars over a holding period, and almost no listing tells you which one you're being sold into.

This is the comparison most buyers never see done properly, because most people advising them profit from the sale, not from the structuring. Below is the same $400,000 Las Terrenas purchase run through three ownership paths — individual name, a standard Dominican SRL, and an SRL holding a CONFOTUR-classified unit — with every tax line shown, not just the total.

01What's the Real Tax Difference Between Individual and SRL Ownership in the DR?

Individual ownership pays personal income tax on rental profit (progressive rates up to 25%) and 27% capital gains tax on an inflation-adjusted gain at sale. An SRL pays a flat 27% corporate rate on both rental profit and capital gains, but is also subject to a 1% annual asset tax as a minimum tax — creditable against income tax, so you pay the higher of the two, never both. Neither structure exempts you from the 3% transfer tax or the 1% IPI above the ~$182,000 threshold; only a CONFOTUR-classified entity gets those breaks.

Numbers That Matter:

• $400,000 — purchase price used throughout this comparison
• 27% — flat corporate income tax rate on SRL net rental income and capital gains (Ley 253-12, Art. 11, amending Código Tributario Art. 297)
• 1% — SRL minimum asset tax on total balance-sheet assets, including real estate

Individual Ownership: The Default Path

Buying in your own name is the simplest route, and it's what most lifestyle buyers do without thinking twice. You pay the standard 3% transfer tax at purchase, 1% IPI annually on the value above the $182,000 threshold, and — if you rent the unit — progressive personal income tax on net rental profit, with roughly RD$416,000 ($6,700) exempted each year. At sale, capital gains tax is 27% of the gain, calculated against your inflation-adjusted cost basis rather than the raw purchase price, which matters more than most sellers explain.

On a $400,000 property with no CONFOTUR classification: transfer tax is $12,000 at closing, and annual IPI is 1% × ($400,000 − $182,000) = $2,180. If the unit nets $15,000 a year in rental profit after expenses, individual owners fall into the middle of the progressive scale — call it roughly 15–20% effective on that bracket, or $2,250–$3,000 a year, though the exact bracket depends on your total Dominican-source income.

How Does an SRL Change the Tax Picture?

An SRL pays a flat 27% on rental profit and capital gains instead of the individual's progressive scale, but adds a 1% minimum asset tax that individuals never pay. On the same $400,000 property generating $15,000 net rental profit, the SRL owes $4,050 in corporate income tax versus roughly $2,250–$3,000 for an individual in a lower bracket — the SRL only wins on income tax at higher profit levels where the individual's rate climbs toward 25%.

The real complication is the asset tax under Título V of the Código Tributario. It's charged at 1% of total company assets — explicitly including real estate — but it's a minimum tax credited against income tax due, not an additional bill stacked on top (DGII, Código Tributario Título V). On a $400,000 asset base, that's a $4,000 floor. If your income tax liability is below that floor, you pay the difference up to $4,000; if it's above, you simply pay the income tax. Either way, an SRL rarely pays less than roughly 1% of asset value annually in combined tax, which is a real cost individuals structured with a lower rental profit can sometimes avoid.

Where an SRL genuinely earns its complexity is capital gains at scale, liability shielding, and — critically — the CONFOTUR path, which requires a corporate vehicle in the first place.

02Where CONFOTUR Actually Changes the Math

CONFOTUR doesn't attach to a location or a price point — it attaches to a specific project that has received a resolution from the Consejo de Fomento Turístico, and the exemptions only reach the party who buys directly from that classified developer (Ley 158-01, Art. 4, as amended by Ley 195-13). Buy through a CONFOTUR-classified entity and three things change relative to the standard SRL above:

1. Transfer tax — waived once, at purchase. On $400,000, that's $12,000 saved immediately, not recurring.
2. IPI — fully exempt for 15 years, counted from completion of the project's construction and equipping, not from your purchase date or the resolution date (Ley 158-01, Art. 7, as amended by Ley 195-13, Art. 9). On this property, that's $2,180/year × 15 = ~$32,700 in avoided IPI.
3. Rental income tax — exempt for the same 15-year window. At $15,000 net rental and a 20% effective rate used as a simplified midpoint, that's ~$3,000/year × 15 = ~$45,000.

Add it up and a fully-rented CONFOTUR unit at this price point saves roughly $89,700 over 15 years versus the standard SRL path — $12,000 + $32,700 + $45,000. If the property is personal-use only with no rental income, the total savings drop to roughly $44,700, since the income tax exemption never applies. Our CONFOTUR Decompiled article breaks this three-line method down in more depth if you want to run it against a different price point.

That last point deserves its own section, because it's the single most common misunderstanding in the Las Terrenas resale market.

Does CONFOTUR Status Survive a Resale?

No. Ley 158-01, Art. 4, Párrafo IV expressly excludes "any subsequent transfer to third-party acquirers" from the exemptions, and Dominican counsel confirms DGII applies this literally — the benefits attach only to the first buyer who invests directly with the developer. A second owner buying a CONFOTUR unit on the resale market owes the full 3% transfer tax and the standard annual IPI, with no exemption, regardless of what the original resolution said.

There is a legitimate workaround, but it's structural, not automatic: if the developer sold the unit to an SRL rather than to an individual, that SRL retains the exemptions and the title, and its shareholders can sell their shares to a new buyer instead of transferring the property itself. The real estate never changes hands, so the exclusion never triggers. This is common in practice, but it must be set up correctly from day one — confirm the exact structure with your own Dominican attorney before assuming it applies to any specific listing. Never accept a pre-completion contract assignment as equivalent; counsel warns those can be treated as simulated acts to dodge the resale exclusion, exposing the seller to tax-evasion liability.

Our pre-construction CONFOTUR verification checklist covers how to confirm a project's resolution is real before you commit — a step too many buyers skip because the sales deck says "CONFOTUR approved" in bold type.

03Side-By-Side: The Same $400K Property, Three Ways

Use our Ownership Cost Calculator to run your own property value and rental assumptions through this same logic rather than relying on the round numbers above.

04What This Means for Buyers

If you're buying for personal use only, with no rental plans, the individual path is usually simplest and the SRL's asset tax becomes a pure cost with no offsetting benefit. If you're renting seriously and the unit qualifies for CONFOTUR, the entity structure pays for its own complexity many times over — but only as the first buyer, and only if you've verified the resolution actually exists rather than taking a broker's word for it.

Investors comparing this decision against actual rental performance should also weigh location — a CONFOTUR unit in a weak rental market saves less in absolute terms than the same structure in Las Terrenas or Punta Cana, where occupancy supports the income-tax exemption doing real work. Our Samaná vs Punta Cana yield comparison is worth reading alongside this one before you commit to a structure and a location together.

One more wrinkle: Ley 30-26, promulgated 18 June 2026, is actively phasing in changes to the transfer tax, capital gains regime, and rental income tax over 2027–2028. The rates modeled here are the ones in force for 2026. Confirm the current rate with your own Dominican attorney before relying on any multi-year projection past this year — Evalúa has not yet had counsel confirm exactly how each provision lands on a foreign buyer.

05Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Assuming CONFOTUR transfers with the deed on resale. It doesn't — Ley 158-01's first-acquirer exclusion is explicit, and a resale buyer who assumes otherwise will owe the full 3% transfer tax and annual IPI they didn't budget for.
2. Setting up an SRL for a personal-use property with no rental income. The 1% minimum asset tax becomes a pure cost with nothing to offset it, since there's no income tax to credit it against.
3. Treating the 27% corporate rate as automatically cheaper than individual rates. At lower rental profit levels, an individual's progressive bracket with its exempt floor can beat the SRL's flat rate plus asset tax floor.
4. Skipping verification of the CONFOTUR resolution before buying. A developer's marketing material is not a legal document — ask for the actual resolution number and confirm it with MITUR before assuming the exemptions apply.
5. Ignoring the inflation-adjusted cost basis on capital gains. Both individual and SRL sellers can meaningfully reduce their taxable gain by properly adjusting the original purchase price for inflation — many sellers overpay because their accountant used the nominal figure.
6. Building a five-year projection on 2027–2028 tax rates. Ley 30-26 is still being phased in and several rates are not yet settled; model only the current year with confidence.

06Frequently Asked Questions

Is an SRL always better than individual ownership for DR property?

No. An SRL only clearly wins at higher rental income levels where an individual's progressive tax rate would exceed 27%, or when the SRL structure is required to access CONFOTUR. For personal-use property or modest rental income, the SRL's 1% minimum asset tax often makes it more expensive than owning in your own name.

Can a foreigner own a Dominican SRL?

Yes. Foreigners can be shareholders and managers of a Dominican SRL with no residency requirement and no local partner obligation — the same freehold rights extend to corporate ownership as to individual ownership under Article 249 of the Constitution.

Does CONFOTUR exempt me from capital gains tax?

No. CONFOTUR exempts income tax on rental profit and the IPI for 15 years, plus the transfer tax once at purchase — it does not exempt capital gains tax at sale, which remains 27% on the gain regardless of ownership structure.

How do I confirm a property actually has CONFOTUR status?

Ask the developer for the specific resolution number issued by the Consejo de Fomento Turístico, then verify it directly rather than relying on marketing claims. Our pre-construction verification checklist walks through the exact steps.

What happens to CONFOTUR benefits if I buy a resale unit?

They do not transfer to you as a resale buyer under Ley 158-01, Art. 4, Párrafo IV — you'll owe the standard 3% transfer tax and annual IPI. The only workaround is buying the shares of the SRL that holds the original exemption, which requires attorney-verified structuring, not a simple deed transfer.

Should I structure my purchase as a company if I'm paying in cryptocurrency?

The ownership structure question is separate from the payment method question, though both require careful legal handling. See our guide on buying DR property with cryptocurrency for what's actually legal on the payment side.

07The Bottom Line

Run your own numbers before choosing a structure — the right answer depends entirely on whether you're renting, how much you expect to net, and whether the specific project you're buying actually holds a CONFOTUR resolution rather than just a marketing claim. Evalúa's Property Analyzer can model a specific listing's numbers against these three structures so you're not guessing at which one wins for your situation. For deeper reading on how the tax breaks decompose line by line, our legal category has more on the mechanics behind each figure used here.

This article is educational and does not constitute legal or tax advice. Dominican tax law, particularly under the ongoing Ley 30-26 reform, changes in ways that affect these calculations. Consult a licensed Dominican attorney and accountant before choosing an ownership structure.