CONFOTUR law in the Dominican Republic: what buyers save and how to verify a project

What CONFOTUR is and where the law comes from

CONFOTUR stands for Consejo de Fomento Turístico, the Tourism Promotion Council. It is chaired by the Minister of Tourism and includes, among others, representatives of the ministries of Finance, Environment and Culture and of the hotel association ASONAHORES. Its job is to apply Law 158-01, passed in 2001 to attract investment to underdeveloped tourist areas and later amended by Laws 184-02, 318-04 and 195-13. The 2013 amendment extended the incentives to the whole country, so a project in Punta Cana, Samaná, Puerto Plata or La Romana can qualify if the Council approves it.

The Council does not classify people; it classifies projects: hotels and resorts, marinas, golf courses, theme parks and other tourism facilities. The law extends the exemption to the villas, condos, lots and boat slips that are part of a classified project, whether the developer operates them or sells them to buyers. Every approval is recorded in a Council resolution, either a provisional or a definitive classification, and that resolution is what opens the door to the benefits.

What the buyer gets

The law benefits individuals and companies that buy directly from the promoter or developer of an approved project, regardless of nationality. The DGII, the Dominican tax authority, recognizes two benefits for these first buyers:

• An exemption from the real estate transfer tax, which on any other purchase is 3% of the property’s value. On a US$400,000 villa, that is US$12,000 you do not pay at closing.
• An exemption from the annual real estate tax (IPI) for the project’s exemption period. The IPI is 1% a year on the part of the assessed value of your Dominican real estate above an exempt amount, set at RD$10,695,494 for 2026, about US$180,000 at late-September exchange rates. The text of the law refers to the IVSS, the older tax the IPI replaced.

The law’s other incentives, and who they are for

There is a third, lesser-known benefit: anyone with taxable income in the Dominican Republic can deduct what they invest in approved tourism projects, up to 20% of their net taxable income each year, for a maximum of five years. It helps investors who already pay tax in the country; if you live in Florida and have no Dominican taxable income, it does not help you.

The rest of the law’s exemptions, such as those from the project’s income tax, import duties on equipment and construction taxes, go to the company that develops and runs the project. They help you indirectly, because they lower the cost of building, but they do not show up on your closing statement.

How long the exemption lasts: the clock starts when construction is finished, not when you buy

Since the 2013 amendment, the exemption period is 15 years from the completion of the project’s construction and equipment. The law also gives the project a maximum of three years to begin operating continuously; if it misses that deadline, it loses the exemption automatically.

That changes what the benefit is worth depending on when you buy. Buy pre-construction and the 15 years start when the project is finished, so you get almost all of them. Buy an unsold unit from the developer six years after completion and you have nine left. That is why my first question is not “Does it have CONFOTUR?” but “Since when?”

What CONFOTUR does not cover

• Resale. The law excludes any later transfer to third parties from the benefits, so whoever buys the unit from you will pay the transfer tax. Do not add the exemption to your resale value.
• Your purchase, if it is a resale. By the same rule, if you buy from another owner rather than from the developer, the exemption does not apply, even in an approved project.
• Income tax on your rental income. The law’s income tax exemption is for the project company; how your rental income is taxed depends on how you rent, so set that up with a Dominican accountant.
• Costs that are not taxes: attorney’s fees, notary and registry fees, HOA dues and insurance.
• The quality of the project. CONFOTUR classifies a project for tax purposes; it does not guarantee construction, delivery dates or returns. Those you check through the title, the contract and the developer’s track record.

How to verify a CONFOTUR project before you sign

• Ask for the number and date of the Council resolution, and a copy. “It has CONFOTUR” in a brochure is not a document.
• Look up the project in CONFOTUR’s public search at confotur.mitur.gob.do/consulta, which filters by classification type (provisional or definitive), status (approved, rejected or postponed) and province.
• Confirm that your unit is part of what was approved. A phased development can have separate resolutions for each phase.
• Ask for the completion date, or the expected one if you buy pre-construction: that is when the 15 years begin.
• Make the contract say who applies for the exemption, by when, and who pays the 3% if it is not granted.
• Have your attorney check the resolution against the Council’s file on the project, the same way they check the title.

How the exemption is applied at closing

The exemption is not automatic. It is requested from the Ministry of Finance and Economy, which approves it and sends the authorization to the DGII; with that authorization, the DGII processes the transfer without charging the 3%, and the property is registered in your name at the Registro de Títulos, the Dominican title registry. The Ministry asks for, among other documents, the application form, the notarized purchase agreement, a copy of the certificate of title, your passport or Dominican cédula and the CONFOTUR certification (the classification resolution and the project’s construction notices). The filing fee is RD$2,000 and the Ministry quotes 15 business days.

Your attorney, or the developer’s if the contract says so, handles it as part of the closing. If nobody files for it, the DGII charges the tax as it would on any other purchase: it is due within six months of the date of the deed, and surcharges and interest apply after that. If you are still comparing areas and projects, start with the step-by-step guide to buying property in the Dominican Republic.

CONFOTUR after the 2026 tax reform (Law 30-26)

Law 30-26, the tax reform signed into law on June 18, 2026, did not repeal the CONFOTUR law. It did add a general rule to the Tax Code: no one may benefit at the same time from more than one incentive regime for the same economic activity, investment or operation. The law does not define those terms, and the regulation meant to clarify them had not been published in any official source I checked when I closed this guide. Law 158-01, for its part, forbids new tax burdens during the exemption period, which in principle protects projects that are already classified; how the two rules fit together in a new or pending project is a question for your attorney before you sign. The same law also has the Ministry of Finance and Economy review the cost-benefit study of each new classification request and, if it falls short, recommend that the Executive Branch object to it.

For buyers, here is what changes and what does not:

• The 3% transfer tax is unchanged, so the CONFOTUR exemption keeps its full value at purchase.
• The mortgage registration tax, 2% of the loan, drops to 1% in 2027 and disappears in 2028. It only matters if you finance with a Dominican bank.
• Since June 2026, when an individual sells Dominican real estate, the capital gain is taxed at a flat 10% as a single, final Dominican tax, and sellers over 65 selling their primary residence are exempt.

Is a CONFOTUR project worth paying more for? Run the numbers

A round-number example: a US$350,000 villa in Punta Cana, bought from the developer in an approved project completed the year you buy, and your only property in the country. The transfer tax exemption saves about US$10,500 at closing. For the IPI, if the official assessed value matches the price, the value above the exempt amount is about US$170,000, and 1% of that is roughly US$1,700 a year: about US$25,000 over 15 years if neither the villa’s value nor the exchange rate moved, which they will. All in, the benefit can be around US$35,000. If your unit is worth less than about US$180,000 and it is your only Dominican property, you would owe no IPI anyway, so the real saving is the 3% transfer tax.

The other half of the math is the price. Some developers build the exemption into the price per square meter, and a CONFOTUR unit that costs 10% more than a comparable one without it has lost the saving on day one. Before I trust a number, I compare the price per square meter with similar projects without CONFOTUR and with resales in the area; the vacation rental ROI calculator shows the effect on your net yield, and the Punta Cana villas for sale page explains which area fits what you want.

The mistakes I see most with CONFOTUR

• Believing the 15 years start on the day you buy.
• Assuming the exemption passes to the next buyer and adding it to the resale price.
• Accepting “it has CONFOTUR” without seeing the resolution or looking it up in the public search.
• Signing a contract that does not say who pays the 3% if the exemption is not granted.
• Paying more for the exemption, through a higher price per square meter, than it is worth.

Before you decide

This guide summarizes the law and the procedures in force as of October 2, 2026, from official sources: the text of Law 158-01 and its amendments, the DGII and the Ministry of Finance and Economy. It does not replace a Dominican attorney’s review of your purchase. On every transaction I work with local attorneys who check the title, the contract and the exemption, and I introduce you to them in our first conversation.

Frequently asked questions