Sell

What taxes do you pay when you sell property in Venezuela?

By Romulo Felizola · Published November 8, 2026

Official read in the law or the Gazette. Reported from law firms, press or operators, with their date. Unconfirmed no reliable source: check before deciding.

When you sell property in Venezuela, the main tax is an income-tax advance of 0.5% of the sale price, paid by the seller with the SENIAT Forma 33 before the deed is signed. A registered main home is exempt. The advance is credited against your annual income tax, where the gain is taxed. On top of that, the seller usually pays the broker and brings the municipal clearances; the buyer usually pays the registry fees.

The 0.5% income-tax advance (Forma 33)

The rule is article 86 of the income tax law (Decree 2.163, Gazette 6.210 Extraordinary, 30 December 2015). Official Older texts number it article 89; that is the 2007 numbering.

Rate: 0.5% “calculated on the sale price”. Official
Who pays: the seller self-assesses and pays it, and the receipt must be shown “before the signing” of the deed. Official
It is an advance: it is credited against the tax on the seller’s final return. Official
Registrars check it: if they do not demand it, they are jointly liable for the tax. Official In practice, no Forma 33, no registration. Reported
How: Forma 33 has been filed electronically on the SENIAT portal since 2022 and paid at authorized banks. Reported

Exemptions from the advance

Sales under 3,000 tax units. Official With the tax unit at Bs 43 since 3 June 2025, that is Bs 129,000, which in practice covers almost no real sale. Reported We found no 2026 change to the tax unit. Unconfirmed
Your main home, if you show the registrar the certificate of registration as main home (Registro de Vivienda Principal) before signing. Official Whether that SENIAT registry works the same way in 2026 is not confirmed. Unconfirmed

Watch out: some 2026 guides say the base is “the higher of the agreed price and the cadastral value”, or that you have 30 days to pay after generating the form. Each claim comes from a single non-official source. Unconfirmed The law says “price of the sale”. Another guide says there is no income tax if you sell for less than you paid; that contradicts the fixed 0.5% advance. Unconfirmed Ask an accountant before relying on any of them.

The final income tax on the gain

The advance is not the end. The gross income from the sale goes into your global taxable income for the year. Official Your cost is the value at which the property entered your assets, plus improvements and registry fees paid, subject to inflation-adjustment rules (art. 23). Official The gain is taxed with the individual rate table; we did not read that table, so we give no rate. Unconfirmed If the final tax is lower than the advance, the difference would be a credit.

The main-home rule (article 17)

The gain on the sale of your main home is left out of gross income if: Official

it was registered as your main home with the tax authority, and
you reinvest in another registered main home within two years after the sale, or in the year before it. If you reinvest only part, only that part is excluded.
If it was not registered, you must prove it was your main home for the four years before the sale.
If you are over 60, you do not need to reinvest. Spouses without separation of property count as one taxpayer; one of them meeting the age is enough.

You must also notify SENIAT that the sale was to replace your home. Official Even when the advance is exempt, the final tax on the gain is not automatically gone. Reported

Other costs for the seller

Broker: 3% to 5% of the price, usually paid by the seller. No legal rate exists. Reported
Municipal property tax and clearance: an annual tax set by each municipality; the registry law requires the municipal tax clearance. Official Rates and the cost of the clearance depend on each ordinance; we did not read one. Unconfirmed
Registry fees: usually the buyer’s, by custom. Reported The law sets 0.5% up to 500 petros, 1% from 501 to 1,000 and 2% above, in petros. Official The petro stopped operating in January 2024 and we found no official act since 2022 on how registries convert it today. Unconfirmed Commercial guides disagree: about US$56.6 per petro (Zonaven, October 2026) or about US$154 (Mettryc, September 2025), nearly three times apart. Reported
IGTF: 3% on payments in foreign currency in some cases (Decree 4.972, 2024). Reported Whether it applies to a sale between two individuals is unclear; it normally falls on the buyer.

Fees charged in bolívares follow the BCV exchange rate today.

Example: selling a US$60,000 apartment

Our calculation from the figures above, for an individual seller, not a registered main home:

Item	Rule	Amount
Income-tax advance (Forma 33) Official	0.5% × 60,000	US$300
Same, if it is your registered main home Official	exempt	US$0
Broker Reported	3–5%	US$1,800–3,000
Municipal and utility clearances Unconfirmed	by municipality	variable
Total for the seller		about US$2,100–3,300

The final income tax on the gain cannot be calculated without your purchase cost. The buyer’s side of the same deal is in buying property in Venezuela.

Watch out: do not under-declare the price. The declared price is the base of the 0.5% and of the registry fee. Between relatives up to the fourth degree of blood or second by marriage, a sale is presumed to be a gift if the market value exceeds the price by 20% or more (inheritance law, art. 70), and gifts pay gift tax before the deed is signed. Official

Selling an inherited property

You cannot register the sale until the inheritance is settled with SENIAT:

Declare the inheritance
The law gives 180 days from the opening of the succession (art. 27). Official Lawyers and press read it as business days; another source says calendar days. Unconfirmed The declaration is filed online. Reported
Pay the tax
Rates go from 1% to 25% for children, parents and spouse, and up to 55% for unrelated heirs (art. 7). Official Shares of children, parents and spouse up to 75 tax units are exempt (art. 8), and the family home passing to them is left out of the base (art. 10). Official Many single-home inheritances end up with zero tax, but the declaration is still required.
Get the clearance certificate
SENIAT issues it within 3 days after payment (art. 42). Without it, registrars and notaries cannot register the sale (art. 51). Official
Then sell
The sale pays the same 0.5% advance as any other, unless it is the heir's registered main home.

Heirs living in the US: see selling property in Venezuela from abroad.

US taxes, and any 2026 reform

These guides cover Venezuelan taxes only. Your country of residence may also tax the sale or count the Venezuelan tax paid; ask a tax professional there. In Venezuela, we found no reform published in 2026 that changes the 0.5% advance or the 3% IGTF. SENIAT has announced a reform of the tax code, income tax and VAT, but as of November 2026 a consultancy reports “no text, draft or official date”; until it is published in the Gazette, the current laws apply. Reported

We are not accountants or lawyers. The amounts that count are the ones on the SENIAT form and the registry’s payment slip.

Questions people ask

How much tax do you pay when you sell a house in Venezuela?

An individual seller pays an income-tax advance of 0.5% of the sale price with the SENIAT Forma 33 before signing the deed, under article 86 of the 2015 income tax law. It is an advance, not the final tax: it is credited against the seller's annual income tax return, where the gain is taxed. A registered main home is exempt from the advance.

Is the sale of my main home tax-free in Venezuela?

The sale of a main home registered with the tax authority is exempt from the 0.5% advance. Under article 17, the gain is left out of gross income if you reinvest it in another main home within two years (or in the year before the sale), or if you are over 60. If the home was not registered, you must prove it was your main home for the previous four years.

Who pays the registry fees, buyer or seller?

By custom the buyer pays the registry fees, and the seller pays the broker's commission and brings the tax and municipal clearances. It is custom, not law, so it can be negotiated in the contract.

Can I sell an inherited property before the inheritance tax is settled?

No. Article 51 of the inheritance tax law forbids registrars and notaries from registering the transfer of inherited property without the SENIAT inheritance tax clearance certificate, unless the Ministry authorizes it. First file the inheritance declaration, pay, and get the certificate.

Sources checked on November 8, 2026

Something changed or looks wrong? Send us a correction.