CONFOTUR Approved Projects: How to Check a Project's Status

Short answer: A listing that says "CONFOTUR" proves nothing until you have checked the project's classification yourself. The Ministry of Tourism runs a public lookup at confotur.mitur.gob.do/consulta that shows the council's decision and status per project. Then ask the developer for the classification resolution and have your attorney confirm that your unit is covered and how much of the exemption period is left.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice. A Dominican attorney should review your specific project and contract.

What does "CONFOTUR approved" actually mean?

It means the Consejo de Fomento Turístico, the council behind Law 158-01, has classified one specific tourism project and granted it tax incentives. The classification belongs to the project, not to the town. Sosúa, Cabarete and Puerto Plata all lie inside the original tourism pole declared in 1972, so projects here can apply. That says nothing about whether a given building did.

For a buyer, two benefits matter. Under the official CONFOTUR benefits page, the incentives include exclusion from real estate transfer taxes and from the annual property tax (IPI) for the exemption period. Our CONFOTUR tax benefits guide explains how those two work for an individual buyer. This article covers the step before that: finding out whether the benefit exists at all.

On the north coast it usually does not. Official 2023 to 2024 figures reported through Dominican press show 117 approved tourism projects nationally, of which 6 were in Puerto Plata (5 of them real estate), against 68 in the Punta Cana and La Altagracia area. Treat any CONFOTUR claim on a north-coast listing as unproven until you have seen the paper.

How do you check a project on the official CONFOTUR lookup?

Use the ministry's own consultation page, not a brochure. The steps:

1. Get the exact legal name of the project and the developer company from the seller, ideally from the sales contract draft rather than the marketing name.
2. Open the CONFOTUR site (confotur.mitur.gob.do) and choose the consultation tool.
3. Filter by classification type (provisional or definitive), status (approved, rejected or postponed) and province, or use the general search field.
4. Read the row: application number, project name, classification, council decision, province, evaluation result and status.
5. Screenshot or print the result with the date, and give it to your attorney.

Two honest limits. First, the page I reviewed lists filters and columns but does not say which identifiers the search field accepts, so try the project name, the developer's name and any resolution number you have. Second, the lookup shows the project, not your unit and not your purchase. A missing result does not prove a project is unclassified either: names change between marketing and filing. If the project does not appear, ask the developer for the application number and ask the ministry directly. The CONFOTUR office lists confotur@mitur.gob.do and 809-221-4660 as contacts.

Provisional or definitive: which status counts?

The lookup distinguishes provisional from definitive classification, and the ministry publishes separate requirement lists for each. The definitive list is much more demanding and includes a current environmental authorization, title documents or purchase options for the land, municipal and state approvals, a non-objection resolution on land use from the Ministry of Tourism, and a signed economic and financial analysis.

What I could not find on the official pages is a plain statement of what a provisional classification legally grants to a buyer compared with a definitive one, or how long it lasts. A law-firm article on tourism investment mentions that over fifty projects received definitive classification in 2024, which tells you definitive status is something projects reach in stages. Do not assume the two are equivalent. Ask your attorney to state in writing which one the project holds and what the resolution says.

Which documents should you ask the developer for?

Ask for documents that a classified project has by definition. A short list:

Document	Why it matters
Council resolution classifying the project	Names the project, the company and the classification type
Date construction was or will be completed	The exemption period runs from completion, not from your purchase
Description of what the classification covers	Mixed-use projects may have units, hotel areas and commercial space treated differently
Written statement that the first buyer receives the transfer-tax and IPI exemption	The benefit is for the first buyer only and does not pass to later owners
Land title and permits	The same documents the ministry itself requires before classifying

A developer who has the status will have these papers ready. Slow or vague answers are information.

Does the project's status cover your unit?

Not automatically. A law-firm analysis of CONFOTUR under the 2026 tax reform warns buyers to verify that advertised tax benefits match the actual classification and its conditions, and notes that not all units receive identical treatment in a project. The practical consequence: the purchase contract should say which tax treatment applies to your unit and who pays if the exemption is later denied.

Timing is the second trap. The official benefits page describes a 15-year exemption period counted from construction completion, and gives the operator three years to start operations after completion. A buyer who signs in year ten of that window does not get a fresh 15 years. How the remaining time applies to an individual buyer's IPI is a question for your attorney, and I found no source that answers it in plain terms.

There is also a source conflict on duration. The original text of Law 158-01 (Article 7) says ten years from completion of construction. Law 195-13, which amended the law, is reported to have raised it to fifteen. Some law-firm summaries still say ten. Use the figure written in your project's own resolution.

Is a CONFOTUR property always the better buy?

No, and the reason is arithmetic. The exemption saves the 3% transfer tax and the annual 1% IPI on value above the exempt threshold (RD$10,695,494 for 2026, roughly US$181,000 at 59 pesos per dollar). A buyer of a condo near that price owes little IPI anyway. A separate article on CONFOTUR savings works through the numbers. Weigh the savings against price, location and build quality, not instead of them.

New construction also carries its own risks. Our guide to pre-construction purchases in the Dominican Republic covers payment schedules and delivery.

What changed in 2026?

Law 30-26, in force since June 18, 2026, did not repeal Law 158-01 according to the commentary I reviewed. It added a rule against benefiting from more than one incentive regime for the same activity or investment. A separate article covers CONFOTUR after Law 30-26 in detail. For checking a project, the takeaway is simple: ask whether the developer also uses another incentive regime on the same project.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a public list of CONFOTUR approved projects? The CONFOTUR site offers a searchable consultation page with classification type, status and province filters. The home page itself does not display a full list. Dominican media also publish council approvals in batches, but the official lookup is the reference.

Does a CONFOTUR project in Sosúa or Cabarete mean my purchase is tax exempt? No. The classification is granted to a project, and the benefit for a buyer depends on your unit, your purchase being the first sale, and the exemption period. Your attorney should confirm all three before you sign.

Can I buy a resale unit in a CONFOTUR project and get the exemptions? Sources agree that the benefits apply to the first buyer only. A later buyer is generally responsible for the taxes. Confirm this against the specific resolution.

Who can confirm CONFOTUR status officially? The Ministry of Tourism's CONFOTUR office. The site lists the contact details above. A Dominican real estate attorney can also request and read the resolution on your behalf.

What should I do if the developer says the application is pending? Treat the exemption as not yet existing. Ask for the application number, look it up, and negotiate the contract so your price does not depend on tax savings that may not arrive.

Next step

Before you pay a deposit, send the project's legal name to your attorney with one request: get the classification resolution and confirm in writing what it covers. If you want to compare projects first, browse new developments on the north coast or contact the Instyle team.

Sources

1. Ministerio de Turismo, CONFOTUR home and consultation tool: https://confotur.mitur.gob.do/ and https://confotur.mitur.gob.do/consulta/
2. CONFOTUR, benefits of Law 158-01: https://confotur.mitur.gob.do/beneficios/
3. CONFOTUR, requirements for definitive classification: https://confotur.mitur.gob.do/requisitos-clasificacion-definitiva/
4. CONFOTUR, requirements for provisional classification: https://confotur.mitur.gob.do/requisitos-clasificacion-provisional/
5. Ley 158-01 de Incentivo Turístico (original text, Art. 5 and 7): https://www.aduanas.gob.do/media/jdyg1olk/158-01_de_incentivo_turistico.pdf
6. Ley 195-13, modification of Ley 158-01 (Art. 7, fifteen years): https://drlawyer.com/espanol/?p=442
7. Acento, "Proyectos inmobiliarios representan dos tercios de las aprobaciones de Confotur": https://acento.com.do/economia/proyectos-inmobiliarios-representan-dos-tercios-de-las-aprobaciones-de-confotur-9455344.html
8. Pellerano & Herrera, "CONFOTUR Law No. 158-01 under Law No. 30-26": https://phlaw.com/confotur-law-no-158-01-under-law-no-30-26-implications-for-developers-and-investors/
9. Pellerano & Herrera, "Inversión turística en RD: 5 claves legales y fiscales": https://phlaw.com/inversion-turistica-rd/
10. DRListings, "CONFOTUR in the Dominican Republic: Tax Benefits": https://www.drlistings.com/blog/confotur-in-the-dominican-republic-tax-benefits/
11. CLIC Inmobiliaria, "Impuestos inmobiliarios en República Dominicana 2026" (IPI threshold): https://clicinmobiliaria.com/articulos/guia-inmobiliaria/impuestos-inmobiliarios-rd-2026-ipi-transferencia-guia
12. Executive Decree 2125 tourism pole, summary (Costa Ámbar): http://mercadoturisticouapa.blogspot.com/2013/05/2do-polo-turistico-costa-ambar-o-puerto.html
13. Infobae, exchange rate September 16, 2026: https://www.infobae.com/noticias/2026/09/16/precio-del-dolar-hoy-en-republica-dominicana-cotizacion-de-cierre-del-16-de-septiembre/

Last reviewed: October 1, 2026