Journal9 octobre 2026 · Confotur · Justian Hanke

CONFOTUR After Law 30-26: What Changed and What Is Still Open

Short answer: Law 30-26, promulgated on June 18, 2026, did not repeal or rewrite the CONFOTUR law (158-01), according to the legal commentary reviewed here. It added one rule: a taxpayer cannot use more than one incentive regime for the same activity or investment. What that rule means in practice depends on regulations that, in the latest sources, had not been issued.

General information, not legal or tax advice. A Dominican attorney should review your specific project.

What does Law 30-26 say that touches CONFOTUR?

One sentence in Article 1. It adds Article 2-1 to the Dominican Tax Code, which lets a taxpayer choose the most convenient tax regime but prohibits benefiting at the same time from more than one incentive regime for the same economic activity, investment or operation. Dominican real estate outlet El Inmobiliario and the law firm Pellerano & Herrera both read it the same way: CONFOTUR is not repealed and its articles are not modified.

The rule aims at layering. A developer could, for example, claim CONFOTUR benefits and also another special regime on the same project, or combine CONFOTUR with the new accelerated-depreciation provision of the reform. That now means choosing one.

Do CONFOTUR buyer benefits survive the reform?

On the evidence available, yes, but without a guarantee. The buyer-facing benefits are the waiver of the 3% transfer tax and the exemption from annual property tax (IPI) for the first buyer of a classified project. Law 158-01 itself, in Article 5, prohibits new tax burdens during a project's exemption period. El Inmobiliario notes that already classified projects can invoke that protection, and adds that how clearly the shield works for recently approved or pending projects remains uncertain.

Pellerano & Herrera says the 15-year period after completion persists for previously classified projects, and that previously classified projects may have stronger protection than those still under review. Read that as a reason to check a project's classification date. The ministry's public lookup at confotur.mitur.gob.do shows each project's classification, and our CONFOTUR tax benefits overview explains the basics.

What is still open?

Quite a lot, and the sources say so themselves. As of El Inmobiliario's article of June 26, 2026, these points awaited executive regulations and DGII guidance:

What counts as the "same economic activity" or "same operation." The law does not define either phrase. Mixed-use projects, where a hotel, residences and commercial space share a site, are the obvious test case.
How to prove which regime applies. No advance certification mechanism exists, so developers cannot get a binding answer before they commit.
How the protection of Article 5 interacts with the new rule for projects that were only recently approved or are still pending.

I found no source dated after late June that reports these regulations as issued. Absence of evidence is not proof they do not exist, so ask your attorney whether any have appeared.

One more tension is worth stating. On July 3, 2026, the hotel association Asonahores publicly defended CONFOTUR as a regional competitiveness tool and warned that any change needs careful evaluation, citing Puerto Plata's earlier experience when incentives were removed and investment fell. Earlier, in October 2024, a Fiscal Modernization bill submitted to Congress had proposed eliminating seven articles or paragraphs of the CONFOTUR law, including the income-tax exemption and the ban on new taxes. The sources I reviewed do not say what happened to that bill. They do say Law 30-26, as enacted, did not repeal 158-01. If you read older articles saying CONFOTUR was abolished, check the date.

Which other changes in Law 30-26 matter to a property buyer?

Several do, though none of them is a CONFOTUR rule.

Change	What it does	Source note
Capital gains on real estate sold by individuals	Flat 10% final tax on the gain, replacing a rate most sources put at 25%	KPMG, July 2026
Exemptions to that tax	Primary residence with proceeds reinvested within six months; primary residence of a seller aged 65 or older	KPMG, July 2026
Mortgage registration tax	2% falls to 1% in 2027, then ends in 2028	KPMG, July 2026
Withholding on rent paid to individuals	Rises from 10% to 15%	KPMG, July 2026

For a CONFOTUR buyer, the capital gains rule is the one with weight. The CONFOTUR benefits do not transfer to the next owner, so a resale does not carry them. The 10% tax applies to the gain, calculated from the sale price minus the inflation-adjusted acquisition cost. Trade press has flagged that the details of the cost basis, especially for older properties, were still awaiting DGII regulation in the reform's first weeks. Most buyers from the US or Canada hold the property as a second home, so the primary-residence exemptions probably do not help them, and that reading needs your attorney's confirmation.

None of the sources I reviewed reports a change to the 3% transfer tax itself or to the IPI rate, but I did not find an official statement confirming that nothing changed there either. Our cost of owning property in the Dominican Republic guide lists the recurring costs to re-check each year.

What should buyers do differently now?

Four practical changes, none of them dramatic.

Ask for the classification resolution and its date. A project classified before the reform has a clearer legal position than one still waiting.
Ask whether the project also uses another incentive regime. If the developer says yes, ask how the stacking rule applies and get the answer in writing.
Put the tax assumption in the contract. The contract should say which taxes apply to your unit, and what happens if an exemption is denied or reduced.
Do not price the exemption as certain. Run the numbers with and without it. We show how in a separate worked example of CONFOTUR savings over 15 years.

If you own or plan to own more than one Dominican property, or you hold property through a company, the questions multiply. Our general buying property guide is the place to start.

Frequently asked questions

Did Law 30-26 cancel CONFOTUR? Not according to the sources reviewed. Pellerano & Herrera and El Inmobiliario both state that the CONFOTUR law was not repealed or modified. A different, earlier bill from 2024 proposed eliminating parts of it, so check the date on anything you read.

Will I still get the transfer tax and IPI exemption on a CONFOTUR condo? The buyer-facing exemptions remain on the books for classified projects, protected in principle by Article 5 of Law 158-01. Whether the new one-regime rule affects a specific project is an open question for the developer's and your attorney's reading.

Does the one-incentive rule apply to me as an individual buyer? The rule is written for taxpayers and activities. The commentary focuses on developers who layer regimes. No source I found addresses an individual buyer who also holds another incentive status, such as the retiree program, so ask your attorney if that applies to you.

Is the capital gains tax now 10% on property I buy in a CONFOTUR project? For individuals selling real estate, the new flat rate is 10% on the gain, with limited exemptions. CONFOTUR does not change that, and its benefits do not pass to the next buyer.

Where can I follow the regulations? The DGII and the executive branch publish them. A Dominican real estate attorney or accountant tracks them as part of normal work.

Next step

If a listing leans on CONFOTUR, do not rely on the pitch. Ask for the resolution, the date, and written confirmation that your unit gets the transfer tax and IPI exemption, then send all three to your attorney. If you want to look at current projects first, see new developments or contact the Instyle team.