Taxes when buying or selling a home in Cuba

Two taxes are triggered every time a home changes hands between private individuals in Cuba, one on each side of the table. They are simple in structure — 4% each — and complicated in exactly one respect: the figure the 4% is applied to is not necessarily the price you agreed.

That detail catches out most first-time sellers, and it got considerably more expensive in November 2024. This guide explains who pays what, on which value, and when.

The two taxes

The buyer pays the Tax on the Transmission of Property and Inheritances. The seller pays Personal Income Tax on the income obtained from the transfer. Both are set at a reference rate of 4%, so in a straightforward sale each party pays the same amount.

A higher rate applies to anyone transferring more than one home in the same calendar year — the system is designed to tax the occasional family transaction lightly and repeated trading less so. If that is your case, ask the ONAT office for the applicable scale before you sign.

The base: your price, or the reference value — whichever is higher

The 4% is not applied to whatever the parties choose to write down. The Ministry of Finance and Prices publishes minimum reference values for homes, and the tax base can never fall below the value that corresponds to the property. Declaring a symbolic price to save on tax simply does not work: the notary settles on the reference value.

Those values were updated by Resolution 313 of 2024, published on 1 November 2024 and in force since 15 November 2024. The update multiplied the previous minimums roughly fivefold, after studies showed that actual sale prices ran around ten times above the old references. For many sellers this was the single largest change in the cost of a transaction in years.

How the reference value is built

The methodology values the components of a home — bedrooms, garage, outdoor areas — and multiplies by a location coefficient. Resolution 313/2024 sorts the country into five tiers, from special development zones at the top to the least expensive municipalities at the bottom, with coefficients ranging roughly from 7.0 down to 1.5.

Two adjustments soften the result at the margins: properties in rural and mountainous areas get a reduction, and municipal authorities may lower valuations somewhat in suburban zones. The practical effect is that the same floor plan carries a very different tax bill in Playa than in a provincial municipality — which mirrors, imperfectly, what the market itself does.

• Special development zones — the highest coefficient.
• Premium Havana municipalities such as Playa and Plaza de la Revolución.
• Central Havana municipalities such as Centro Habana and Cerro.
• Provincial capitals and suburban municipalities.
• The remaining municipalities — the lowest coefficient.

When you pay: at the deed, not afterwards

Both taxes are settled at the moment the transaction is formalised before the notary. The thirty-day window that used to follow the signing is gone: the notary will not authorise the deed without the payment credited.

Plan for it. The tax is not a cost that arrives with the next bill — it is money that has to be available on the day, on top of the price and the notarial fees. Buyers who budget only for the price of the house discover this at the worst possible moment.

What the taxes do not cover

The 4% each is the tax on the transfer. Around it sit other costs that are smaller but real: notarial fees and stamps, the certificates you request from the Property Registry, any updating of the technical description with the Physical Planning office, and the registration of the new title once the deed is signed.

None of these are optional if you want the purchase to hold up. Registration in particular is what makes you the owner on paper; a signed deed sitting in a drawer is a problem waiting for the next transaction.

Figures change — check before you sign

Rates, reference values and payment channels in Cuba are revised more often than most tax systems, and a guide is not a substitute for the counter. Everything described here reflects the framework in force at the date shown at the top of this article.

Before closing, confirm three things with the notary or the ONAT: the reference value of that specific property, the rate that applies to your situation, and the payment channel accepted at that moment.