The Cyprus Tax Guide 2026
Ten pages: the reform in one table, the non-dom regime, the domicile test people get wrong, worked numbers and the honest country comparison. Free, instantly.
The 2026 reform quietly rewrote the arithmetic of a Cyprus purchase. Stamp duty is gone, the capital gains exemptions nearly doubled, and the 5% VAT band still has limits that catch people out. Here is the whole bill, before and after you sign.
Almost every confused conversation about Cyprus purchase costs comes from mixing these two up. They are alternatives, not additions.
Buy a new build from a developer and the sale carries VAT. Because VAT has been paid, the Land Registry does not also charge transfer fees. Buy a resale from a private seller and there is no VAT at all, so the transfer fees apply instead.
Until the end of 2025 there was a third line on every purchase: stamp duty on the contract. The Stamp Duties Law was repealed with effect from 1 January 2026, so contracts executed since then attract none. On a €500,000 purchase that is roughly €830 that simply no longer exists.
What the legislation does not cover is professional fees. Lawyers, surveyors and estate agents quote their own rates, so treat any figure you read for those as a market estimate rather than a published one.
Statutory costs only, so every number here traces to legislation rather than to a quote. Move the price, switch the property type, and watch which regime takes over.
Covers VAT, Land Registry transfer fees and stamp duty for 2026. Excludes legal fees, agency commission, survey and mortgage costs, which are quoted rather than legislated. Illustrative: confirm the VAT position with your lawyer before you reserve, because the outer limits are where cases fall over.
The reduced rate is generous. The conditions attached to it are strict, and they are not proportionate: miss one and you do not get a smaller discount, you get none.
The standard rate on a new build is 19%. An individual buying a new home as their primary and permanent residence can instead pay 5% on the first 130 square metres of covered area and the first €350,000 of price, with 19% applying above those points.
Then come the outer limits. If the covered area exceeds 190 square metres, or the total value exceeds €475,000, the reduced band does not simply stop at the threshold. It falls away completely and 19% applies to the entire purchase. The step between a property just inside the cap and one just outside it is worth tens of thousands of euros, which is exactly why this is a question for your lawyer before you reserve rather than after.
Two further conditions catch people. The buyer must be a natural person, so a purchase through a company cannot use the reduced rate at all, and it is one property per person or married couple. The home must also stay your primary residence for ten years: leave earlier and a proportion of the benefit is clawed back.
None of this applies to a resale. A private seller is outside VAT altogether, which moves you into the transfer fee regime below.
| Situation | VAT charged |
|---|---|
| New build, qualifying primary residence, within all limits | 5% to €350,000, then 19% |
| New build, second home or investment | 19% throughout |
| New build bought through a company | 19% throughout |
| New build over 190 sqm or over €475,000 | 19% throughout |
| Resale from a private seller | None, transfer fees apply |
Summary of the position as at August 2026. The measurement of covered area, and what counts toward it, is itself a technical question on some developments: get it confirmed in writing.
Charged by the Land Registry when title moves into your name, on a banded scale.
| Portion of the price | Headline rate | Effective rate after the 50% reduction |
|---|---|---|
| First €85,000 | 3% | 1.5% |
| €85,001 to €170,000 | 5% | 2.5% |
| Above €170,000 | 8% | 4% |
| Any property where VAT was lawfully charged and paid | Exempt | €0 |
The 50% reduction has applied since 2012 and has been carried forward every year since. It is a long-standing relief rather than a permanent feature of the law, so it is worth confirming it is still in force at the point you complete.
Buying in joint names splits the price across two sets of bands, so more of the value falls into the cheaper 1.5% and 2.5% tiers. On a €340,000 resale the difference between one buyer and two is real money, and it costs nothing to arrange at the outset. It is also almost impossible to fix afterwards, because the fee is assessed when title transfers, not when you decide you would rather have done it differently.
Under the Immovable Property Acquisition (Aliens) Law, Cap 109, a third-country national needs permission to acquire immovable property. The Council of Ministers' authority to grant it has been devolved to District Officers, so the application goes to the District Office covering the property.
One property for personal use: a house, an apartment, or a plot of land up to 4,014 square metres. Processing typically runs two to six months. Your lawyer files it alongside the purchase rather than before it.
Nothing stops you exchanging contracts and moving in while the permit is pending. Deposit the contract at the Land Registry to protect your position, and completion of title simply waits for the permit to arrive. British buyers have followed this route since Brexit.
Depositing the sale contract at the Land Registry is the single most important protective step in a Cyprus purchase, whatever passport you hold. It secures your interest in the property against later dealings by the seller while title is still being transferred.
Cyprus abolished its national immovable property tax in 2017, and nothing has replaced it. What remains is local and modest: municipal or community rates, refuse and sewerage charges, and communal fees in a managed development. For most owners this is a few hundred euros a year rather than a meaningful holding cost.
Rental income is taxed at the normal income tax bands. The 2026 reform also removed rents from Special Defence Contribution entirely, for everyone, not just for non-doms, which is a genuine simplification for anyone letting a Cyprus property.
On the way out, capital gains tax is 20%, and it applies only to Cyprus immovable property. Gains on shares and most other securities sit outside the CGT net altogether, and crypto has its own flat 8% regime since January.
The 2026 reform raised the lifetime exemptions sharply, and these are the numbers most older guides still get wrong.
| Lifetime CGT exemption | Before 2026 | From 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Main residence | €85,430 | €150,000 |
| Agricultural land | €25,629 | €50,000 |
| General exemption | €17,086 | €30,000 |
These are lifetime allowances, not annual ones, and they are not cumulative: you claim the one that fits the disposal. The main residence exemption carries a five-year occupation requirement. The reform also tightened an anti-avoidance rule, so a disposal of shares now falls into CGT where at least 20% of their value derives from Cyprus immovable property, down from 50%.
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Whether a property qualifies for the reduced band, whether joint names help, and whether the purchase should sit alongside a residency application: all cheaper to decide before you reserve.
Every figure on this page was checked against primary legislation and official publications on 3 August 2026.
Where the wording above is cautious, that is deliberate. The 50% transfer fee reduction has been carried forward annually since 2012 rather than written in permanently, and the measurement of covered area for the reduced VAT band is a technical question that turns on the specific development. This page is general information, not tax, legal or investment advice, and it does not replace a lawyer acting for you on a specific purchase.