Joint Ventures in Dominican Republic

Joint Ventures in the Dominican Republic: A Partnership Without Legal Personality and Why That Matters The most consequential fact about a Dominican joint venture is what it is not: a company. Foreign investors accustomed to incorporating a JV vehicle discover that Dominican law recognizes joint ventures as purely contractual arrangements, ‘joint participation’ entities, with no […]

Translations by Dominican Judicial Interpreter

Going to File a Translated Document Before a Dominican Court? Demand a Certified Judicial Interpreter A foreign investor arrives to sign a contract in Santo Domingo with a translation done by a bilingual friend. The notary, or the court, rejects it. This is not capricious bureaucracy: in the Dominican Republic, certain documents and certain proceedings […]

Transfer by Sale at the Dominican Title Registry

The Closing Is Not the Ending: The Transfer by Sale at the Dominican Title Registry Ask when a Dominican property purchase ends and most buyers point to the closing: the deed signed, the price paid, the keys and the handshake. Dominican law points somewhere else. In a registration system, the sale between the parties is […]

Tax Amnesty Law

For a few months in 2023, the Dominican tax authority offered something rare: a legal path to wipe out or drastically shrink old tax debts. Law 51-23, enacted August 10, 2023, opened a special window, originally set to close on December 20, 2023, combining four tools that taxpayers seldom see together. First, a statute-of-limitations declaration: […]

Dominican Tax Havens List

Is Your Counterparty on the Dominican Tax Haven List? The Transfer Pricing Trigger Many Companies Miss A Dominican company that pays an unrelated supplier in Panama, Switzerland or the Cayman Islands may be walking into transfer pricing obligations without knowing it. Under Dominican law, any transaction with a person or entity resident in a jurisdiction […]

Registering your prenup in Dominican Republic

Getting Married in the Dominican Republic? Why and When to Register Your Prenup. Every year, couples fly to Punta Cana or Las Terrenas to marry on the beach, and quietly import a legal problem: a prenuptial agreement signed at home that may or may not hold up where the wedding, or the property, is located. […]

Dominican Border Zone Tax Exemptions

Border Zone Tax Incentives Under Law 12-21: A 30-Year Exemption Most Investors Overlook. While most foreign capital crowds into Punta Cana and Santo Domingo, seven provinces along the Haitian border offer something no beachfront project can match: a 30-year, 100% income tax exemption. The trade-off is location; the opportunity is a tax horizon longer than […]

Dominican Republic Visas Explained

Dominican Republic Visas Explained: Tourist Entry, Business Visas, Work Permits and Direct Permanent Residency Most visitors clear Dominican immigration with nothing more than a passport. But the moment a foreigner intends to work, do sustained business or settle, the country’s immigration system splits into categories with sharply different requirements, and choosing the wrong entry path […]

Inheritance of Property in the Dominican Republic

Under Dominican Law, there are two very important aspects which have an impact on the inheritance of assets of a deceased individual: the time and domicile of the deceased. The time of opening of an estate is the day that death occurs. Based on this rule of law, it is understood that the rights to […]