CONFOTUR Tax Exemptions for Tourism Projects: What Law 158-01 Still Offers After the 2026 Reform.

Tourism and real estate together attracted roughly 42 cents of every dollar of foreign direct investment that entered the Dominican Republic in 2025, a record year at over US$5 billion. Much of that flow rests on a single statute from 2001 whose fiscal architecture buyers routinely cite in sales brochures but rarely read: Law 158-01, known to everyone in the market as CONFOTUR.

The law grants persons and companies that develop, promote or invest capital in designated tourism zones, hotels, resorts, cruise and convention facilities, restaurants, golf courses, marinas, theme parks, tourism real estate and related infrastructure, a package of exemptions that has historically run for 15 years: (a) income tax on the incentivized investment; (b) national and municipal taxes on company incorporation and capital increases, construction permits, the annual real property tax (IPI) and the real estate transfer tax; (c) import taxes and ITBIS on the equipment, materials and furnishings needed to first equip and open the facility; and (d) taxes and withholdings on local and international financing and its interest.

The gatekeeper is CONFOTUR, the Tourism Promotion Council, which evaluates and approves every application. For individual buyers of units in tourism condominiums, the practical benefits usually felt are the transfer tax exemption at purchase and the IPI exemption during the approved period, but those benefits attach to the project’s CONFOTUR resolution, not to marketing promises. A common and costly buyer mistake is signing for a ‘CONFOTUR project’ whose classification is merely ‘in process,’ or whose exemption clock has already been running for years under the developer.

The ground shifted in June 2026. The fiscal reform (Law 30-26) prohibits benefiting from more than one incentive regime for the same activity or investment, and empowers the Ministry of Finance to scrutinize, and recommend objecting to, new beneficiary classifications. The reform simultaneously cut the real estate capital gains rate for individuals and began phasing out the mortgage registration tax, so the overall calculus for tourism real estate changed in both directions. Existing CONFOTUR resolutions remain the investor’s key document; new applications face a stricter, more documented path.

Before buying into or launching any tourism project, request the CONFOTUR resolution itself, verify which taxes it covers and its remaining term, and have a Dominican real estate and tax lawyer confirm how the 2026 reform affects your specific structure. Our firm handles CONFOTUR applications, incentive due diligence and tourism real estate closings throughout the country, from Punta Cana to Las Terrenas, and can tell you, before you wire funds, exactly what your exemption is worth.

Do you want more information about our services for obtaining Tourism Tax Exemptions in Dominican Republic ? Contact Us.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Felipe Castillo is a Partner leading the Foreign Investment, Real Estate & Tourism areas at Arthur & Castillo Advisers and Consultants in the Dominican Republic. He specializes in foreign investment, real estate and international business (Master in International Business, Entrepreneurship and Finance Studies from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. & Masters in International E- Business in Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona) with more than 20 years of experience in Foreign Investment, Free Trade Zones, International Business and Cross Border Real Estate practice. He is a Certified Business Bankruptcy Expert and English and Spanish Interpreter.

Email: fcastillo@aclaw.com

Disclaimer: This publication is not intended to provide advice or suggest a guaranteed outcome as individual situations will differ and the situation may have changed since publication. For specific advice on the information provided and related topics, please contact the author.

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