Registration duty

Registration duties are levied on formalities to register transfers or civil or judicial acts.

The following documents must be registered, within strict deadlines:

• Notarial acts
• Judicial documents
• Extrajudicial documents
• Declarations of inheritance
• Some private agreements, which must be drawn up in triplicate in writing, such as:
  • Tenancy agreements, which must be registered within a deadline of three months
  • All other documents relating to non trading companies which must be registered within a deadline of one month, before being registered with the Trade Registry
  • Deeds of sale for boats, before the boat is registered
  • Documents showing proof of ownership of a vehicle or aircraft prior to official registration of ownership
  • Deeds relating to the sale of a business

The following documents are exempt from registration:

• Documents relating to public administration and the general interest
• Birth, marriage and death certificates and any copies issued
• Passports
• Mortgage registration and land publication certificates, non-registration certificates issued by the Registrar

Other documents may be subject to registration, however this is not mandatory and is required only if you wish to use the document for legal purposes or submit it to an authority.

Registration fees are levied at either a fixed rate or a proportional rate, depending on the nature of the document.  The fixed rate fee is usually 10€.

The duties most commonly applied are:

• Duty of 1 % for tenancy agreements, levied on the annual rent plus charges
• Duty of 2% for convictions
• Duty of 3 % for mortgage agreement documents, for the engrossed copy
• Duty of 5 % on the sale of movable property.  This duty is reduced to 2 % for some sales at public auctions
• Duty of 6.5 % on the sale of real estate
• Duty of 7.5 % on transferring business or customer list
• Transaction fees of 1 % for land publication
• Transaction fees of 0.65 % for mortgages

When carried out for the benefit of persons who meet the criteria of transparency laid down by law, property sales are now subject to proportional duty of 4.5% (instead of 6.5%).  In other cases, these transactions are subject to proportional duty of 7.5%.

With regard to land publication a fixed fee of 10 euros replaces the proportional duty of 1%. Transactions involving a transfer of ownership remains subject to duty of 1%, when these transactions are subject to VAT.

To get these documents, you can:

• Obtain blank lease agreements from stationery shops or estate agents
• Obtain tax stamps and stamped paper from the Registration Division of Department of Tax Services or from tobacconists