How is the built-property tax calculated in Lebanon and who pays it?

Also asked as: “What is the built property tax (daribat al-amlak al-mabniyya) in Lebanon?” · “How is built property tax calculated in Lebanon (net revenue, brackets, owner-occupier deduction)?” · “Is there an annual property tax in Lebanon?” · “Do owners living abroad pay property tax in Lebanon?”

What is taxed: rental revenue, not the price#

The tax is worked out on the net annual revenue of each built property, one property at a time. What the property is worth does not enter the calculation directly^[1,2]. The tax concerns built property, and one tax summary we read says bare land is not taxed by it.

The method for fixing the revenue comes from the 2022 Budget Law. According to ALDIC's summary of Art. 60 of Law 10/2022, the finance office takes the rent written in the lease if it is at least 70% of the office's own criteria-based estimate. If it is lower, the office uses comparable properties, and failing that the property's own criteria, with a floor of minimum 2.5% of the property's value^[3]. That is a secondary summary: we did not read the article itself or check for later changes. How finance offices have assessed rental values in practice since the lira collapsed is not published. The regional finance office that handles your property can tell you the figure it holds.

The brackets and the owner-occupier deduction#

Since the 2024 Budget Law, each slice of a property's net annual revenue is taxed at its own rate^[1,2]:

If you live in the home as owner or co-owner, LBP 360,000,000 comes off its taxable net revenue, from 2024 revenues onward. The deduction covers at most two dwellings, the two with the highest rental values. Co-owners share it in proportion to their shares^[1].

BLOMINVEST uses USD/LBP 89,500 (from 1 February 2024)^[7] to convert registry statistics. At that rate the deduction is roughly USD 4,000 and the first bracket ends near USD 13,400. Treat these dollar figures as an illustration only. The brackets are set in lira^[1,2], and BLOMINVEST's figure is not necessarily the rate the finance office uses.

The law we read does not say whether an owner who lives abroad and leaves the home empty gets the deduction^[1]. Ask the finance office before you count on it.

Who pays, and what happens when you sell#

No source we read says whether the owner or the tenant owes the tax on a rented property. Until the finance office confirms it for you, write into the lease who pays it, as you would for electricity, water and the generator.

If a single property brings in more than LBP 1.2 billion net a year, the owner or operator files a declaration with the competent finance office before 1 April each year^[1] and pays at the time of filing. We could not verify the deadlines, late penalties or payment routes for ordinary properties. See how to declare and pay built-property tax.

The tax matters most when you sell. Where there is no Treasury seizure on the property, the rental value statement is issued only after the built-property tax and the capital-gains tax are paid^[5,6]. Kallas Law Firm lists annual municipal fees as a third clearance, but Art. 66 of Law 10/2022 names only the two taxes. More in which taxes a seller must clear. Municipal fees are a separate yearly charge, covered in annual municipal fees for owners.