How and when do I declare and pay capital gains tax after selling property in Lebanon?

Also asked as: “When is capital gains tax due on a property sale in Lebanon?” · “Two-month deadline for capital gains tax in Lebanon” · “Penalty for a late capital gains declaration in Lebanon” · “Do I pay the property gains tax before or after registration?”

What the two-month rule says#

The rule sits in item (j) of Article 45 "thirdly" of the Income Tax Law, as rewritten by Law 330/2024. A seller who owes this tax must declare the transfer and pay the tax within two months of the transfer date^[1,2]. The sources we read do not say whether "the transfer" means the date of the sale contract or the date of registration. Ask the finance office which date it uses for your file.

The tax applies to three groups of owners: people and companies not subject to income tax, owners with permanent, special or exceptional exemptions, and individuals subject to income tax whose property is not a business asset^[1]. The passage we read has no test based on residence or nationality. The 2024 implementing decision said so in plain words for its own period^[4].

Why you pay before the sale registers#

Without the rental value statement, the sale cannot be registered^[5]. Under Article 66 of Law 10/2022, where there is no Treasury lien on the property, that statement is issued once the built-property tax and the gains tax on the property are paid^[2,3]. For built property, the statement also sets the base of the registration fee, which is charged on the rental value × 30 when that is higher than the declared price. Until the sale is registered at the Land Registry, the property is still yours^[6]. So in practice the gains tax is settled before registration^[1,2].

Sources disagree on what else must be paid first. Article 66 names only two taxes, while Kallas Law Firm adds a third, the annual municipal fees under Law 60/1988^[2,3]. Finance Ministry decision 825/2023 supports the two-tax reading where there is no Treasury lien: the seller's other taxes are not required^[5].

A Treasury lien registered before your sale contract blocks the statement. The Director of Revenue may approve it only in narrow cases: a pending objection to the tax, or a sale made to pay it. Even then, conditions apply, including a lien on your other assets worth more than twice the tax^[5]. More in what must be cleared before registration and what a Treasury lien does to a sale.

How much you owe#

The rate is 1% until 31/12/2026^[1,2]. Kallas Law Firm (May 2026) says the base rate of 15%^[1] returns from 1 January 2027 unless a later budget law extends the cut. PwC reads the 1% as covering only non-residential property, but the law text does not limit it that way. Older pages give 31 December 2024 as the end date. That date came from a 2024 Finance Ministry decision, and Law 330/2024 later wrote the 1% to 31 December 2026 into the Income Tax Law itself^[1,4,7,8]. The full story is in whether the rate is 15% or 1%.

Some sellers owe nothing. Gains on a person's main homes are excluded, up to two dwellings^[1,2]; see the main-home exemption. For other property, 8% of the gain is deducted for each full year you held it, and the gain is exempt after 12 full years. That exemption carries a proviso about paying "the difference" in the year of transfer, and no source we read explains what it means. The arithmetic is in how the taxable gain is calculated.

Penalties, and what is not published#

If you break the item (j) rules, the fines of the Tax Procedures Law (Law 44/2008) apply, and the Finance Minister may set the details by decision^[1,2]. We did not read the fine amounts, so we cannot tell you what a late declaration costs.

None of our sources names the office where you file, the declaration form or an online channel, and none says how a seller abroad pays. Ask the regional finance office for the area where the property is, or in Beirut the competent Ministry of Finance department^[1,2]. Selling shares in a company that owns property follows a different rule: that seller declares on Ministry of Finance forms within two months^[3,9] of the transfer.