Do non-residents and foreign owners pay capital gains tax when selling property in Lebanon?

Also asked as: “Do foreigners pay capital gains tax in Lebanon?” · “Capital gains tax for Lebanese living abroad” · “Is the 1% property gains tax the same for non-residents?” · “Foreign seller tax on Lebanese property”

What sets your rate: tax status, not passport#

Item (j) taxes property gains at 15% for three groups of owners: people and companies not subject to income tax, people with special exemptions, and people subject to income tax who hold the property outside their business^[1]. The test is how you are taxed. The passage we read says nothing about where you live or which passport you hold.

The plainest statement came in 2024, when Finance Ministry decision 644 applied the 1% to private sellers regardless of residence or nationality^[3]. That decision covered 2024 only. Law 330/2024 now governs, and we found no current decision that repeats those words. So equal treatment for residents, non-residents and foreigners rests on our reading of the law text, and no 2026 rule restates it. A tax lawyer or the Ministry of Finance can confirm it for your sale.

Nationality does matter on the buyer's side. The buyer pays 3% of the value for Lebanese buyers, 5% for non-Lebanese^[4]. According to Kallas Law Firm, the buyer's nationality is the only thing that decides between those two rates^[2].

The 1% until 31/12/2026#

The 1% went through four steps. The 2024 Budget Law cut the rate to 1% to 31/12/2026, the Constitutional Council struck out that end date, decision 644 applied the cut through 2024, and Law 330/2024 wrote the 1% to 31/12/2026 into the Income Tax Law itself^[1,3,5,6]. Older pages that give 31/12/2024 as the end date describe the 2024 rule, which has been superseded^[3]. More in whether the rate is 15% or 1%.

If your sale falls close to the end of 2026, do not count on the 1%. No source says whether the contract date or the registration date counts, and no source checked whether the 2027 budget extends the cut^[1,2]. Ask the Ministry of Finance or a tax lawyer before you set a price that assumes 1%.

When the 1% may not apply to you#

• You sell through a business taxed on lump-sum or estimated profit. Those gains fall under item (b) at 15%^[1], and the 1% sentence is written only in item (j). Whether the cut reaches you was not confirmed, so ask a tax adviser.
• You are an heir dividing an estate. In 2024, partitions among heirs were excluded from the 1%^[3]. No source says what applies to them now.
• You are selling your home in Lebanon. Gains on a person's primary residences are excluded, up to two dwellings^[1,2]. No source says what proves "primary residence" for an owner who lives abroad or only spends summers there. See the main-home exemption.

The holding-period deduction applies to everyone under item (j): 8% per full year; exempt from 12 full years^[1,2]. The law adds a proviso about paying "the difference" in the year of transfer, and no source explains it, or how the deduction combines with the 1%. Here is how the taxable gain is calculated.

Paying from abroad, and what is not confirmed#

In practice you pay the tax before the sale is registered^[1,2]. Registration needs the rental value statement, which is issued only after the built-property tax and the item (j) gains tax are paid^[2,7]. If this is your last property in Lebanon, a special route through the Director General of Finance applies, and both taxes must still be paid^[8]. More on what a seller must clear before registration.

We found no source on whether a foreign or non-resident seller faces any extra clearance. Moving the proceeds out is also unclear in practice. IDAL states that Lebanon has freedom of exchange for foreigners to move capital in and out, but banks have restricted pre-2019 deposits since 2019, and we could not read the central bank circulars^[9]. Ask your bank before the sale, and read taking sale money out of Lebanon.