The 2026 Finance Law introduced several modifications to registration duties and stamp duties, effective January 1, 2026.
A joint note from the Directorate General for Studies and Tax Legislation, published for this purpose, clarifies the terms of application. Several of these measures directly affect individuals, whether to transfer property to relatives, regularize an old deed, or settle a cash transaction.
Tax on family donations
The broadest measure concerns donations of real estate between ascendants and descendants — for example, from parents to their children — as well as between spouses. Until the end of 2025, the recording of these donations in the land registry was subject to a fixed duty of 100 dinars. The 2026 Finance Law increases this amount to 200 dinars, whether the donation concerns full ownership, bare ownership, or the usufruct of the property.
The doubling also applies to assets not registered in the land registry: the transfer and sharing tax on such assets, when gifted between relatives, also rises from 100 to 200 dinars, in order to align with the first. In other words, all family donations are affected, whether the property is titled or not. The administration presents this increase as a contribution to funding social funds.
Late registration of a deed
Conversely, a measure eases the bill for those who delayed registering a deed. Until now, presenting a deed for registration after the expiration of the prescription period incurred a 3% duty on the value of the property, increased by 10% for each year of delay.
This annual surcharge is removed: the 3% duty now applies to the value declared in the deed, without revaluation, and the amount collected cannot, however, be lower than the fixed duty provided by the code. A development that particularly affects heirs and buyers of properties that remained unregistered for a long time.
Another relief: loan contracts granted to small farmers and small fishermen are now exempt from registration duties. These contracts were previously subject to a fixed duty of one dinar per page and per copy.
Penalty on cash transactions
The 2026 Finance Law also repeals Article 45 of the 2019 Finance Law, which regulated cash payments for certain onerous transfers — real estate, business assets, or means of transport.
This provision blocked, for transactions paid in cash, a series of administrative formalities: legalization of signatures at the municipalities, registration with the tax authorities, transcription with the competent services for real estate, land transport, or the national business register. It also prohibited notaries from drafting such deeds and provided a tax penalty of 20% of the amount paid in cash, with a minimum of 1,000 dinars.
With the repeal of this article, these formalities are no longer blocked and the 20% penalty disappears. One point should be noted: this repeal does not remove all rules governing cash payments. Other texts related to the rationalization of cash transactions, in force before January 1, 2026, remain applicable.
Source: Finance Law 2026 (Law No. 2025-17 of December 12, 2025), Articles 20, 30, 48, 49 and 54; Joint Note No. 11/2026 from the Directorate General for Studies and Tax Legislation.
