A group of deputies promotes a reform to the law that eliminated the inheritance and gift tax, a charge that has been in force since 1947. The change responds to the interpretation of a section of the regulations, which would imply a technical error, according to the General Property Registry.
Deputy Byron Tejeda explained that the registrar pointed out a possible misinterpretation of the law, because the spouses do not cause degree to each other. As indicated, according to the above, this could leave it to the registry’s discretion to accept or not the inter vivos donations made in favor of the spouses.
Decree 6-2026 establishes that inter vivos donations up to the second degree of consanguinity and the first degree of affinity will not be subject to the tax. However, the spirit of the law, according to legislators, It was also to exempt spouses from payment.
“To avoid leaving it to the registry’s discretion whether or not to accept donations between spouses, the reform of the indicated article was proposed,” the congressman explained about the proposal.
The observation was made by the Registry during the summons in which representatives of the Attorney General’s Office (PGN) and the Comptroller General of Accounts,
The justification of the initiative indicates that it is necessary to update the wording of article 7 “in order to clearly and precisely establish the scope of the exemptions applicable to transfers”, both after death and in inter vivos donations.
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They eliminate tax
The tax stopped being collected after the approval of the decree in February 2026, after remaining in force for almost 80 years.
Before the repeal, inherited assets—mainly real estate—had to undergo an appraisal. The sum of these values formed the inventory or hereditary mass, to which progressive rates were applied according to the degree of relationship:
- 3% for first degree heirs
- 6% in second grade
- 9% in third grade
- 12% in other cases
Furthermore, when the succession process began years after the death of the deceased, interest and surcharges could be generated.
The rule also establishes that the files in process must be returned to the interested parties to continue the process without paying the tax.
As the months passed, the Comptroller General of Accounts abolished the department in charge of these cases and began the staggered delivery of files to users, who must continue the process before the Directorate of Cadastre and Appraisal of Real Estate (DICABI), of the Ministry of Public Finance.