Total purchase costs: VAT, stamp tax, notary and registry

Dossier: Land and property for foreigners15-tierra-propiedad.md
Domain: Who may hold land, and on what titletierra-propiedad
Room: Land/tierra
Audited: not audited

Transaction costs collected by the dossier: VAT of 12% on the first sale (new build), on the higher of price and recorded value; stamp tax of 3% on second and subsequent sales (Decree 37-92); notary fees of ~1–2% of value, freely negotiated (a market figure); recording at the RGP of Q160 minimum plus Q1.50 per thousand on the excess over Q10,000 (AG 325-2005, item 2.1); a registry certificate of Q50 for up to 10 pages plus Q5 per page (item 2.8); and a lawyer for due diligence at Q3,000–Q8,000 or 0.5–1% (commercial guide, to be verified). Typical totals from the same guide, as an order of magnitude: ~4.5–6.5% of the price on a resale and ~13.5–15% on a new build. The detail on VAT and stamp tax is in dossier 03-impuestos.

The research is written in English; quoted figures, source names and the titles of legal instruments stay in the language their source published them in.

Figures

IVA, primera venta (obra nueva)CBR Guatemala (b): 12% sobre el mayor entre precio y valor registradovigente
Timbres fiscales, segunda venta y subsiguientesMinfin, Decreto 37-92 / PwC Tax Summaries: 3%vigente (Decreto 37-92)
Honorarios de notarioMapaInmueble / RE/MAX Legacy (b/c): ~1–2% del valorpráctica de mercado
Abogado (due diligence)Living in Guatemala (c): Q3,000–Q8,000 o 0.5–1%guía comercial, por verificar
Total típico, reventaLiving in Guatemala (c): ~4.5–6.5% del precioorden de magnitud, guía comercial
Total típico, obra nuevaLiving in Guatemala (c): ~13.5–15% del precioorden de magnitud, guía comercial

Caveat

only the RGP tariffs were checked against a primary source; fees, lawyer costs and totals are figures from commercial guides

Sources

CBR Guatemala, impuestos en la compra y venta de inmuebles (b)cbrguatemala.comconsulted Aug 19, 2026
Minfin, Decreto 37-92, Ley del Impuesto de Timbres Fiscales (PDF)minfin.gob.gtconsulted Aug 19, 2026
PwC Tax Summaries, Guatemala — other taxestaxsummaries.pwc.comconsulted Aug 19, 2026
MapaInmueble, cuánto cobra un notario en Guatemala (b)mapainmueble.comconsulted Aug 19, 2026
RE/MAX Legacy, costos e impuestos al comprar o vender propiedad (c)remaxlegacy.com.gtconsulted Aug 19, 2026
RGP, Acuerdo Gubernativo 325-2005 (PDF)website-admin.rgp.org.gtconsulted Aug 22, 2026
Living in Guatemala, guía de compra (c)livinginguatemala.comconsulted Aug 19, 2026

Related records

This layer is research: read from public sources by the archive's own team, every claim cited with the date it was consulted, and audited where it is marked so. It has not entered the verified store — no figure here was fetched back from its source or stamped with a retrieval time — so it wears no red provenance numeral and never mixes with the verified figures.