Buying a house in Uruguay: 2 % transfer tax and a notary who carries it all
In Uruguay you may buy a home as a foreigner under the same rules as a Uruguayan. The buyer pays 2 % transfer tax, the ITP, on the cadastral value; the seller also pays 2 %. The escribano, the notary, withholds the tax and registers the purchase. Paying cash is only allowed up to a limit.
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You may buy a home in Uruguay as a foreigner. Ley 16.906 provides that investors from abroad are under the same rules as Uruguayans. On the purchase you pay 2 % transfer tax, the Impuesto a las Trasmisiones Patrimoniales (ITP). The seller also pays 2 %. Everything runs through an escribano, a notary, who withholds the tax and has the purchase registered.
Two things surprise buyers from the Netherlands. The ITP uses the value set by the cadastre, not the price. And paying cash is only allowed up to a limit.
| What | How much or how long | Who |
|---|---|---|
| ITP, buyer | 2 % of the cadastral value | withheld by the escribano |
| ITP, seller | 2 % of the cadastral value | withheld by the escribano |
| ITP return | within 15 days of the deed | the escribano |
| Paying cash | up to 200,000 UI, or up to 5 % of the price if that is no more than 450,000 UI | the rest through the bank |
| Tax resident through ownership | a home above 15,000,000 UI, or above 3,500,000 UI with 60 days in the country | |
| Later sale | tax on the gain above the indexed purchase price | the seller |
UI stands for unidad indexada, a unit of account that moves with inflation.
What do you pay the ITP on?
On the valor real set by the Dirección Nacional de Catastro, updated for inflation up to the month before the purchase. Higher or lower, the tax base remains the cadastral value. The tax also applies to a promesa de compraventa, the preliminary purchase agreement. According to the DGI, the escribano is the party who collects the ITP, pays it over and files the return, within fifteen days of the deed.
What does the escribano do?
The escribano carries the purchase from start to finish. He can register a reserva de prioridad with the Registro de la Propiedad of the Dirección General de Registros: a place in the queue for the promesa or deed he is going to draw up. Then he has the deed registered and files the ITP return. A promesa can also be entered in the register.
If you are not in Uruguay yourself for the deed, someone with a power of attorney can sign. The register's manual says that a deed drawn up abroad must first be protocolised: entered in the records of a Uruguayan notary. A Dutch power of attorney therefore gets an apostille and a translation, and then goes to an escribano.
Choose your own escribano, not the seller's or the agent's. Have him check in the register before the promesa in whose name the house stands and which mortgages or attachments rest on it, and ask for the cadastral value. Also ask in writing what he charges and what tax and register costs come on top.
How do you pay?
Through the bank. Since the amendment of March 2026, Ley 19.210 provides that in any transaction you may pay cash up to 200,000 UI, or up to 5 % of the value as long as that does not exceed 450,000 UI. The rest goes by transfer or another means than cash.
That has a consequence for later. If the purchase is above 1,000,000 UI and that rule was not followed, the purchase price does not count as a cost on a later sale, says article 29 of the income tax law. You then pay tax on more than your gain. How you bring money to Uruguay is explained in bank and payments.
Can a house make you a tax resident?
Yes. The DGI treats you as a tax resident if on 31 December you own a home in Uruguay worth more than 15,000,000 UI, unless you prove with a certificate that you are a tax resident elsewhere. With a home above 3,500,000 UI, bought after 1 July 2020, you are a resident if you are also in the country for at least 60 days.
A resident pays tax in Uruguay on interest, dividends and capital gains from abroad. A home above 12,500,000 UI is one of the routes into the new scheme for newcomers: you are then treated as a non-resident for that foreign income in the year of arrival and the ten years after. See AOW, pension and tax.
And farmland?
An individual may own farmland. Ley 18.092 provides that owners of farmland are natural persons, or companies whose shares are all registered to natural persons. Other structures need government permission. Companies owned by a foreign state face extra restrictions (Ley 19.283).
What happens when you sell again?
As a tax resident you pay tax on the difference between the sale price and your purchase price. That purchase price is updated with the UI and increased by the ITP you pay as the seller. The sale price never counts lower than the cadastral value. Improvements count if you prove them with invoices.
If you want to look around calmly first, renting is a logical start; see renting in Uruguay. Your identity number for the deed is covered in registration and numbers. How buying fits into the rest of your move is shown in the route to Uruguay.
In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.7: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Uruguay or go straight to step 5.7 in the open plan.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.
- Ley 16.906, article 2 — foreign investors under the same rules as Uruguayans (IMPO) — impo.com.uy
- DGI — the ITP, the rate, the tax base and the role of the notary — gub.uy
- Ley 19.210, article 35 — the limit for cash payment, as worded by Ley 20.469 of 2026 (IMPO) — impo.com.uy
- Dirección General de Registros — the reserva de prioridad by the notary — gub.uy
- Dirección General de Registros — manual for the property register, also on deeds from abroad — portal.dgr.gub.uy
- Ley 18.092, article 1 — who may own farmland (IMPO) — impo.com.uy
- Ley 19.283 — restrictions on farmland for companies of foreign states (IMPO) — impo.com.uy
- DGI — tax resident through a home worth more than 15 or 3.5 million UI — gub.uy
- IRPF, Título 7, article 29 — the tax on a later sale (IMPO) — impo.com.uy
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