Capital gains tax in Cyprus: does it reach what you are selling, and what do you pay?
Cyprus charges 20% capital gains tax, but only on property in Cyprus: land and buildings here, and certain shares in companies that hold them (details below). A house abroad is outside it. From 2026 the first €30,000 of gains in your lifetime is tax-free, or up to €150,000 when you sell a main residence that meets the law's conditions. Pick what you're selling to see whether the tax reaches it at all.
Every case is set out under What it covers, below.
Pick what you are selling.
Inside the tax
20% on the gain, subject to the law's exemptions.
Where you live does not change that, subject to the rules on double taxation.
A gift generally counts too, except to close family; passing it on at death does not (details below).
Inside the tax
The agreement counts as property itself, and selling it or assigning your rights under it is a disposal.
Outside Cyprus capital gains tax
The tax covers property in Cyprus only.
Outside the tax
The tax reaches only property in Cyprus, the shares the law counts with it, and agreements to sell it.
Outside the tax
Shares in a company with no property in Cyprus, itself or through other companies, are outside it.
The Income Tax Law also generally exempts gains on shares from income tax.
Depends on what the company owns
Shares are inside the tax only if the company owns property in Cyprus itself, or holds it through other companies and at least 20% of the shares' market value comes from it.
Inside the tax
Whatever share of the company's value the property makes up, subject to the rules on double taxation.
Inside at 20% or more
Inside if at least 20% of the shares' market value comes from property in Cyprus, counted without the companies' debts; below that, outside.
A tax treaty with your country of residence can set that line at 50% (shares, below).
No capital gains tax
Gains on shares listed on a regulated market of a recognised stock exchange are exempt.
Exempt up to a limit
Exempt while the total value of your sales of such shares in the calendar year stays within €50,000; once a sale takes it above, the tax applies to the gain on each of that year's sales.
Shares you already held on 31 December 2025, listed on such a market then, stay exempt whatever the value.
Inside at 20% or more, then exempt up to a limit
Inside if at least 20% of the shares' market value comes from property in Cyprus, counted without the companies' debts; below that, outside (treaty limit: shares, below).
Exempt while the total value of your sales of such shares in the calendar year stays within €50,000; once a sale takes it above, the tax applies to the gain on each of that year's sales.
Shares you already held on 31 December 2025, listed on such a market then, stay exempt whatever the value.
Inside the tax
Whatever share of the company's value the property makes up, subject to the rules on double taxation.
Listed shares have their own exemptions (shares, below).
Inside at 20% or more
Inside if at least 20% of the shares' market value comes from property in Cyprus, counted without the companies' debts; below that, outside (treaty limit: shares, below).
Listed shares have their own exemptions (shares, below).
What this does not decide
This answers only whether Cyprus capital gains tax reaches the sale. It does not work out what you owe, decide whether a lifetime exemption applies, say whether a sale made as part of a business is taxed as income instead, or say whether another tax reaches a sale it puts outside.
Of the gain on property in Cyprus, and on the shares and sale agreements the law counts with it
Of gains over your lifetime that an individual can make free of the tax, from 2026 (exemptions, below)
Of the gain on selling your main residence that can be exempt from 2026, if it meets every condition (below)
Which sales does capital gains tax in Cyprus apply to?
Only property in Cyprus: land and buildings here, certain shares in companies that hold them, and agreements to sell them. A gift generally counts as a disposal too, except to close family; passing property on at death does not (details below).
- Inside
Land, a house or a flat in Cyprus
20% on the gain, subject to the law's exemptions. Where you live does not change that, subject to the rules on double taxation. - Inside
A contract to buy property in Cyprus, sold or assigned before the title is yours
The agreement counts as property itself, and selling it or assigning your rights under it is a disposal. - Inside
Shares in a company that owns property in Cyprus itself
Whatever share of the company's value the property makes up, subject to the rules on double taxation; listed shares have their own exemptions (shares, below). - Depends
Shares in a company that holds property in Cyprus through other companies
Inside if at least 20% of the shares' market value comes from that property, counted without the companies' debts; below that, outside. A tax treaty with your country of residence can set that line at 50% (shares, below). - Outside
Shares in a company with no property in Cyprus, itself or through other companies
Outside the tax, and the Income Tax Law also generally exempts gains on shares from income tax. - Outside
Property outside Cyprus
The tax covers property in Cyprus only. - Outside
Anything else
The tax reaches only the kinds of property in the rows above.
Sources (5)
Capital Gains Tax Law 52/1980, consolidated text (CyLaw) · Capital Gains Tax (Amending) (No. 3) Law 242(I)/2025, Official Gazette No. 5070 · Income Tax Law 118(I)/2002, consolidated text (CyLaw) · Tax Department, Capital Gains (in Greek) · Tax Department, presentation on defence contribution and capital gains tax (06.03.2026)
Selling shares? Which ones the tax reaches, and the rules for listed shares: Shares
The detailsthe law's own words · gifts, inheritance and exchanges · selling as a business · crypto
In the law's own words. What the law counts as property for this tax, from 1 January 2026, in translation:
'property' means – (i) immovable property situated in the Republic, (ii) shares of companies whose property consists also of immovable property situated in the Republic, (iii) shares of companies which directly or indirectly participate in a company or companies holding immovable property situated in the Republic and at least twenty per cent (20%) of the market value of those shares derives from the market value of the immovable property situated in the Republic, and (iv) an agreement for the sale of property situated in the Republic: Provided that, in calculating whether the value of the immovable property represents at least twenty per cent (20%) of the value of the shares, no liabilities are taken into account;
And the charge itself:
Subject to the provisions of this Law, and subject to the exemptions contained in this Law, on every gain from the disposal of property a tax is imposed and paid at the rate of twenty per cent on such gain.
Capital Gains Tax Law 52/1980, consolidated text (CyLaw) · Capital Gains Tax (Amending) (No. 3) Law 242(I)/2025, Official Gazette No. 5070
Gifts, inheritance and exchanges.
- Besides a sale, the law counts, among others, a sale agreement, an exchange, a gift, a lease registered at the Land Registry and the grant of an option as disposing of property.
- Passing property on at death is not a disposal. When the heir later sells, the gain is measured from the value the deceased acquired it at, or from its value on 1 January 1980 if they owned it before then. If the deceased acquired it before 14 July 1974, the heir can choose its value on that date instead.
- A gift from a parent to a child, between spouses or registered civil partners, or between relatives up to the third degree is not a disposal either, and nor is a gift of land or buildings from a foster parent to a foster child.
- The gift itself is free of the tax, but when the person who received it sells, the gain is measured from the value of whoever first gave it, or from 1 January 1980 if that is later.
- A gift to a friend, or to a relative beyond the third degree, is a disposal: the giver is taxed as if they had sold at the property's market value.
- Gifts to the Republic, to a registered political party, and for educational, cultural or other charitable purposes to a local authority or to a charity in Cyprus approved by the Council of Ministers are not disposals.
- A transfer between former spouses after a divorce, or between spouses under a court order settling their property, is not a disposal, and nor is a transfer in a company reorganisation.
- An exchange of properties has its own rules, which from 2026 also cover land given to a developer in return for units in the building, if the building is finished within five years of the agreement; take advice on either.
Capital Gains Tax Law 52/1980, consolidated text (CyLaw) · Civil Union Law 184(I)/2015, consolidated text (CyLaw)
Selling as a business. Capital gains tax applies only to gains the Income Tax Law does not already tax. For a Cyprus tax resident, a sale of land or buildings with the character of trade, such as dealing in property, is taxed as business profit under the Income Tax Law. Neither law draws a fixed line: the Tax Department weighs factors such as what the property is, how long you owned it, how often you make similar sales, how you financed it, the work done on it before the sale and your motive. If it rules that a gain is income, the capital gains tax and interest you paid count towards the income tax.
What income tax takes: Income tax
Crypto. Crypto-assets are not property for this tax: from 2026 a Cyprus tax resident's gains from disposing of them, other than mined ones, are taxed at a flat 8% under the Income Tax Law.
Selling property in Cyprus: what is the 20% charged on, and when do you pay it?
You pay on the gain, not the price: the sale price less, generally, what you paid, adjusted for inflation, and the costs the Tax Department allows (details below). Whatever lifetime exemption you have left comes off that gain, and the rest is taxed at 20%. You file and pay within one month of the sale, and the property cannot pass to the buyer until the tax is paid.
Lived in it as your home? The main-residence exemption and its conditions: Exemptions
The detailswhat comes off the price, including for inherited or gifted property · costs you can deduct · the price the Tax Department takes · losses · filing, paying, and paying late
What comes off the price.
- If you bought the property after 1 January 1980, what you paid for it comes off, adjusted for inflation; if you owned it before then, its value on 1 January 1980 comes off, adjusted the same way.
- If you acquired it before 14 July 1974, you can use its market value on that date instead, where that is higher, the Tax Department says.
- Inflation is measured by an official price index: the Tax Department publishes it in a monthly table, and you compare the index for the month before the sale with the index for the month you bought, or finished the works.
- If you claimed capital allowances on the property, for example while you let it, the Tax Department's return adds them back to the gain.
- If you inherited the property, or received it as a gift from close family, the starting value is the earlier owner's: Gifts, inheritance and exchanges, under What it covers.
The table: Tax Department, inflation values
Capital Gains Tax Law 52/1980, consolidated text (CyLaw) · Tax Department, Form T.F.401 (2023 (2)): return of disposal of immovable property · Tax Department, table of inflation values (in Greek)
Costs you can deduct. Adjusted for inflation, if each was spent wholly and exclusively to earn the gain and you can show it:
- The cost of building the house, or of additions to it
- Improvements such as a swimming pool or central heating
- Part of renovation costs, on conditions the Tax Department sets
- The cost of dividing a plot
Not adjusted for inflation:
- Transfer fees
- Interest on a loan taken to buy the property
- Advertising, valuation and other costs of selling, and the legal costs of the sale
- Estate agent's commission, only if the agent is licensed in Cyprus, or an EU, EEA or Swiss agent entitled to practise here
For the buyer: What buying property in Cyprus actually costs
Tax Department, Capital Gains (in Greek) · Tax Department, Circular 3/2026 (29 May 2026): estate agents' commission and fees
The price the Tax Department takes. The price is what you and the buyer declare. The Tax Department can look into it within six months of the declaration, and if the declaration was false, charge tax on the difference with interest. For a gift, or a sale to a connected person declared below market value, it takes the open-market value instead.
Losses. A loss is worked out the same way as a gain. It can be set only against gains on other property you dispose of at the same time or later, and whatever is not used carries forward until it is.
Filing, paying, and paying late.
- File the return within one month of the disposal, and in any case before the property is transferred, and pay the tax it shows; signing a sale agreement already counts as a disposal. The forms are T.F.401 for property and T.F.402 for shares, and the Tax Department's forms page says they can be handed in at its district offices.
- Where the sale agreement has the price paid in instalments, the tax is paid with interest in step with them.
- Interest runs on unpaid tax from one month after the sale, at a public rate the Tax Department gives as 3.5% a year from 1 January 2026.
- Where the filing deadline falls in 2026 or later, filing late costs an individual €250, and tax paid late costs 5% of the amount, plus another 5% if it is still unpaid two months after the deadline.
- Separately from capital gains tax, a seller of property with a Land Registry general valuation generally pays a levy of 0.4% of the sale price at the transfer, worked out on the same return.
- If you let the property and did not declare the rent, the Tax Department asks for revised income tax returns, and for defence contribution and GESY where they apply, before it deals with the sale.
Sources (5)
Capital Gains Tax Law 52/1980, consolidated text (CyLaw) · Tax Department, forms for capital gains tax (in Greek) · Tax Department, presentation on defence contribution and capital gains tax (06.03.2026) · Tax Department, Form T.F.401 (2023 (2)): return of disposal of immovable property · Central Agency for Equal Distribution of Burdens Law 141/1989, consolidated text (CyLaw)
What are the capital gains tax exemptions in Cyprus?
Each individual gets one lifetime exemption: from 2026 the first €30,000 of gains is tax-free, or €50,000 if you sell farmland and farming is your main occupation. Selling your main residence can exempt up to €150,000 instead, if it meets every condition (details below); you get whichever is larger. The Tax Department treats it all as one lifetime amount of at most €150,000, so anything you used before 2026 counts against it.
Of gains over your lifetime, for any individual, from 2026 (€17,086 up to 2025)
Instead, for farmland sold by someone whose main occupation is farming (€25,629 up to 2025)
Of the gain on your main residence, if it meets every condition below (€85,430 up to 2025)
Capital Gains Tax Law · Tax Department
- You used it only as your own home for at least five years in total.At least ten years if it is not the first main residence you dispose of.
- It stands on land of up to one and a half decares (1,500 m²).On more land, the part of the gain from the land beyond that is taxed.
- You dispose of it less than a year after you stopped living in it.A year or more after, there is no exemption.
- You take this exemption instead of the €30,000 (or €50,000 farmland) one.Only one of the two applies, whichever is larger, and the Tax Department deducts any part you have already used.
If the gain is above €150,000, the tax is charged on the part above it.
Capital Gains Tax Law 52/1980, consolidated text (CyLaw) · Tax Department, Capital Gains (in Greek)
Living abroad and selling a home here? What the law says about it: Non-residents
The detailsone lifetime amount · if you used some before 2026 · land bought in 2015 or 2016 · co-owners · homes sold in insolvency or a loan restructuring · individuals, not companies
One lifetime amount. The Tax Department says the exemptions can be claimed only once in a lifetime, any unused part carries over to your next disposal, and the most anyone can claim in total is €150,000 from 2026. Its own example: someone who used the whole €30,000 on a sale of land can claim at most €120,000 more when they sell their main residence.
If you used some before 2026. Up to 2025 the amounts were €17,086, €25,629 for farmland and €85,430 for a main residence. The Tax Department says that if you used part or all of them by 31 December 2025, you can use the difference up to the new amounts on disposals from 1 January 2026: someone who had used the whole €17,086 has €12,914 more.
Tax Department, Capital Gains (in Greek) · Tax Department, presentation on defence contribution and capital gains tax (06.03.2026)
Land bought between 16 July 2015 and 31 December 2016. Land, or land with buildings, bought in that period at market value from a person not connected with you, by purchase or purchase agreement and not by exchange or gift, is exempt whenever you sell it. Property bought in a mortgagee's forced sale does not qualify.
Capital Gains Tax Law 52/1980, consolidated text (CyLaw) · Capital Gains Tax (Amending) (No. 2) Law 117(I)/2015, Official Gazette No. 4523
Co-owners. If you own the home with someone else, the Tax Department apportions the main-residence exemption to each seller's share; ask how that applies to you before you count on a figure.
Homes sold in insolvency or a loan restructuring. Special rules exist for a main residence sold under an insolvency arrangement, in a mortgagee sale or in the restructuring of a loan; take advice on whether they apply to you.
Individuals, not companies. The lifetime exemptions are for individuals; a company does not get them.
Do non-residents pay capital gains tax in Cyprus?
Yes, if the property is in Cyprus: the Tax Department charges it whatever your tax residence, subject to the rules on double taxation, and being non-dom doesn't change that. The lifetime exemptions name no residence test, but the main-residence one has conditions of its own, and the law does not define a main residence (details below).
Moving here, or not sure where you are resident? How residence is decided: Cyprus tax residency
The detailstax treaties · a home here while you live abroad · non-dom · the same return and deadline
Tax treaties. The Tax Department charges the tax on property in Cyprus, and on shares in companies that own it, whatever the seller's tax residence, subject to the rules on double taxation. One treaty point it states concerns shares in a company that holds the property through other companies: where a treaty lets Cyprus tax them only if at least 50% of their value comes from property in Cyprus, the treaty prevails below that line.
The 20% test: Shares
Tax Department, Capital Gains (in Greek) · Tax Department, presentation on defence contribution and capital gains tax (06.03.2026)
A home here while you live abroad. The main-residence exemption asks for your main residence, used by you only as your own home for at least five years in total, and disposed of less than a year after you stopped living in it, among the conditions listed under Exemptions. The law does not define a main residence and says nothing about where you are tax resident, so ask an adviser before you count on the exemption for a home here while you live abroad.
Non-dom. The Tax Department lists what non-dom status changes under the defence contribution alone, and the capital gains tax charge names neither residence nor domicile.
What non-dom takes off: Non-dom
Capital Gains Tax Law 52/1980, consolidated text (CyLaw) · Tax Department, Tax Residency/Domicility
The same return and deadline. A seller who lives abroad files the same return within one month of the sale, and the property is transferred only once the tax is paid, as for anyone else.
Have your sale worked through before you file
What you owe turns on what you sell, the value you can start from, the costs you can show and the exemption you have left, and the return and the tax are due within one month of the sale. A licensed adviser can work through it with you before you sign or file.
- Tell us your situation — a few questions.
- The founder reads it and passes it on only to a licensed adviser.
- The rest is between you and the adviser. There is no obligation.