The IGTF (tax on large financial transactions) does not tax every payment in dollars. It depends on two things: where the money passes through and whether the person receiving it is a sujeto pasivo especial (special taxpayer; what is known as a contribuyente especial). Here is what the text says and where interpretation begins.
Which law applies and who is the taxpayer
The rule in force is the Ley de Impuesto a las Grandes Transacciones Financieras (Large Financial Transactions Tax Law), amended and published with its full text in Gaceta Oficial No. 6.687 Extraordinario of February 25, 2022. It took effect 30 days later (article 25). We did not find a later amendment of the law.
Article 4 lists six types of taxpayer. Numerals 1 to 4 refer to legal entities classified as sujetos pasivos especiales, to those related to them and to those who pay on their behalf. For paying for a property or a rent in dollars, two matter:
In both cases the taxpayer is the one who pays: the buyer in a sale, the tenant in a lease. The obligation arises with the debit to the account or the settlement of the debt (article 10), and the base is the total amount of each taxed debit or transaction (article 12): if you pay in parts (arras, or deposit, and balance), each taxed payment counts separately.
How much it is: 3%, set by article 24
Article 24 sets 2% for numerals 1 to 4 of article 4 and "tres por ciento (3%)" (three percent) for numerals 5 and 6, "hasta tanto el Ejecutivo Nacional establezca una alícuota distinta" (until the national Executive sets a different rate).
The 3% is not a ceiling. Article 13 allows the Executive to set between 2% and 8% for numeral 5, and between 2% and 20% for numeral 6. Decreto No. 4.972 (decree; Gaceta Oficial No. 6.821 Extraordinario, July 12, 2024) lowered numerals 1 to 4 to 0% from July 15, 2024 and provided that numerals 5 and 6 "seguirán sujetas a la alícuota establecida en el artículo 24" (will remain subject to the rate set in article 24). We did not find a later decree that changes the 3%.
Example: a taxed payment of $80,000 generates $2,400 of IGTF.
Case by case
| How you pay | IGTF according to the text? |
|---|---|
| Cash in dollars between two people who are not sujetos pasivos especiales | Does not fit numeral 5 or 6 (our reading) |
| Zelle or a bank abroad | It is not "dentro del sistema bancario nacional" (within the national banking system); if a sujeto pasivo especial collects, see below |
| Foreign currency transferred within Venezuelan banking, without a foreign correspondent (for example, from a cuenta custodia, a foreign-currency custody account) | 3% (numeral 5); the numeral does not mention who receives |
| Foreign currency to a sujeto pasivo especial without the mediation of financial institutions (cash, for example) | 3% (numeral 6) |
| Bolívares from a Venezuelan account | An individual paying on their own account is not in article 4; numerals 1 to 4 are at 0% |
Cash between private individuals
Cash does not pass through the banking system (numeral 5) and numeral 6 requires that the one collecting be a sujeto pasivo especial. Our reading: if neither the seller nor the landlord is one, the text of the law does not tax that payment. The lawyer consulted by Prodavinci (2022) reads it the same way.
Zelle or a bank outside Venezuela
It is not a payment "dentro del sistema bancario nacional" (within the national banking system). Article 3, numeral 8, mentions as a taxable event "los débitos en cuentas para pagos transfronterizos" (debits to accounts for cross-border payments), but no numeral of article 4 names that payer separately.
If a sujeto pasivo especial collects, count on the 3%: IESA (a Venezuelan business school; 2023) places Zelle and foreign transfers under numeral 6, and Prodavinci cites oficios (official letters) of the SENIAT (the national tax authority) that taxed payments made through payment gateways. But the rule says "sin mediación de instituciones financieras" (without the mediation of financial institutions) without distinguishing domestic from foreign ones, as Moore Venezuela notes, so it is debatable. Our reading for a private individual who is not a sujeto pasivo especial: the text does not reach them, but we could not confirm it with the SENIAT.
Cuenta custodia or foreign-currency account at a Venezuelan bank
This is numeral 5, which does not mention who receives. Our reading: a payment from your cuenta custodia to the seller's or landlord's account in Venezuela carries 3% even if they are a private individual. A transfer to a bank abroad through a foreign correspondent no longer fits the letter of numeral 5. The exemption for transfers between one's own accounts (article 8, numeral 7) applies only in moneda de curso legal (legal tender). IESA (2023) reported that, on instructions from Sudeban (the banking regulator), banks had been restricting transfers between cuentas custodia since 2022; ask your bank whether it allows the transaction and how much it debits.
Seller that is a company (agente de percepción, collection agent)
Providencia SNAT/2022/000013 (administrative order; Gaceta Oficial No. 42.339, March 17, 2022) designated sujetos pasivos especiales as agentes de percepción for the payments they receive in foreign currency or crypto-assets "sin mediación de instituciones financieras" (without the mediation of financial institutions) (article 1). They must collect it the same day (article 2), declare and pay it every fifteen days (article 3) and show the rate and amount on the invoice (articles 5 and 6). A company that is not a sujeto pasivo especial is not an agente de percepción, and numeral 6 does not apply to payments made to it; if you pay it in foreign currency within Venezuelan banking, numeral 5 applies.
Exemptions and exoneration decrees
Article 8 exempts, among others, the Republic, the BCV (the central bank), public bodies classified as sujetos pasivos especiales and the exchange transactions of an authorized exchange operator (numerals 1 to 4). But "la exención prevista en los numerales 5 al 11 de este artículo aplica exclusivamente para las transacciones realizadas en moneda de curso legal" (the exemption provided in numerals 5 to 11 of this article applies exclusively to transactions carried out in legal tender) or in crypto-assets issued by the Republic.
Article 23 allows the Executive to grant exonerations by decree. The last annual decree we found is Decreto No. 4.924 (Gaceta Oficial No. 42.823, February 21, 2024), in force since February 26, 2024 (article 8). Its exoneration (article 1) covers foreign-currency transactions with public securities and stock exchange securities, not property payments, and its article 7 limits "el beneficio de exoneración" (the exoneration benefit) to one year. Its article 5 listed as not subject to the tax, among others, payments in foreign currency to those who are not sujetos pasivos especiales, and remittances. Moore (September 2025) states that those decrees ceased to have effect and that there is no non-subjection regime in force. In October 2026 we did not find a later decree that reaches these payments.
Unresolved discrepancy: that article 5 spoke "de conformidad con lo previsto en la Ley" (in accordance with the provisions of the Law), but numeral 5 of the law taxes payments in foreign currency within the banking system and does not mention who receives them.
Rent in dollars and how to prepare
Each monthly payment follows the same rules: the tenant pays, and the landlord acts as an agente de percepción only if they are a sujeto pasivo especial and collect without the mediation of financial institutions. The 2026 residential lease law (article 14) allows the rent to be set in another currency and, by mutual agreement, the equivalent to be paid in bolívares at the BCV rate. More detail in rent in dollars under the 2026 law.
Before paying for a purchase:
We could not review the SENIAT's criteria: its portal does not load from outside Venezuela. For a specific transaction, consult an accountant or a tax lawyer.
Paying in foreign currency and the 2007 law. Article 23 of the Ley Especial de Protección al Deudor Hipotecario de Vivienda (housing mortgage debtor protection law; Gaceta Oficial No. 38.756, 2007) says home purchase operations "sólo se otorgarán en bolívares" (shall only be made in bolívares), while Convenio Cambiario No. 1 (2018) allows agreeing in foreign currency. We found no rule or ruling that resolves that conflict: see paying cash or with credit and consult a lawyer.