Cyprus charges capital gains tax at a flat 20%, and almost the only thing it touches is property. Sell listed shares, a bond portfolio, a villa in Spain or a crypto holding and there is no Cyprus CGT at all. The charge lands when you dispose of immovable property situated in Cyprus, or shares in an unlisted company that owns some, and it applies whether you live in Limassol or Leeds. Since 1 January 2026 the lifetime exemptions have been considerably larger, which means a good number of ordinary sales now produce no tax at all.
What the tax covers, and what it does not
The Capital Gains Tax Law of 1980 (Law 52/1980) is a narrow statute by international standards. It taxes gains on immovable property situated in Cyprus, and on shares in companies that own such property, unless those shares are listed on a recognised stock exchange. Nothing else is in scope. That single feature explains a great deal about how Cyprus holding structures are built.
The share rule widened this year. Until the end of 2025, shares in a company holding Cyprus property indirectly were caught only where at least 50% of the market value of the shares derived from that property. From 1 January 2026 the threshold is 20%. Where a share disposal is caught, only the slice of the gain attributable to the Cyprus property is taxed, not the whole gain.
Residency is irrelevant to the charge. CGT follows the land, so a Cypriot living in Nicosia and a British owner who has never spent a winter here pay the same 20% on the same gain.
One exception matters. If dealing in property is your trade rather than your investment, the profit is business income and goes through income tax instead, at the 2026 rates: 15% for a company, up to 35% on the progressive personal scale.
The three lifetime exemptions
Every individual has lifetime allowances that come off the taxable gain before the 20% applies. The 2026 tax reform raised all three, and the old figures are still repeated in plenty of places, so they are worth seeing side by side.
| Disposal | Exempt to 31 December 2025 | From 1 January 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Private principal residence | €85,430 | €150,000 |
| Agricultural land sold by a farmer | €25,629 | €50,000 |
| Any other disposal | €17,086 | €30,000 |
Read "lifetime" literally. These are not per sale. Once an allowance is used it is gone, and the total claimable across all three heads over a lifetime is capped at €150,000. Nor can you stack the residence allowance and the €30,000 general one on the same property.
The residence allowance comes with conditions. You must have occupied the property as your main home for at least five years before the disposal, and the Tax Department expects proof rather than an assertion: utility bills in your name, bank statements, the documentary trail of somebody who genuinely lived there. An owner who let the place out and visited twice a year should plan on the €30,000 instead.
Working out the gain
Sale price minus purchase price is not the sum. What comes off the proceeds:
- the cost of acquisition, or the market value of the property at 1 January 1980 where you acquired it before that date;
- an inflation adjustment on that cost, indexed to the consumer price index;
- capital improvements, if you have the invoices. Repainting does not count, an extension does;
- transfer fees paid to the Land Registry when you bought;
- legal fees, and the commission of a licensed estate agent on the sale;
- interest on a loan taken out to buy the property.
Receipts govern all of it. A €40,000 renovation paid in cash ten years ago, with nothing on paper, buys you no deduction. The capital gains tax calculator runs the arithmetic on a disposal, and the transfer fee calculator covers the buyer's side of the same transaction.
Disposals that escape the tax entirely
Several transfers sit outside the charge altogether:
- transfers on death;
- gifts between relatives up to the third degree of kindred;
- gifts to a family company, provided the shareholders remain family members for five years;
- gifts to the Republic, a local authority or an approved charity;
- exchanges of property of broadly equal value;
- transfers under a company reorganisation;
- transfers ordered by a court on divorce.
Death is the one that matters most to foreign owners. Cyprus abolished inheritance tax in 2000 and charges no CGT on the transfer to heirs either, which the inheritance guide covers in full.
There is also a window that still surprises sellers. Land, or land with buildings, bought at market value from an unrelated party between 16 July 2015 and 31 December 2016 is exempt from CGT on any later disposal, however far in the future that sale happens. The property must have been bought rather than received by gift or exchange. If you acquired Cyprus property in that period, look at the contract date before you assume anything is owed.
Paying it, and why the Land Registry cares
The declaration and the payment both fall due within one month of the disposal. Miss the date and you are into penalties and interest.
Enforcement happens at the Department of Lands and Surveys, which will not transfer title until the Tax Department issues a clearance certificate, form N.313, confirming that CGT has been paid or that none is due. No clearance, no transfer, and the buyer's title deed sits in the queue. A seller who plans to be out of the country on completion should have the CGT position agreed weeks before the transfer date.
One further charge rides along with the sale. Under the Central Agency for the Equal Distribution of Burdens Law, a levy of 0.4% is payable by the seller on disposals of Cyprus immovable property, and on disposals of shares in companies that hold it. The money funds compensation for people displaced in 1974. Note the base: 0.4% of the sale proceeds, not of the gain, so it is due even on a sale that makes a loss.
British sellers answer to two tax authorities
Under the 2018 UK/Cyprus double taxation convention, gains on immovable property may be taxed in the country where the property sits, so Cyprus taxes first. A UK-resident seller stays within UK capital gains tax on worldwide gains and claims credit for the Cyprus tax paid against the UK bill. Because the rates, allowances and computation rules differ on each side, paying 20% here does not always close the file. The mirror case, a Cyprus tax resident selling a house in Kent, works the same way in reverse.
Selling Cyprus property? Browse the directory for a tax and wealth lawyer who can price the CGT before you sign rather than after. Figures here reflect the position in force in July 2026 following the 2026 tax reform; confirm the current thresholds with the Tax Department or your adviser before relying on them.