Taxes and costs at a property auction: IMT, stamp duty and the rest

Which taxes do you pay when buying at auction?

The same as a normal purchase: IMT and stamp duty, both payable by the buyer and both due before the transfer title is issued. A judicial sale has no special tax regime.

**IMT** (the property transfer tax) is the larger charge. It is progressive by bracket and the rate depends on what the property will be used for.

**Stamp duty** is 0.8% of the value (TGIS, item 1.1), with no brackets. The own-permanent-home IMT exemption does not extend to stamp duty, with one exception: under IMT Jovem, stamp duty follows the same exemption.

⚠️ The tax base is the **higher** of the transaction value and the property's rateable value (VPT). At an auction where you buy well below VPT, the taxes are computed on the VPT: which erases part of the discount and is a common miscalculation.

How do the IMT brackets work?

By progressive brackets, like income tax: each slice of the value is taxed at its rate and then a deduction is applied. It is not a single rate on the whole amount.

There are two tables for residential urban property on the mainland (CIMT, art. 17): **own permanent home**, exempt up to €106,346 (CIMT, art. 9), and **other housing** (second home or investment), which pays 1% from the first bracket. The Azores and Madeira have their own tables.

Outside housing the rates are flat (CIMT, art. 17(1)(c) and (d)): **6.5%** for other urban property (building land, retail, services) and **5%** for rural land.

⛔ The brackets are updated almost every year. The table below is the 2026 mainland table (tax authority circular no. 40129/2026). Always confirm the table for the year of the transfer on the tax portal before finalising figures.

⚠️ Since Decree-Law no. 97/2026, a non-resident buyer pays a flat 7.5% on the purchase of housing, with no exemption or reduction, save exceptions (CIMT, art. 17(10)). For that buyer, the table below does not apply.

What are the fees and registration costs?

They are the administrative costs of titling and registering the purchase. In a judicial sale they come to a few hundred euros and, unlike the taxes, barely vary with the value.

In an enforcement sale there is **no notarial deed**: ownership transfers by the transfer title issued in the proceedings. That saves the notary's fees compared with a normal purchase.

What remains is the **land registration** of the acquisition, which is mandatory and carries a fixed fee of €250 (RERN, art. 21), plus any costs of cancelling encumbrances and obtaining certificates.

In a private auction house sale there is normally a **buyer's commission**, often between 5% and 10% of the hammer price, added to the price. It is in the conditions of sale: read them before bidding, because it materially changes the arithmetic.

How do you compute the true total cost?

Add to the bid the IMT, the stamp duty, the fees and registration, the auction house commission where there is one, and your works estimate. That total is what you compare against market value: never the base value.

A worked example with the 2026 mainland tables: a flat knocked down at **€120,000** as a second home or investment pays €1,336.54 of IMT, €960 of stamp duty and €250 of registration. As an own permanent home, IMT would drop to €273.08. In the first case you are at about €122,550 before touching the property.

If the interior refurbishment costs €25,000, the true total cost is **about €147,550**. Comparing the bid with the base value suggests a discount; comparing this total with the market value of the area is what tells you whether the deal exists.

Licito's bidding cost calculator does this sum, and the ROI calculator carries it through to the return if the plan is to resell or let.

Are there exemptions or tax reliefs?

There are, and they can change the arithmetic considerably: there is not always IMT to pay. The main ones are the own-permanent-home exemption, IMT Jovem and the exemption on purchases for resale.

The **own permanent home exemption** applies up to €106,346 in 2026 (CIMT, art. 9). Above it you pay on the progressive table, with its deduction.

**IMT Jovem** (CIMT, art. 9(2)) exempts the first own permanent home of a buyer aged 35 or under up to €330,539; between €330,539 and €660,982 you pay 8% only on the excess. Stamp duty follows the same exemption (TGIS, item 1.1). A **purchase for resale** by someone who carries on the activity of buying property for resale can also be exempt (CIMT, art. 7). For other special regimes, confirm with the tax authority or a professional before counting on them.

⚠️ There are also **surcharges**: a non-resident buyer pays a flat 7.5% on the purchase of housing, with no exemption or reduction, save exceptions (CIMT, art. 17(10), added by Decree-Law no. 97/2026). And the own-home exemptions depend on the property really being used as such: confirm the conditions with the tax authority before claiming them.

And the costs that are not taxes?

They are the ones that decide most deals: works, the time until the property earns anything, and any debts associated with it.

**Works** are the largest variable cost. You cannot see inside in most cases, so the budget is an estimate, and it is where most bad deals go wrong.

**Condominium debts** that fell due before the purchase are, under the Civil Code rule, the debts of whoever owned the unit when they should have been paid (art. 1424-A); those falling due afterwards are yours. Because how that rule applies to an enforcement sale is not settled, ask the administrator for the debt statement and read the conditions of sale.

**Time** is a real cost: property tax, condominium charges, insurance and tied-up capital while the property stands idle, and, if it is occupied, the time to recover possession.

And, if there is borrowing, the **interest** from purchase until letting or resale.