When submitting the Inheritance Declaration in the Dominican Republic, taxpayers often face uncertainty regarding which assets should be included as taxable assets under this tax.
This situation is the result of the Tax Administration's tendency to rely on practices and customs rather than on the law.
Such is the case when the DGII refuses to accept files that include movable assets located abroad, such as money in bank accounts, arguing, according to its officials, that "they are already taxed abroad."
It is important to highlight that Dominican law establishes a system that is not strictly territorial in terms of the scope of the mentioned tax, but rather an intermediate criterion.
Article 1 of Law 2569-50 on Inheritances and Donations establishes that the inheritance tax will apply to "... any transfer of movable or immovable property due to death..." "... all movable property, regardless of its nature and location.""... when the deceased (Cujus) was Dominican or had their last domicile in the country."
From the above, it is clear that the tax base includes movable property located outside the country.
It is concerning that in the taxpayer guide number 7, published by the DGII itself, what is established by the law in this regard is correctly stated, yet the lack of unified criteria between the local administrations and the legal department of that entity has prevented this information from reaching certain officials.
We hope that the tax administration can overcome this mistake and set an example by helping to make the already traumatic process of settlement and payment of inheritance taxes less difficult.