Passing on Cape Verde property without a sale: gift, inheritance and the ITI

General information guide, current as of 12 November 2026. It describes the applicable legal and tax framework and does not replace the advice of a notary, lawyer or tax adviser for a concrete situation. Sources consulted and verified on 12 November 2026.

1. A transfer tax even when there is no sale

Since 1 January 2026, Cape Verde has applied two new tax codes devoted to real estate. The Código do ITI, which governs the imposto sobre a transmissão de imóveis, comes from Lei n.º 54/X/2025, published in Boletim Oficial n.º 46, I Série, of 6 June 2025. The Código do IPI, which governs the imposto sobre a propriedade de imóveis, comes from Lei n.º 55/X/2025, published in the same Boletim Oficial. The ITI Code entered into force on 1 January 2026 (art. 4.º of Lei No. 54/X/2025); the IPI Code entered into force on the same date (art. 7.º of Lei No. 55/X/2025).

The central message of this reform is simple: the transfer of a real right over an immovable property located in Cape Verde can be taxed, including when no price is paid. A gift between living persons and a transfer on death are therefore not fiscally "neutral" events. This guide covers gratuitous transfers — gift and inheritance. A purchase for consideration follows a different logic: to understand the ITI on an ordinary purchase, see our dedicated article, linked at the end of this page.

2. What the Código do ITI taxes: gift and inheritance

The scope of gratuitous transfers is defined in art. 3.º of the Código do ITI, devoted to the objective incidence and to gratuitous operations. The provision covers transfers on death and gifts that involve a real transfer of immovable property located in Cape Verde.

Two points follow from this. First, the test is substantive: there must be a genuine transfer of the property, not merely a promise, an authority or an arrangement with no conveying effect. Second, the test is territorial: the immovable property must be situated in Cape Verde. A gift or an inheritance concerning Cape Verde immovable property therefore falls, in principle, within the Código do ITI, whatever the nationality or residence of the persons concerned.

3. The boundary with the ITI on a sale

The Código do ITI carefully distinguishes gratuitous from onerous transfers. Art. 2.º n.º 5, subparagraph c), draws the line: it brings into the scope of the ITI "the excess of the share belonging to the acquirer in the immovable property, in an act of division or partition, as well as the disposal of the estate or of the hereditary share".

This clarification has a direct practical consequence. A partition that respects the quotas is not treated as an onerous transfer. It is the rules specific to gratuitous transfers — art. 3.º — that govern the succession transfer. In other words, the mere distribution of an estate among heirs in accordance with their quotas is not assimilated to a sale between them. What is targeted is any excess received beyond the quota.

4. Who owes the ITI on a gratuitous transfer

Art. 4.º of the Código do ITI governs the subjective incidence: the tax is owed by the persons, natural or legal, to whom the immovable property is transferred. In plain terms, it is the recipient — the donee or the heir — who is liable, not the person who transfers.

In acts of division and partition, art. 4.º provides, at subparagraph a), a rule of allocation: the tax is owed by the acquirer whose share exceeds their quota. This rule connects with the boundary described above: as long as the partition respects the quotas, there is no taxable base under onerous transfers; any excess, however, is caught.

5. The taxable base: the valor tributável

Art. 10.º of the Código do ITI states that, in the gratuitous transfers referred to in art. 3.º, the tax is levied on the valor tributável — the tax value used for the tax. That value is not fixed at random: art. 9.º n.º 1 refers, for the valuation, to the rules of the Código do IPI.

Two further points complete the picture. On the one hand, where a property has been omitted from the matriz (the cadastral and tax register), art. 7.º n.º 2 provides that the property is valued and the tax is applied at the rate of 1%. On the other hand, art. 3.º of the law provides that the first valuation occurring from the code's entry into force (1 January 2026) applies "aquando da primeira transmissão, onerosa ou gratuita" — that is, at the first transfer, whether for consideration or gratuitous. A gift or an inheritance may therefore be, in certain cases, the moment at which the property receives its first valuation.

6. The rate: 1%, and 3% under a privileged tax regime

Art. 11.º sets the rates. Paragraph 1 lays down a single rate of 1%. Paragraph 2 provides for a rate of 3%, without any exemption or reduction being applied, where the transferor or the acquirer benefits from a privileged tax regime, as defined in the Código Geral Tributário.

The applicable rate thus depends on the tax position of the parties, and in particular on whether a privileged regime exists. This is a point to check case by case, since the classification of such a regime depends on the general tax code rather than on a simple judgement call.

7. The gift between living persons: notarial form and prior tax control

A gift of immovable property is not a mere private agreement. The Código do Notariado, at art. 80.º, generally requires a public instrument for acts that entail the recognition, constitution, acquisition, modification, division or extinction of rights of ownership, usufruct, use and habitation, surface, servitude or any other real right over immovable things. A gift of a real right over immovable property therefore normally passes through an escritura pública, or through an authenticated private document in the cases admitted.

On the tax side, art. 15.º n.º 1 of the Código do ITI provides that the assessment of the tax precedes the act or event transferring the property. The tax is assessed before the deed is signed, and art. 26.º n.º 1 requires payment on the day of assessment or, at the latest, by the third working day, failing which the transfer is left without effect. A gift of immovable property is therefore prepared in advance: valuation, assessment, payment, then deed.

Finally, the publicity regime differs with the form of the gift. Art. 10.º n.º 3 of the Código do Registo Predial provides that, for gifts taking effect without acceptance, it is the donor who must apply for registration.

8. Transfer on death: undivided estate, cabeça-de-casal and partition

On the death of the owner, the property transferred may remain in an undivided estate (herança indivisa) before being partitioned. On the annual property tax, art. 8.º n.º 5 of the Código do IPI specifies that a property held in an undivided estate is taxed on the estate, represented by the cabeça-de-casal. This central figure is the one who answers, for the undivided estate, before the administration.

The key moment for the ITI is the partition. As seen, art. 2.º n.º 5, subparagraph c), of the Código do ITI treats a partition respecting the quotas as not falling within the onerous transfer: it is the gratuitous-transfer regime that applies.

The Código do Registo Predial offers a favourable and important rule here. Art. 14.º n.º 4 provides that a partition may be titled without the property being registered in the name of the deceased or of the holders of the undivided estate. In other words, it is not necessary, in order to draw up or register a partition, first to have the property recorded in the name of the deceased. That flexibility avoids a frequent blockage in inheritance over immovable property.

9. Trato sucessivo: why prior registration conditions everything

Cape Verdean law rests on the principle of trato sucessivo. Art. 44.º n.º 1 of the Código do Registo Predial provides that no definitive registration of an acquisition by legal transaction is allowed without the prior registration of the property in the name of the transferor. In the same spirit, art. 14.º n.º 1 specifies that facts transferring rights over immovable property cannot be titled unless the property is definitively registered in favour of the person transferring it.

The principle nevertheless has successive mitigations, set out in art. 45.º. Paragraph 1 waives the intermediate registration in the name of the holders of an undivided estate, and paragraph 2 grants the same waiver for the universal heir or universal legatee. Combined with the rule in art. 14.º n.º 4 on partition, these provisions make it possible, in an inheritance, to move forward despite the absence of registration in the deceased's name — which is precisely the most common situation where the deceased had never himself registered his title.

10. The registry step: three months, penalty for delay and proof of payment

Once the deed is drawn up, registration must be requested within three months of the titling, as required by art. 11.º n.º 1 of the Código do Registo Predial. Art. 13.º n.º 1 sanctions delay with a pecuniary penalty of 25 000$00. This deadline deserves particular attention: it runs independently of the complexity of the inheritance.

The register is also locked by the tax authority. Art. 34.º of the Código do ITI provides that no fact, act or legal transaction relating to immovable property subject to registration may be definitively registered without the tax due being paid. In other words, there is no definitive registration without proof of ITI payment.

Finally, registration produces its own effects. Art. 4.º n.º 1 of the Código do Registo Predial recalls that, between the parties, an unregistered fact may still be relied on. But art. 5.º n.º 1 provides that it is not opposable to a third party who registered with priority, and art. 7.º specifies that only a definitive registration carries the presumption that the right exists and belongs to its registered holder. Hence the value of not leaving the inheritance or the gift outside the register.

11. Two locks that stop the act: the notary and the partition warning

The first lock is notarial. Art. 33.º n.º 1 of the Código do ITI forbids the notary from drawing up the deed without the extract of the declaration and proof of tax payment. Paragraph 4 adds that the notary is jointly liable. The notary is therefore not a mere draftsman: he checks compliance with the tax obligation before giving the act its form.

The second lock is documentary. Art. 57.º n.º 1, subparagraph e), of the Código do Registo Predial requires partition deeds to contain an express warning concerning trato sucessivo. That warning reminds the parties that the partition does not by itself put an end to the requirements of prior registration, and that they will need, depending on the case, to rely on the statutory waivers or to regularise the registrations.

12. After the transfer: the annual IPI follows ownership

A gratuitous transfer does not close the subject. Each year, the imposto sobre a propriedade de imóveis charges the property. Art. 8.º n.º 1 of the Código do IPI specifies that the tax is owed by the owner of the property on 31 December of the year concerned. It is therefore the position on the last day of the year that determines who owes the tax: an acquirer by gift or inheritance must anticipate the charge for the year following their entry into ownership.

Art. 8.º n.º 4 adds a presumption of ownership, based on the matriz or possession on that date. And for properties still held in an undivided estate, art. 8.º n.º 5 refers, as noted above, to the estate represented by the cabeça-de-casal. It should also be noted that art. 2.º n.º 4 of the Código do IPI treats an autonomous fraction in horizontal property as a property in its own right. The general IPI rates are set in art. 28.º, at 0.1%, and art. 23.º provides for a rate of 0.15% for building land.