Buying or selling property

16 steps across 4 agencies

The sale is the easy part. Moving the title into your name runs through BIR and two local offices, and every one of them has a deadline.

Clocks that are already running

Capital gains tax return: 30 days from the sale
Documentary stamp tax: 5th day of the following month
Transfer tax, local: 60 days from execution

Each is sourced on the guide it belongs to. This page states no figure of its own.

01First, agree the price and the paper

Deed of absolute saleArticle 1358 requires a sale of land to appear in a public document, which is why it is notarised.CedulaA notary will ask for a community tax certificate before notarising the deed.Special power of attorneyOnly if someone signs for you. Article 1874 makes a sale void where an agent's authority was not in writing.BIR zonal valuesThe tax base is the higher of the selling price and the zonal or assessed value, not simply what you agreed.

02If you are borrowing to buy

Financing runs in parallel with the paperwork above, not after it. A lender will want the deed and the title work moving before it releases anything.

Pag-IBIG housing loanThe cheapest formal route for most members, and the one with the longest lead time.Pag-IBIG acquired assetsForeclosed properties Pag-IBIG sells directly. A different purchase route with its own rules.

03Then pay the national taxes

Both are due before the Register of Deeds will look at your file.

Capital gains tax6% of the tax base, due within 30 days of the sale. Normally the seller's, but the parties often agree otherwise.30 daysDocumentary stamp taxDue on the 5th day of the month following notarisation, which is a shorter fuse than the CGT deadline.5th of the month

04Then move the title

Two separate local offices, and the second will not act without the first.

Transfer of titleThe eCAR, the local transfer tax and the Register of Deeds, in that order.60 daysTax declarationThe assessor's record. Transferring the title does not update it, and the RPT bill keeps going to the old owner until you do.

05Then it is yours to pay for, every year

Real property taxPayable yearly or quarterly, with a discount for advance payment and 2% a month interest for late payment.yearly

06If it is a gift rather than a sale

Transferring property to a relative for nothing, or for far less than it is worth, is not a sale and is not taxed as one.

Donor's tax6% on total gifts above ₱250,000 in a calendar year. Selling below market value can be treated as a gift of the difference.

07Work out the numbers first

Capital gains tax calculatorYou enter the current rate and confirm it. No agency rate is baked in.Documentary stamp tax calculatorThe other tax due before the Register of Deeds will act.Pag-IBIG housing loan calculatorWhat the monthly amortisation looks like before you commit to it.Real property tax calculatorFor the annual bill once the property is in your name.

What this page is

A route through guides this site already publishes, in the order the situation actually demands. It carries no sourcing band because it asserts nothing: every figure lives on the guide it links to, with its own source and its own verification date.

Related situations

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