First-time homebuyer – how to file a transfer tax return for shares in a housing company
You don't have to pay transfer tax for your first home, if it was bought before 1.1.2024. See the other conditions for the first-time homebuyer’s transfer tax exemption.
If you are not entitled to the first-time homebuyer’s transfer tax exemption, see the instructions here.
The first-time homebuyer’s transfer tax exemption only concerns dwellings used for permanent living. If your purchase of a home also includes a parking spot or a storage space (shares of separate series), remember to pay transfer tax on them.
You must file a transfer tax return even if you do not pay transfer tax on your first-time home.
File the return
Submit the transfer tax return in 2 months after you have signed the deed of sale or other contract (if no realtor assisted you). The transfer tax return contains a field where you must fill in your affirmation that this is your first-time home.
If you buy with the assistance of a realtor
- the realtor also submits the return to the Tax Administration, and
- when he or she has done that, you will get a copy of an acknowledgement of receipt issued by the Tax Administration, saying that the electronically filed transfer tax return is received.
If you purchased a “new property”: a home still under construction or newly constructed, file the return in 2 months after the date of transfer of ownership to you. Do this even if a realtor had assisted you.
How to file a transfer tax return in MyTax
The paper-printed form can be used by individual taxpayers, general partnerships and limited partnerships.
YOU RECEIVE A CERTIFICATE OF TRANSFER TAX
You will receive a certificate on filed transfer tax in MyTax or by post. Normally, after you have filed, the certificate will appear in MyTax in 2 days. Finding the certificate in MyTax. If you file your return on paper, wait for the certificate of transfer tax to become available in MyTax a little later.
If a realtor assists you when you buy the housing-company shares, you get the certificate from the realtor (the estate agent’s office). MyTax does not contain the certificate if the realtor issued it.
Make sure that the transfer of title is recorded in your name
You should ask the manager whether the housing company’s information is in the new Property Information System.
If your housing company is on the Property Information System, submit an application to the National Land Survey for registration of your ownership. Your transfer-tax payment is recorded in the Property Information System automatically, so you do not have to present any certificate to the manager
If the company’s lists of shares and shareholders are not recorded in the new system, show the building manager the certificate. It proves that you paid the tax. Taxpayers who have submitted the transfer tax return form before 1 November 2019 receive a stamped copy of the submitted return from the Tax Administration, and they can use it as their certificate. Ask the manager about any other documentation they might require for having your name entered in the list of shareholders.
Frequently asked questions
Transfer taxation has only been handled in MyTax as of 8 November 2019. In MyTax, you can see:
- Any returns and notices you have submitted in MyTax.
- Any paper transfer tax returns you have submitted after 1 November 2019 on paper forms released at that time or later. In general, there is always a delay before a paper return becomes available for viewing in MyTax.
When you have used a transfer tax return, a certificate of your transfer tax will be stored in MyTax for viewing after both the return and the payment have been recorded in the Tax Administration’s data system. Finding the certificate in MyTax
If the housing-company shares are the type that entitle you to start living in a flat of the housing company, hand the certificate over to the building manager. This enables the building manager to enter your name in the list of shareholders.
If a realtor assists you when you buy the shares in a housing company, you will receive the certificate proving the payment of the transfer tax from the realtor (the estate agent’s office). MyTax does not contain the certificate if the realtor issued it. In the case of “new construction”, if you bought the shares for a newly built flat, you must submit the transfer tax return independently. After you have done that, the certificate will be stored in MyTax for viewing.
Older tax returns
You cannot view the return in MyTax if you submitted it before November 2019, with the old paper form. Please do not re-submit the return. If you need a copy of such a return, i.e. the one with a stamp on, please call the service number on +35829 497 022 (transfer taxes); sometimes the superintendent of a housing company may demand that you show a stamped form.
First, do not forget to complete the tax return and pay the transfer tax accordingly.
Because your housing company is in the new Property Information System, you must submit an application for registration of your ownership to the National Land Survey. The National Land Survey will get the information confirming your payment of the tax automatically, so there is no need to show a paper certificate to your building manager.