No purchase deed, outdated simulators: selling a property in 2026 runs on new rules

Q: I lost my property's purchase deed: how much tax will I pay?

Where the acquisition price cannot be determined, article 78 of the CIDTA, amended by the 2026 Finance Act, fixes it by flat at 40 % of the sale price. For a property sold at ten million dinars the base starts at six million, less substantiated sale duties, taxes and costs — but no other deduction: neither historic acquisition costs nor works, even invoiced. The flat excludes everything else.

Q: I sell at a loss or at the same price: must I still file?

Yes. Since the 2025 Finance Act (article 80 quater of the CIDTA), the series G No. 17 return must be filed with the tax collector of the property's location within thirty days of the deed, even where no gain is realised. The nil mention records the mutation in the administration's files — its absence is a formal offence independent of any tax amount.

Q: Does gifting my apartment to my nephew avoid the capital-gain tax?

No: gifts to relatives beyond the second degree and to non-relatives fall within the scope of sales for value (article 77 of the CIDTA). A gift to a nephew is therefore treated as a taxed sale. Direct-line transmissions follow a distinct regime. Our article Taking money out of your company covers these mechanisms on the director's patrimony side.

Q: Doesn't the notary handle this tax himself?

No: the series G No. 17 return, serving as payment voucher, must be filed by the taxpayer personally — computation and payment included — within thirty days of establishing the deed, with the tax collector of the property's location. Where the seller is not domiciled in Algeria, a duly authorised agent may perform these formalities.

Q: I live in France and sell a property located in Algeria: will I be taxed twice?

The property gain is taxed in the State where the property sits: Algeria remains competent regardless of your residence. The Franco-Algerian tax treaty of 17 October 1999 expressly assigns gains from property sales to the State of situs and eliminates double taxation on the French side. The practical constraint is not the rate but the file: evidencing principal occupancy of a part-year home requires documents assembled before the sale.

BENSAID Farouk — Financial Expert 22 August 2026 10 min read Updated: August 2026

In short: Property-sale taxation has just shifted, and much of the circulating content has not followed. Since 1 January 2026, when the acquisition price cannot be established — old family properties, unformalised transmissions, deeds silent on price — article 9 of the 2026 Finance Act fixes it by flat assessment at 40 % of the sale price (amended article 78 of the CIDTA), with a consequence few sellers measure: no further deduction is then allowed, even documented ones. Separately, the holding-period allowance starts from the third year (5 % per year, capped at 50 % per the DGI), the main home opens a half-tax reduction — not the full exemption promised by some simulators — and the G No. 17 return must be filed within thirty days of the deed, now even where there is no gain at all. This article rebuilds the full computation on the texts in force.

Keywords in this article

purchase deed missing: the tax office fixes 40 % of the sale price allowance of 5 % per year from year three, capped at 50 % main home: a half reduction — not an exemption G17 within thirty days — even without any gain the DGI property-price benchmark frames your declared price a gift beyond second-degree relatives = taxed sale liberating rate of 15 % inheritances and Islamic financing exempted

1. 1. When is a property sale taxed, and at what rate?

An individual's property capital gain is the positive difference between the sale price of a built or unbuilt property and its acquisition or creation price. The scope covers sales made on a civil basis, outside professional activity (article 77 of the CIDTA) — whatever the holding duration.

Two scope extensions often surprise:

gifts to relatives beyond the second degree and to non-relatives are treated as sales for value: gifting an apartment to a nephew triggers the capital-gain regime. We detail this mechanism in our article Taking money out of your company, on the director's patrimony side;
the gain is taxed where the property sits: a seller residing abroad remains taxable in Algeria — the tax treaty concluded with their country of residence prevents double taxation.

The rate is a liberating 15 %: the gain is not added to other income, and the tax paid closes the matter for that sale.

2. 2. Purchase price missing: what does the 2026 Finance Act say?

This is the year's major novelty. A significant share of Algerian sales involves properties with patchy histories: family homes passed down without complete formalisation, old deeds silent on price, land registers with no figure. Without an acquisition price, the computation set by article 78 of the CIDTA became impossible — or contestable.

Article 9 of the Finance Act for 2026 amended that article 78: where the acquisition or creation price cannot be determined, it is fixed by flat assessment at 40 % of the sale price. Implementing circular No. 09/MF/DGI/LF.2026 of 4 March 2026, addressed to regional and wilaya tax directorates, illustrates the mechanism: for a property sold at ten million dinars, the flat retained is four million — the taxable gain is therefore six million, less the duties, taxes and substantiated costs borne on the sale itself.

Element	Treatment under the flat
Acquisition price	Set at 40 % of the sale price
Historic acquisition costs (notary, registration)	Not deductible — already covered by the flat
Works and improvements, even invoiced	Not deductible
Duties, taxes and substantiated sale costs	Deductible from the gain

The exclusivity rule is the flip side of the flat's convenience: it combines with no additional deduction. The choice is therefore not neutral — a seller holding a purchase deed and substantial works invoices often fares better under ordinary law; a seller without documents loses what they would have deducted. In our engagements, this arbitrage is settled before signing before the notary, not after.

Your sale deserves verified math before the deed

Flat-versus-ordinary comparison, admissible deductions check and return preparation.

Model my capital gain

3. 3. Price known: how is the gain computed, and what allowance applies?

Where the purchase price is established, the taxable gain is the difference between sale and acquisition prices, taking into account the items deductible under article 78's conditions. The holding-period allowance then applies as described on the tax administration's own official page:

Holding duration	Allowance applied
Under three years	None
From the third year onward	5 % per year
Cap	50 % of the gain

A correction is needed here, because many circulating tables announce a start at the fourth year, or even total exemption after ten years: the DGI's official page, updated in February 2026, describes a 5 %-per-year allowance from the third year, capped at 50 %. No full exit through seniority appears there. Before pricing a sale, work with the parameters published by the administration itself — not those of a simulator whose last update nobody knows.

One further administrative safeguard: market value is the sole parameter the legislation retains for pricing transactions, and the DGI publishes a downloadable property-price benchmark. A declared price far below that benchmark invites reassessment — declaring the genuinely agreed price is not a fiscal option.

4. 4. Is the main residence exempt?

This is the second stubborn legend. What current regulation provides, as presented by the DGI, is a 50 % tax reduction — not a full exemption — for sales of housing in a collective or individual building constituting the seller's sole property and main residence (article 104-5 of the CIDTA, as completed by the 2025 Finance Act).

Both conditions are cumulative and their wording matters: sole property — the seller owns no other dwelling — and main residence. For an ordinary taxpayer the combination yields an effective rate of 7.5 % on the gain after allowances. For a diaspora member the difficulty is documentary: proving principal occupancy of a property not lived in year-round requires a file assembled in advance — utility bills, attestations, children's schooling — not a declaration of intent on sale day.

Remaining true exemptions are narrower than rumour: sales of properties belonging to a succession for the purposes of liquidating co-ownership rights, where indivisibility is substantiated (article 80 ter, clarified by the 2025 Finance Act), and sales under Mourabaha and Ijara Mountahia Bitamlik financing contracts.

5. 5. After signing: which formalities, by when?

The tax does not pay itself in passing before the notary: the filing burden rests on the seller.

File the G No. 17 return

Within thirty days of establishing the sale deed, with the tax collector of the property's location. The form is downloadable from the DGI website; computing and paying the tax due rest with the taxpayer personally.

File a nil G17 where applicable too

Since the 2025 Finance Act (article 80 quater of the CIDTA), the return must be filed even where no gain is realised: sale at a loss, exempted sale, price equal to purchase price — the administration wants the trace of every mutation.

Get represented if needed

When the seller is not domiciled in Algeria, computation and payment may be performed by a duly authorised agent — the door open to diaspora members to settle without travelling.

And if a sale escapes these formalities it does not vanish: property mutations leave traces — land publicity, the price benchmark, bank reconciliations. Our article Tax audits: deadlines, rights and preparation describes what happens when a declared file does not match the real one.

Key takeaway. Three dates structure every sale: entry into possession (it starts the allowance), the deed (it opens the thirty-day G17 window), and 1 January 2026 (it froze the flat at 40 % for all untraceable prices). A seller who masters these three dates masters their tax.

FAQ — Frequently asked questions

I lost my property's purchase deed: how much tax will I pay?

I sell at a loss or at the same price: must I still file?

Does gifting my apartment to my nephew avoid the capital-gain tax?

Doesn't the notary handle this tax himself?

I live in France and sell a property located in Algeria: will I be taxed twice?

Sources and references

Direction générale des impôts — page « IRG / plus-values de cession à titre onéreux des immeubles bâtis ou non bâtis », mise à jour le 11 février 2026 : champ (art. 77), abattement 5 %/an dès la troisième année plafonné à 50 %, taux libératoire de 15 %, réduction de 50 % logement unique et habitation principale (art. 104-5-a, art. 8 LF 2025), exonérations art. 80 ter, déclaration G n° 17 sous trente jours (art. 80), G17 même sans plus-value (art. 80 quater, art. 6 LF 2025), mandataire, référentiel des prix — Direction générale des impôts (MFDGI) · Verified on 22/08/2026
Loi n° 25-17 du 14 décembre 2025 portant loi de finances pour 2026 — JO n° 88 du 31 décembre 2025, art. 9 : modification de l'article 78 du CIDTA, forfait de 40 % du prix de vente lorsque le prix d'acquisition ne peut être déterminé — Journal officiel de la République algérienne n° 88 du 31 décembre 2025 · Verified on 22/08/2026
Circulaire n° 09/MF/DGI/LF.2026 du 4 mars 2026 — modalités du forfait de 40 % (exclusivité des déductions, exemple 10.000.000 DA, application depuis le 1er janvier 2026). Texte intégral à rattacher à la page législation de la DGI lors de la première révision — Direction générale des impôts · Verified on 22/08/2026
Loi de finances pour 2025 (JO n° 84 du 26 décembre 2024) — art. 5 (art. 80 ter), art. 6 (art. 80 quater), art. 8 (art. 104-5-a) — Journal officiel de la République algérienne n° 84 du 26 décembre 2024 · Verified on 22/08/2026