Bhutan capital gains tax: none for individuals, transfer tax on property
Bhutan has no personal capital gains tax, so the tax on your investment gain is zero. Shares on the Royal Securities Exchange, crypto and personal property alike, a private disposal falls outside every head of income tax in the 2001 Act, and the Income Tax Act of Bhutan 2025 exempts a resident individual's non-business disposal gains from 1 January 2026. What matters instead are the charges on the transaction and the asset: a 3 percent property ownership transfer tax on land and buildings, 1 percent on motor vehicles, and annual property tax of 0.1 percent of taxable value from 1 January 2023.
Current rules
Taxes on selling shares, crypto and property in Bhutan
What you pay when you sell
| Asset | Tax on the gain |
|---|---|
| Shares on the Royal Securities Exchange (personal investment) | Nothing. No income-tax head reaches a private disposal gain; the share-gain rule in the 2001 Act is a corporate provision, and from 2026 the 2025 Act exempts a resident individual's non-business disposal gains |
| Crypto | Nothing on the gain |
| Other valuables | Nothing on the gain |
| Property (personal investment) | Nothing on the gain |
| Selling land or a building | Property ownership transfer tax at 3% of the sale value or the PAVA-assessed value, whichever is higher, payable at the change of ownership by the person named in the sale deed, whether the sale makes a gain or a loss |
| Selling a motor vehicle | Property ownership transfer tax at 1% of the sale value or the assessed value, whichever is higher |
| Transfers between family members | Exempt: immediate family (parent, children and spouse), grandparents to grandchildren, sibling custodians to siblings, children to parents, divorce settlements, splits of joint ownership, returns to the main house after a death, and members of the same census record |
| Owning property | From 1 January 2023, land tax of 0.1% of taxable land value and building tax of 0.1% of taxable building value each year, plus vacant land tax of 15% of the land tax amount in thromde areas |
Questions
Bhutan capital gains tax questions
Does Bhutan have a capital gains tax?
No personal one. The Income Tax Act of the Kingdom of Bhutan 2001 charged personal income tax only on salary, income from real property, dividends and other sources, and section 11.1 confined other sources to hire of vehicles, plant and machinery and intellectual property. No head reached a gain on selling shares, crypto or property. The Income Tax Act of Bhutan 2025, in force from 1 January 2026, keeps it that way: realization gains are business income, and Schedule 3 paragraph 6 exempts a resident individual's gains from disposing of an asset that is not a business asset. Whether you sell after a week or after twenty years, the gain itself is not taxed.
So what does selling property cost?
The property ownership transfer tax, not a gains tax. The Property Ownership Transfer Tax Act of Bhutan 2020 charges 3 percent of the sale value or the Property Assessment and Valuation Agency's assessed value of land, whichever is higher, 3 percent of the sale or assessed value of a building, and 1 percent on a motor vehicle. It is payable at the change of ownership by the person named in the sale deed, and it is owed whether the sale makes a gain or a loss, so a sale at a loss still pays. Transfers between immediate family members, grandparents to grandchildren, and members of the same census record are among the exemptions in section 9.
Are gains on Royal Securities Exchange shares taxed?
Not for a resident individual. The rule that gain or loss from the sale of shares enters the computation of income sits in Part I of the 2001 Act, the Corporate Income Tax part, and the 2025 Act exempts a resident individual's non-business disposal gains outright. GST, which took effect on 1 January 2026 at 5 percent, exempts financial services including transactions relating to shares, stocks, bonds and other securities, so no GST sits on the trade either. What brings a disposal into tax is dealing as a business: a trader is taxed on the business, at the individual scale.
Is crypto taxed in Bhutan?
Not as a capital gain. No head of personal income tax reaches a private disposal, so crypto is treated the same as shares or valuables, at zero. The transfer tax on titled property and motor vehicles, the annual property tax and GST do not tax an investor's net capital gain.
What does the Income Tax Act of Bhutan 2025 say?
From 1 January 2026 the Income Tax Act of Bhutan 2025 replaced the 2001 Act (sections 2 and 8): realization gains are business income ('gains from the realization of non-depreciable assets and liabilities of the business', section 27(3)), while Schedule 3 paragraph 6 exempts 'gains derived by a resident individual from the disposal of an asset not being a depreciable asset, a non-depreciable asset, or trading stock of a business'. A resident individual's private disposal of shares, funds, crypto, valuables or property therefore remains outside income tax in 2026 and 2027; only disposals by a business are taxed, at the individual scale for a sole trader. Source: https://www.drc.gov.bt/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Income-Tax-Act-of-Bhutan-2025.pdf
What exactly does the Property Ownership Transfer Tax Act charge?
What a property transfer pays instead: the Property Ownership Transfer Tax Act of Bhutan 2020, in force from 16 January 2020, levies a property ownership transfer tax at 3 percent of the sale value during the transaction or the value assessed by the Property Assessment and Valuation Agency, whichever is higher, on land, and 3 percent of the sale or assessed value of a building (section 4), and 1 percent of the sale or assessed value of a motor vehicle (section 5). The tax is paid at the change of ownership (section 6) by the person specified in the sale deed (section 7). It is charged on the value, not on the gain, and is owed whether the sale makes a gain or a loss. Source: https://www.drc.gov.bt/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Property-Ownership-Tranfer-Tax-Act-of-Bhutan-2020_0.pdf
When is the transfer tax exempt?
Transfer-tax exemptions at the change of ownership (section 9): transfers between immediate family members (parent, children and spouse), from grandparents to grandchildren, from a sibling who is the legal custodian of inherited property to biological or legally adopted siblings, return of property to the main house after a death, a split of jointly owned property as one's share, division under a divorce settlement per the Marriage Act, transfers to registered religious organizations and registered public benefit organizations, transfers between exempt international organizations, from children to parents, to the Zhung Dratshang or Dratshang Lhentshog, and between members registered under the same census record. Source: https://www.drc.gov.bt/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Property-Ownership-Tranfer-Tax-Act-of-Bhutan-2020_0.pdf
What is the annual property tax?
Annual property tax from 1 January 2023 (Property Tax Act of Bhutan 2022, section 2): land tax of 0.1 percent of the taxable land value (section 8) and building tax of 0.1 percent of the taxable building value (section 11) each year, plus vacant land tax of 15 percent of the land tax amount in the Schedule 2 thromde areas (sections 15 and 16). Concessions: 90 percent off Chhuzhing land, 50 percent off cultivated Kamzhing land, 90 percent remitted for highland communities, and up to 50 or 70 percent remitted on self-occupied and protected traditional houses (sections 19 to 23). Section 6 provides that no taxes may be imposed on immovable property unless provided for under this Act. These are ownership charges on assessed value, not taxes on a gain. Source: https://www.drc.gov.bt/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Property-Tax-Act-of-Bhutan-2022.pdf
Does the Revenue Report confirm these collections?
The Department of Revenue and Customs reports these heads as Taxes on Capital Transactions, 'collected on the transfer of ownership of property-land, buildings and motor vehicles', with the majority of revenue 'collected from the 3% land ownership transfer tax': Nu. 222.82 million net land, Nu. 9.72 million house/building and Nu. 29.68 million motor vehicle transfer tax in FY2024-25. Source: https://www.drc.gov.bt/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/National-Revenue-Report-2024-2025.pdf
Is GST charged on a sale?
GST took effect on 1 January 2026 at 5 percent with a Nu. 5,000,000 registration turnover threshold (GST Act of Bhutan 2020 as amended by the GST (Amendment) Act of Bhutan 2025). Financial services are exempt supplies, including 'transactions relating to shares, stocks, bonds, and other securities' (Schedule IV item 5), so trading on the Royal Securities Exchange of Bhutan attracts no GST; a supply of immovable property is its own supply category for registered persons (section 63(3)). Source: https://www.drc.gov.bt/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Consolidated-GST-Act-of-Bhutan-2020-and-amendment-thereof.pdf