Buying property in Florianópolis: ITBI and the coast

The city in the census

IBGE’s 2022 Census counts 537,211 residents and 219,689 occupied homes in Florianópolis. 60.1% of those homes are owned and 36.5% rented, the highest rented share among the cities in Payotte’s foreign-buyer guides (IBGE, 2022 Census). Payotte’s city page is Florianópolis.

ITBI under LC 007/1997, as amended in 2019

The text read is LC 683/2019 (of 12 December 2019), published by the City Council, which rewrote several articles of the city’s tax code. Later amendments were not checked.

• Rate (article 285): 2% on other transfers. For transfers within the housing finance system (SFH), the residential leasing programme (PAR) and social-interest housing (HIS), 0.5% applies to the amount actually financed up to R$ 180,000 in the 2019 text, and 2% to the rest. The cap is indexed each 1 January by the IPCA inflation index. The 2026 indexed value could not be read, so Payotte gives none.
• Base (article 281): the valor venal, defined as the value the property “would reach in normal market conditions”. Debts and encumbrances on the property are not deducted (§6). The value of improvements counts “whether or not completed or authorised for occupation (habite-se)”, unless the buyer paid for the construction (§7).
• Reductions of the base (article 281-A): one third of the valor venal on creating or ending a usufruct, use, surface or habitation right; two thirds on the transfer of bare ownership; one third on creating or ending domínio útil or enfiteuse; two thirds on the transfer of domínio direto. These apply from the year after the law’s publication.
• Who declares (articles 284 and 284-A): the buyer or assignee must send the Finance Department an informative declaration of real estate transfer, “regardless of whether the tax is due or exempt”, in the form and within the deadlines of the regulation. The tax is calculated by the taxpayer, who must pay in advance, and the department later approves or reviews it.
• If the declaration is missing or the value is understated (article 284-B): the department assesses the tax itself using the grid values and the building-cost index, adds interest and penalties, and gives the taxpayer 30 days to pay, pay in instalments or contest.
• Payment (article 286): “in the form and deadline set by regulation”. Payotte did not read that regulation, so the exact due date relative to the deed is for the notary’s office or the Finance Department to confirm.

A calculation, not a quote: at a price of R$ 600,000 paid in cash the 2% rate gives R$ 12,000, if the declared value is accepted as the base. Because the department can replace a low declared value, see ITBI tax base and reference value. Payotte’s purchase costs calculator applies the rate to your figures.

Coastal land: the SPU in Florianópolis

The SPU is the federal body that demarcates terrenos de marinha, measured from the 1831 mean high-tide line. Its pages explain the procedure and give Florianópolis as the example:

• On the SPU’s notification page, notifications “are being carried out in Florianópolis, starting in Jurerê”, under a court case it names.
• A notified owner has 60 calendar days from receipt to challenge the line (article 12-A of Decreto-Lei 9.760/1946). If the challenge is rejected there are two further appeals of 20 days each, the second optional. Not answering is allowed: “it is enough not to respond to the notification”.
• The process is free. The SPU warns that firms offering to challenge or regularise are private and not accredited by the federal government.
• After demarcation, the SPU says it handles a registry phase, which can mean opening or adjusting registrations, and that demarcation “does not mean losing the property”. Private parties may keep using the land and pass it to heirs under a destination instrument, which may involve an annual fee.

The Santa Catarina SPU office is at Praça XV de Novembro, 336, Centro, Florianópolis; its page also links to the demarcation lines in the state. For a purchase, ask the SPU, before the deed, whether the plot lies on a demarcated line. The charges, the transfer certificate and the foreigner rule are in beachfront property and terrenos de marinha and laudêmio and the SPU transfer certificate.

Protected areas

ICMBio, the federal conservation agency, lists a marine extractive reserve inside the city: the Pirajubaé Marine Extractive Reserve, in the Costeira do Pirajubaé district, created by Decree 533 of 20 May 1992 and covering 1,712.08 hectares. Payotte read nothing on what the reserve means for a purchaser of a home nearby; if a plot lies near a protected area, ask the city’s planning department and ICMBio for the rules that apply.

What was not read

The city’s finance site refused the connection, so the IPTU rates and dates are not given; read the notice or ask the city. The Santa Catarina notary and registry fee table and the state ITCMD were not read, so Payotte gives no figure for either; see notary and registry fees and ITCMD. For the general mechanics of the municipal tax, see IPTU, the municipal property tax.

Which professional to consult

A lawyer registered with the OAB can read the matrícula and advise on the SPU status; a licensed broker (CRECI) can handle the sale; an architect or engineer can check the building against its permits. See property lawyer, real estate broker and architect and engineer.