Property transfer tax in Oaxaca: 2026 rules by municipio

Who sets the rate

Oaxaca has no single state percentage for this tax. The municipal laws I read each contain their own rate chapter, and they differ in shape: a twelve-step marginal table in Oaxaca de Juárez, four brackets in Huatulco, a flat 2 % in San Pedro Mixtepec, the municipio that includes Puerto Escondido. Both the Huatulco and Mixtepec laws refer to the state’s Ley de Hacienda Municipal for the list of taxable acts, a law I did not read for this guide. Because the municipal revenue laws are voted each year, check the one in force for the year of your deed.

Every other Oaxaca municipio is missing from the calculator. Their tax is whatever their own 2026 revenue law says, and it was not established here.

Oaxaca de Juárez: a marginal table

The Oaxaca de Juárez law applies a table of twelve ranges, each with a fixed amount and a marginal rate on the excess over the lower limit, from 1 % on the first MX$120,000 up to 3.5 % above MX$12,400,001. The formula printed in the law is ((base − lower limit) × rate) + fixed amount. Decree 1492 replaced the table; its transitory article says it takes effect the day after publication in the state gazette, and the calculator records 29 March 2026. A higher table applied from 1 January until then, so a deed signed in early 2026 may have been taxed differently.

The base is built from the cadastral value, calculated with the unit-value tables used for property tax, with the 2026 law referring to article 26 of the Ley de Hacienda Municipal for what the law itself leaves open. The calculator takes the higher of your price and the cadastral value you enter.

Worked calculation on MX$3,000,000 (range 2,800,001 to 6,000,000.99, fixed MX$59,108.56, 2.8 %): 59,108.56 + (3,000,000 − 2,800,001) × 2.8 % = MX$64,708.53. On MX$8,000,000 (range 6,000,001 to 9,200,000.99, fixed MX$148,708.56, 3.1 %): 148,708.56 + (8,000,000 − 6,000,001) × 3.1 % = MX$210,708.53.

Huatulco: the whole base takes the bracket’s rate

Huatulco’s law lists four brackets with one rate each: 2.5 % up to MX$1,200,000, 3.5 % to MX$5,000,000, 4.5 % to MX$10,000,000 and 4.75 % above. It gives no fixed amount and no marginal wording, so the calculator applies the bracket’s rate to the entire base, as written. That produces cliffs: a base of MX$5,000,000 costs MX$175,000, while MX$5,000,000.01 costs about MX$225,000 (calculation). If your price sits near a threshold, ask the municipal treasury how it reads the table before you sign.

The Huatulco base is the highest of the declared value, the fiscal value and a valuation the treasury orders itself, using the unit-value tables in that law. Calculation: MX$3,000,000 × 3.5 % = MX$105,000; MX$8,000,000 × 4.5 % = MX$360,000.

Two Huatulco rules are easy to miss. For property next to the federal maritime-terrestrial zone, the buyer, the seller and the person responsible jointly must show they are up to date on the federal duties set in the Ley Federal de Derechos, with a payment copy or a municipal certificate. And a first purchase from the national tourism fund or the Bahías de Huatulco administrator is taxed on the sale contract price instead of the tables, but only while the plot is still empty.

Puerto Escondido (San Pedro Mixtepec): 2 %

The Mixtepec law taxes the base at 2 %, with the base set under article 26 of the state municipal-finance law and the unit-value tables used for property tax. Calculation: MX$60,000 on MX$3,000,000 and MX$160,000 on MX$8,000,000. The calculator uses the higher of cadastral and declared value, which is my reading of that reference, not a line of the municipal law.

Recording fee

The Instituto de la Función Registral charges, under article 44-I of the Ley Estatal de Derechos, 14 UMA to register a deed that transfers ownership. With the 2026 UMA of MX$117.31 (INEGI, in force from 1 February 2026) that is MX$1,642.34, the same at any price.

When to pay and who answers for it

Oaxaca de Juárez, Huatulco and San Pedro Mixtepec all require payment within 30 calendar days of the act. In Oaxaca de Juárez the law adds that the previous owner and the notary are jointly liable for the tax the buyer must pay, and it requires a clear payment record: the notary must check that the municipal payment is backed by a valid electronic tax receipt (CFDI) and record that check in the deed, and printed receipts have no legal effect in 2026. The notary must also put in the deed a warning that tax authorities exchange information about the real value. In Huatulco the seller is jointly liable too, and the notaries’ duty to warn about the declared value is the same.

Before the payment order is valid, the municipio checks there are no unpaid property-tax or street-cleaning charges on the property. Unpaid items are charged first.

Traps

• A table in force from late March 2026 replaced a higher one: confirm the date of your tax payment.
• Huatulco’s bracket rate applies to the whole value.
• The original 2026 Oaxaca de Juárez law (Decree 1058) reduces the tax for inherited homes up to MX$500,000 (0 %) and gifted homes up to MX$1,000,000 between blood relatives (0.5 %); neither fits an ordinary sale, and I did not check whether the March reform kept them.
• A property missing from the municipal property register is treated as hidden: the municipio can charge five years of property tax.

Which professional to consult

A notario público (a state-appointed notary, a senior lawyer) calculates, collects and documents the tax and can tell you which municipal table applies; see the notary profession. A valuation expert produces the cadastral appraisal, and a real-estate lawyer can read the municipal law for your case; see the real-estate lawyer profession.