Key takeaways
- Corporate income tax is 27% on net profit under Law 11-92.
- ITBIS (VAT) is 18%, filed monthly with the 606/607 reporting formats.
- Dividends abroad carry a 10% withholding; a 1% asset tax acts as a minimum.
- The DGII calendar is monthly, not annual — miss it and surcharges compound.
- Free zones, CONFOTUR and Law 57-07 can legally take qualifying operations to zero.
Every foreign company that operates in the Dominican Republic meets the same tax machinery, and it is all built on one statute: Law 11-92, the Tax Code, administered by the DGII. Here is the map our clients wish they had on day one.
The four taxes every operating company meets
Corporate income tax (ISR) runs at 27% of net taxable profit. ITBIS — the Dominican VAT — adds 18% on most goods and services and is collected by you, monthly. Withholding makes you the tax collector again: 10% on dividends paid abroad, payroll withholding for employees, and specific rates on many payments to non-residents. Finally, a 1% tax on assets operates as an alternative minimum when profits are thin.
The DGII calendar: monthly, relentless, automatable
ITBIS returns and the transactional reporting formats (606 purchases, 607 sales) are due by the 20th of the following month. The annual corporate return (IR-2) is due within 120 days of fiscal year-end, with anticipos — advance payments — spread through the year. Add the transition to electronic invoicing (e-CF), and the lesson is simple: Dominican tax compliance is a monthly operating discipline, not a year-end scramble.
When you are the withholding agent
Salaries, dividends, rents, fees to non-residents — in each case the law deputizes the paying company to retain and remit. Getting a rate wrong is expensive twice: the DGII collects the missing tax from you, plus surcharges and interest.
Incentives that change the math
The same code that taxes you at 27% coexists with regimes that exempt you: free zones under Law 8-90 (100% exemption for export operations), CONFOTUR for tourism projects under Law 158-01, renewables under Law 57-07, and the investor protections of Law 16-95. Structuring into the right regime before you commit capital is the single highest-return tax decision available here.
The mistakes we see foreign companies make
Registering the RNC late and losing deductible history; invoicing without valid fiscal receipts (NCF/e-CF); treating ITBIS as their money instead of collected tax; ignoring transfer-pricing documentation for intercompany charges; and discovering the asset tax only when profits dip. All five are avoidable with a calendar and a competent fiscal desk.
Every situation has its own facts — for guidance on yours, book a free consultation with the desk that wrote this guide.