Every buyer in Mexico eventually asks, usually a week before signing, how much more than the price they are going to pay. The answer is a range between roughly two and five percent of the price in most of the places foreigners buy, and the reason it is a range rather than a number is that four different authorities set the pieces. The municipality sets the transfer tax. The state sets the registry fees and, in two of the four states we cover, the notary's maximum fee. The federal government sets the permit a foreign buyer pays. And the notary sets the rest, within whatever room the law leaves.
This article walks through each line item in the order it appears on a closing statement, with the 2026 rules for Jalisco, Nayarit, Guanajuato and Baja California Sur. At the end there is a link to the closing costs calculator we published this month, which applies these same rules to your own figures and shows the article of law behind every number.
1. The transfer tax (ISAI)
The largest item is almost always the municipal tax on acquiring real estate, called impuesto sobre adquisición de inmuebles in most states and impuesto sobre transmisiones patrimoniales in Jalisco. Each state's municipal finance law creates the tax and each municipality's annual revenue law sets the rate, so the figure changes with the city and, in principle, every January.
Two designs exist. Jalisco and Guanajuato municipalities use progressive tables: a fixed amount for the bracket plus a percentage on the excess, the same structure as an income tax tariff. Guadalajara's 2026 table runs from 2.5 to 3.5 percent; Puerto Vallarta's from 2.65 to 3.55; León's starts at 0.56 percent and climbs past 6 percent only above eight million pesos, which is why a modest home in León carries a transfer tax a fraction of Guadalajara's. Nayarit and Baja California Sur use a flat rate: 2 percent in Bahía de Banderas and Compostela, 3 percent in Los Cabos and La Paz. Guanajuato and Baja California Sur additionally subtract a tax-free amount measured in annual UMA before applying the rate (ten annual UMA in Guanajuato, five in Baja California Sur, where La Paz limits the reduction to homes), and the two Nayarit municipalities apply a minimum tax expressed in daily UMA.
The base matters as much as the rate. Outside Jalisco the base is the highest of the price, the appraisal and the cadastral value. In Jalisco, for a home, the municipality taxes the appraisal approved by the cadastral office; the price governs only until an appraisal exists. A buyer who negotiates well below market should expect the appraisal, not the contract, to drive the tax.
2. The notary's fee
Here the four states split three ways. Jalisco publishes an official schedule (the arancel) through its Notaries' College, and the state notarial law makes that schedule a ceiling: the notary may charge less, never more. For a three-million-peso home the 2026 ceiling is about 47,600 pesos. Baja California Sur works the same way, with a schedule expressed in daily UMA. Nayarit publishes a schedule in its official gazette. Guanajuato is the exception: its notarial law leaves fees to agreement between notary and client, with the state's fee statute as a reference rather than a cap, which is why for San Miguel de Allende and León the calculator shows a range instead of a single figure.
Whatever the fee, add 16 percent VAT. Notarial services are taxed even when the property itself is not.
3. Registry fees
Recording the deed at the Public Registry of Property is a state charge, set in each state's revenue law. Jalisco charges a flat fee for recording the purchase of a home (4,801 pesos in 2026) and half a percent of the price, capped, for everything else. Guanajuato charges a flat fee. Nayarit charges a number of daily UMA. Baja California Sur combines fixed amounts with a percentage of the value, also capped. The lien certificate the notary orders before closing, which confirms the seller holds title free of mortgages or attachments, is a separate state fee of a few hundred pesos.
4. The foreign buyer's permit
A foreign individual or company acquiring Mexican real estate deals with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs one way or another. Inside the restricted zone (fifty kilometers from the coast, one hundred from the borders) the acquisition runs through a bank trust, the fideicomiso, and the Ministry charges a permit fee under the Federal Fees Law; in 2026 the permit and its registration come to about 22,245 pesos. Outside the restricted zone there is no trust, but the foreigner still files the agreement under which they accept Mexican law for the property and waive their government's protection, with a smaller fee of about 5,252 pesos. Neither figure includes what the trustee bank charges to open and administer the trust, which is a private price and varies by bank.
5. VAT, only on commercial construction
Land is exempt from VAT, and so are buildings used as housing. A building with any other use (an office, a shop, a warehouse, a short-term rental operated as a business) carries 16 percent VAT on the value of the construction, not on the land, and the notary collects it at closing when the seller is an individual selling occasionally. On a four-million-peso commercial property with construction appraised at 2.5 million, that single line is 400,000 pesos, larger than every other closing cost combined. It is the item that most often surprises buyers of mixed-use or rental property.
6. What the closing statement does not show
The appraiser's fee, the trustee bank's opening and annual fees, certified copies and notices the notary pays on your behalf, cadastral filings, the broker's commission and any mortgage costs are real money, but none is set by the laws above, so none can be computed in advance with the same confidence. Budget for them separately and ask for each quote in writing.
What this adds up to
The table shows the calculator's output for typical purchases, as of 16 October 2026. Prices are in Mexican pesos; percentages are of the price.
| Purchase | Buyer | Closing costs | Share of price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guadalajara, home, 3,000,000 | Mexican | 146,426 | 4.9% |
| Zapopan, home, 6,000,000 | Mexican | 269,802 | 4.5% |
| Chapala, home, 4,000,000 | Foreign, outside the restricted zone | 186,788 | 4.7% |
| Puerto Vallarta, home, 5,000,000 | Foreign, bank trust | 250,037 | 5.0% |
| Bahía de Banderas, home, 6,000,000 | Foreign, bank trust | 208,384 | 3.5% |
| Los Cabos, home, 8,000,000 | Foreign, bank trust | 353,677 | 4.4% |
| La Paz, home, 4,000,000 | Foreign, bank trust | 194,760 | 4.9% |
| San Miguel de Allende, home, 7,000,000 | Foreign | 253,783 to 301,343 | 3.6% to 4.3% |
| León, home, 2,500,000 | Mexican | 27,175 to 48,635 | 1.1% to 1.9% |
Two things stand out. First, the spread between municipalities is wider than most buyers assume: the same six million pesos costs a buyer 3.5 percent in Bahía de Banderas and 4.5 percent across the bay in Puerto Vallarta, almost entirely because of the transfer tax. Second, the foreign buyer's permit is small relative to everything else; the restricted zone adds cost through the bank trust's private fees, not through the government's.
Run your own numbers
The closing costs calculator applies the 2026 revenue laws of eleven municipalities to the price, appraisal and use you enter, separates Mexican and foreign buyers, and prints the article behind each line. It also has a second tab that estimates the seller's income tax, which is the subject of the next article in this series. The figures are estimates for planning; the notary sets the final amounts when the deed is signed, and that is the moment at which we review them for clients. If you are closing in the next few weeks and want the statement checked before you wire funds, book a consultation. The first conversation is on us.
Sources: Ley de Hacienda Municipal del Estado de Jalisco, arts. 112 to 117 Bis; Ley de Ingresos del Municipio de Guadalajara 2026, art. 28; Zapopan 2026, art. 49; Puerto Vallarta 2026, art. 41; Chapala 2026, art. 47; Ley de Ingresos del Estado de Jalisco 2026, art. 16; Ley del Notariado del Estado de Jalisco, arts. 135 and 136, and Arancel Notarial 2026 (Colegio de Notarios de Jalisco); Ley de Hacienda Municipal del Estado de Nayarit, arts. 40 to 45, and Leyes de Ingresos 2026 of Bahía de Banderas (art. 21) and Compostela (art. 15); Ley de Hacienda para los Municipios del Estado de Guanajuato, arts. 179 to 185, Leyes de Ingresos 2026 of San Miguel de Allende, León and Guanajuato, Ley del Notariado para el Estado de Guanajuato, art. 7; Ley de Hacienda para el Municipio de Los Cabos, arts. 35 to 39, and de La Paz, art. 38; Ley Federal de Derechos; Ley del Impuesto al Valor Agregado, arts. 1, 9, 12 and 33. Full list with links on the calculator's sources page.
Figures verified against official publications on 16 October 2026 and subject to change with each year's revenue laws. This article provides legal information, not legal advice; no attorney-client relationship is created by reading it. © 2026 Terra Firma Attorneys at Law · terrafirma.law