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Lebanon taxes the transfer of an estate to its heirs through the transfer fee, رسم الانتقال. This guide explains what the tax is, who pays it, the exemption every heir receives, the progressive rates by class of heir, and a worked example, with a note on what changes for heirs abroad. For the full filing procedure, deadlines, and document list, see our separate probate and asset-transfer procedure guide. For a quick estimate on your own share, use our inheritance tax calculator.

A caution before the figures: Lebanese inheritance-tax amounts have been recalibrated four times in as many years, by the 2022 and 2024 budget laws, by Decree 56 of 11 March 2025, and by the 2026 budget law. Most figures still circulating online are out of date. The amounts below reflect the law as it stands in 2026 and apply to deaths occurring after 15 November 2022; estates of persons who died earlier are assessed under the previous schedule, and need professional review.

What the Transfer Fee Is, and Who Pays It

The transfer fee is a tax on the passing of assets by death. It is imposed on all movable and immovable property making up the estate, under Legislative Decree No. 146 of 12 June 1959, as amended, and it applies to assets passing by inheritance or under a duly authenticated will.

The key feature, and the one that surprises most people, is that the tax is assessed on each heir’s individual share, net of the charges burdening it, and not on the estate as a whole. Each heir is taxed separately on what that heir receives, and each heir gets a separate exemption. So an estate divided among several heirs is taxed more lightly than the same estate passing to one person, and the figure that matters to you is your own share, not the total.

The tax reaches:

• all assets located in Lebanon, whether the deceased was Lebanese or foreign, and wherever the deceased lived;
• assets located abroad belonging to a Lebanese resident; and
• assets located abroad belonging to a foreigner resident in Lebanon.

Double taxation on the last category may be relieved under an applicable international convention.

The Exemption Every Heir Receives

Before any rate is applied, the tax administration deducts a family exemption from each heir’s share. The amount depends on how closely the heir is related to the deceased (Article 9 §5 of Legislative Decree 146/1959, as raised by Decree 56 of 11 March 2025 and maintained by the 2026 budget law):

Only the part of the share above the exemption is taxed. Additional exemption layers apply to the share of a child-heir who has a permanent disability, who is still a minor, or who supports dependents; these stack on top of the base exemption up to a ceiling equal to it. Our inheritance tax calculator applies these supplements automatically when they are relevant.

The Progressive Rates by Class of Heir

The share remaining after the exemption is taxed by brackets, and the rate schedule rises with the remoteness of the kinship. Lebanese law sorts heirs into rate categories, and the closer the heir, the lower the rate.

For spouses and descendants (the first category), the brackets are (Article 59 of Budget Law 10/2022, with the thresholds as raised by Article 50 of Budget Law 324/2024):

Parents form a separate category taxed at 6% to 18% across the same brackets. From there the rates climb with distance of kinship: siblings, then more remote relatives, and finally beneficiaries who are not related to the deceased at all, where the rate reaches up to 45%. The principle is consistent: a surviving spouse or child pays the least, an unrelated legatee the most.

A Fixed Surtax on Larger Shares

On top of the progressive fee, a flat surtax of 5 per thousand (5‰) applies to the portion of an heir’s share that exceeds LBP 2,400,000,000 (Article 43 of Legislative Decree 146/1959, as amended by Budget Law 10/2022 and Decree 56/2025). It is a small addition next to the progressive rates, but it should not be forgotten in the final figure.

A Worked Example

Take a son inheriting a net share worth LBP 8 billion (this is illustrative; use the calculator for your own figure).

As a descendant, he is in the first rate category, so his exemption is LBP 2.4 billion. His taxable share is therefore 8 billion minus 2.4 billion, which is 5.6 billion. Applying the first-category brackets to that 5.6 billion:

• the first 1.8 billion at 3% is 54 million;
• the next 1.8 billion at 5% is 90 million;
• the remaining 2 billion at 7% is 140 million.

The progressive fee comes to about LBP 284 million. The 5‰ surtax on the part of his 8-billion share above 2.4 billion (that is, on 5.6 billion) adds a further 28 million, for a total of roughly LBP 312 million on an 8-billion share. A more distant heir, a nephew or an unrelated legatee, would start from a smaller exemption and climb a steeper rate schedule on the same share.

What Changes for Heirs Abroad

The tax itself does not change because the heirs live abroad, but two practical points do. First, the territorial reach above means a Lebanese resident’s worldwide movable assets are within the tax, while a non-resident deceased is taxed on Lebanese assets; the residence of the deceased, not of the heirs, drives this. Second, where all the persons liable were outside Lebanon at the date of death, or the events giving rise to the transfer occurred abroad, the tax administration may, at its discretion, extend the declaration deadline up to one year (Article 24 of Legislative Decree 146/1959), and the file for a death abroad is handled by the Beirut transfer-fee department.

Deadlines and Penalties, in Brief

The estate must be declared to the Ministry of Finance within 90 days of the death, with the file completed within six months (Article 21), and the assessed fee paid within two months of the collection order being served. Late declaration carries a fine of 5% of the tax per month, capped at one times the tax on the undeclared assets (Article 33); late payment carries a 1% per month collection fine. The full document list and the order of the steps are set out in our probate and asset-transfer procedure guide; this note is concerned with the tax itself.

One further head is worth flagging: proceeds of a life-insurance policy are taxed separately at 15% of the insured value (Article 15 of Legislative Decree 146/1959, as raised from 5% by Law 22 of 11 July 2025).

Estimate Your Own Tax

Because the tax turns on the class of heir, the size of the individual share, and the current exemption and bracket figures, the reliable way to estimate it is to compute it on your own numbers.

➤ Open the inheritance tax calculator to estimate the transfer fee on your share.

For how the tax fits into the wider picture of settling an estate, and the two systems that govern who inherits in the first place, see our pillar guide to inheritance law in Lebanon.

Related resources:

• Inheritance Law in Lebanon: A Guide for Heirs and Families Abroad
• Christian and Non-Muslim Inheritance in Lebanon: Shares Under the 1959 Law
• Probate, Inheritance and Asset Transfer in Lebanon: Procedure and Inheritance Tax
• Inheritance Tax Calculator
• Inheritance Shares Calculator

References: Legislative Decree No. 146 of 12 June 1959 (transfer-fee law), as amended, most recently by Budget Law 10/2022 (Articles 43, 55, 59), Budget Law 324/2024 (Article 50), Decree 56 of 11 March 2025 (Article 9 §5 exemptions), Law 22 of 11 July 2025 (Article 15), and the 2026 budget law (Article 45); Articles 9, 15, 21, 24, 33, 43, and 59 of Legislative Decree 146/1959.