The Dominican Republic’s General Directorate of Internal Taxes (DGII) is moving forward with a long-discussed plan to level the playing field between international digital service providers and local businesses, announcing it will table a formal proposal to apply the country’s 18% Tax on the Transfer of Industrialized Goods and Services (ITBIS) to foreign platforms operating within its borders within the next two months.
Major global services including streaming giant Netflix, short-term accommodation marketplace Airbnb, and social media leader Facebook are among the entities that would fall under the new tax rule, DGII Director Pedro Urrutia confirmed during a recent industry gathering hosted by the National Organization of Commercial Enterprises.
Urrutia emphasized that the core goal of the initiative is to establish uniform tax obligations for all businesses offering services to consumers in the Dominican Republic, eliminating the current competitive advantage that un-taxed foreign digital operators hold over domestic enterprises. Crucially, he added that the affected multinational companies have already signaled they are prepared to comply with the new requirement once a clear legal framework is put in place.
The proposed tax would apply to a wide range of online transactions carried out by these foreign firms, including paid user subscriptions, short-term rental bookings facilitated through digital platforms, and digital advertising services sold to local clients. Right now, DGII technical teams are conducting a thorough review of the country’s existing Tax Code to determine whether current legislation already grants the agency authority to implement the tax, or if new congressional legislation will be required to move forward.
This effort marks the resurrection of a 2025 policy attempt that ultimately failed: the original regulation, laid out in Decree 30-25, was later repealed by the Dominican government. Despite that earlier setback, Urrutia made clear the agency remains committed to advancing the policy, noting that foreign digital companies have no logical claim to tax exemption in the country. The DGII intends to finalize formal collection agreements with affected platforms regardless of whether legislative amendments are required, he added.
Beyond the new digital tax proposal, the DGII is also pursuing broader systemic reform to modernize and simplify the Dominican national tax system. A key focus of these ongoing reforms is an overhaul of the country’s Simplified Tax Regime (RST), with the dual goal of easing compliance burdens for small and medium taxpayers and strengthening the overall competitiveness of the domestic business environment without sacrificing government revenue.