Status date: 10 September 2026. Status: In force. Instrument: Zakon o izmjenama Zakona o porezu na promet nepokretnosti ("Sl. list CG" 132/2026 of 9 September 2026, registration number 2263). The chain of the amended statute, as the amending Article 1 itself lists it: 36/13, 3/23, 28/23 and 33/26.
We are writing this because one sentence on our own pages went out of date overnight. Our transfer tax guide summarises the exemption in Article 14 as "the first order of succession, spouses and parents" — that was an accurate reading of the tax statute until Tuesday. A three-article law published on 9 September added the registered same-sex life partner to that list. What follows is what the text changes, why the change is smaller than it looks, and which question it leaves open for a foreign reader.
What the text says
Article 1 rewrites Article 12(2) of the transfer tax act. That paragraph defines the household, and the household definition sets the size of the first-home relief: Article 12(1)(4) exempts a first-time acquirer of a dwelling for up to 20 m² per household member. The new wording puts životni partner lica istog pola beside the acquirer's spouse, and repeats the substitution for the partner's children, adoptees, parents and adoptive parents. The condition is untouched: a household member must share the same residential address as the acquirer.
Article 2 replaces two points of Article 14(1). Point 1 now reads: an heir of the first order of succession, the spouse, the life partner and the parents of the deceased; and, for gifts, a donee of the first order and the spouse or life partner of the donor. Point 4 adds the end of a partnership alongside divorce: former spouses or former same-sex life partners pay nothing when they divide joint property because of divorce or the dissolution of the partnership.
Article 3 sets the commencement, and it does not use Montenegro's usual eighth-day rule. The law enters into force "on the day following publication". Publication was 9 September 2026, so the law took effect on 10 September 2026 — today. There is no deferred application date, no transitional provision and no repeal clause; the statute runs to three articles.
| Situation | In the tax statute until 9 September 2026 | From 10 September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Inheriting from a partner | Not listed in Art. 14(1)(1) | Exempt, Art. 14(1)(1) |
| Receiving a gift from a partner | Not listed in Art. 14(1)(1) | Exempt, Art. 14(1)(1) |
| Dividing joint property when a partnership ends | Art. 14(1)(4) covered divorce only | Exempt, Art. 14(1)(4) |
| Counting household members for the first home | Art. 12(2) omitted the partner | Partner and partner's relatives counted, Art. 12(2) |
| Rates | 3% / 4,500 € + 5% / 22,000 € + 6% | Unchanged, Art. 11 untouched |
The exemption is five years old
The fact that matters most here is that nothing was created today. The Zakon o životnom partnerstvu lica istog pola ("Sl. list CG" 067/20 of 7 July 2020) already granted the transfer tax exemption in its own Article 67, in three cases: a transfer between the partners while the partnership lasts, inheritance from the deceased partner with whom the survivor lived in the partnership until the moment of death, and property assigned to a donee in estate proceedings. Article 66 of the same statute equates the partner with a spouse in succession law. Under Article 76 it entered into force eight days after publication and began to apply one year later, on 15 July 2021.
So what does 132/2026 actually achieve? Two things. First, it moves the exemption inside the statute the tax office reads. An exemption sitting in Article 67 of a family-law act left a link that had to be demonstrated at the counter each time. Second, it closes two real gaps: Article 67 never covered the division of joint property after the partnership ended, and it said nothing about the household count for the first-home relief. The new Article 14(1)(4) and Article 12(2) fill exactly those two places.
One more detail deserves attention. Article 67 was not repealed — 132/2026 removes nothing. Two bases now sit side by side, and they are not identical: Article 67 requires that the couple lived in the partnership until the moment of death, while the new Article 14(1)(1) attaches no such condition.
What the text does not say
The question that matters most to a foreign owner has no answer in the text. The tax statute does not define životni partner lica istog pola and makes no express reference to the partnership act. Article 32 of the partnership act draws the register's boundary: it covers partnerships of Montenegrin citizens concluded in Montenegro or in another state, and partnerships of foreigners concluded in Montenegro. A partnership or marriage of two foreigners concluded abroad falls outside that boundary. Where two German spouses married in Germany transfer a Budva flat between themselves, we cannot show from any written source how the exemption is treated today.
The filing duty of an exempt person is also unsettled. Article 16(1) requires the taxpayer to file a poreska prijava within 15 days of the liability arising, and Article 16(4) makes payment simultaneous with the return. Whether someone who is exempt still files is not stated; Article 12(3) says the tax authority keeps a record of the contracts for which relief was granted, without setting out the procedure. Article 12(2) asks nothing about a household member's nationality either — only the shared residential address.
How we would approach it
If your partnership is on the Montenegrin register, we suggest you stop relying on a single basis from today and plead both: cite the relevant point of Article 14 and Article 67 of the partnership act in the same return. Article 67 survives and is wider in places; the new point is easier to demonstrate administratively because it sits in the tax statute itself.
If your partnership was concluded abroad, do not leave this to the filing stage. The relief in Articles 12 and 14 attaches to the moment of acquisition, whereas registration is a forward-looking act. Asking in writing — before the transfer deed — how the partnership will be recorded in Montenegro, and which document proves it if it cannot be recorded, costs less than an appeal afterwards. If you are setting up a property regime between partners, Article 63 of the partnership act requires the ugovor o imovini partnera to be written and notarised, and entered in the cadastre where it concerns real property; Article 59 registers joint property in both names and treats a single-name entry as an entry for both unless a written contract between the partners says otherwise.
What did not change
The rates stand. Article 11 charges 3% up to 150,000 €, then 4,500 € plus 5% above 150,000.01 €, then 22,000 € plus 6% above 500,000.01 €, and this law does not touch Article 11. The conditions of the first-home relief are also untouched: Article 12(1)(4) still requires an adult Montenegrin citizen with prebivalište in Montenegro, acquiring a first dwelling, who owns no dwelling in Montenegro. The widening in Article 12(2) therefore does not open that relief to foreigners; a foreign partner enlarges the exempt area as a household member while the acquirer must still be a Montenegrin citizen. In the inheritance and gift relief, by contrast, Article 14 carries no nationality condition at all. The taxpayer remains the acquirer under Article 7; the liability arises on the day the contract is concluded under Article 15; and Article 13 keeps real property contributed as share capital, and mergers, acquisitions and divisions, outside the charge.
How to verify
The amending statute is on the gazette's own page: sluzbenilist.me/propisi/397969. The act runs to two pages — page one carries the decree of promulgation (01-009/26-1561/2 of 8 September 2026) with Articles 1 and 2, page two carries Article 3, the act number 16-2/26-5/4 and the parliamentary file number EPA 1120 XXVIII. The phrase to search for is životni partner lica istog pola. The full issue sits on the 132/2026 issue page. To read Article 67 of the partnership act, the text is on gov.me: wapi.gov.me/download/2d43bdbe-04bb-45a8-b5ef-d41a647e3796.
We set out the same direction of travel on the citizenship and notarial side in our 119/2026 piece, and the mechanics of the charge sit in the transfer tax and VAT guide, which we are updating with this change. Succession planning across borders is covered in inheriting Montenegrin property under the EU Succession Regulation. If you are buying and want the tax side settled before signature, we can read your file together through our real estate investment page; later steps on this heading are published under Legal Updates.
