Cuba resets excise rates on vehicle sales in convertible currency

What changed in detail

Cuba’s Ministry of Finance and Prices issued Resolucion 172/2026, published in Gaceta Oficial No. 65 Ordinaria on 4 August 2026 and in force from 11 August 2026, setting revised Impuesto Especial a Productos y Servicios rates on sales in USD or equivalent convertible currency of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers by authorised trading entities: 35% for luxury combustion and hybrid cars, 25% for standard combustion cars and pick-ups, 20% for combustion motorcycles, tricycles, panel vans, trucks and tractor units, 15% for hybrids other than the luxury class, 12% for buses and minibuses, 5% for imported electric vehicles and 3% for electric vehicles assembled domestically. Electric vehicles sold with renewable-energy charging stations are exempt. Imported trailers and semi-trailers attract 15%, domestically assembled equivalents 5%. Parts, accessories, engines and cylinder blocks attract a 10% sales tax. The resolution revokes Resolucion 398/2024.

What it means

The rate ladder is an industrial-policy instrument as much as a revenue one: imported electric vehicles attract 5% while domestically assembled equivalents attract 3%, and electric vehicles sold with renewable-energy charging stations are exempt outright. The resolution revokes Resolution 398/2024, so any pricing built on the earlier schedule is stale.