21 September 2012

The Ministry of Finance is seeking public feedback on the draft Stamp Duties (Amendment) Bill 2012.

Except for one proposed amendment that was announced in the 2012 Budget Statement, the rest are predominantly technical changes that arise from periodic review of the stamp duties regime.

A summary of the proposed amendments is as follows:

• Stamp duty relief to be extended to acquisitions carried out through multiple tiers of entities, and not just through one tier of wholly-owned subsidiaries (as announced in the 2012 Budget Statement)
• Appeal deadline to be extended for stamp duty from the current 21 days to 30 days
• Clarification that stamp duty is not chargeable on a conveyance on sale of any type of property other than immovable property (such as land), stock and shares
• References to physical revenue stamps to be removed with the decommissioning of franking machines and revenue stamps after the implementation of e-stamping
• Clarification that the reduction in Seller’s Stamp Duty on the parts of the property used for a non-prescribed purpose (i.e. purpose that is not subject to Seller’s Stamp Duty) also applies to vacant land. The reduction in Seller’s Stamp Duty does not apply to parts used temporarily for non-prescribed purpose
• Clarification that Rules may be made to amend stamp duty remission Orders made before 1 January 2012
• To enable the Minister to make subsidiary legislation to clarify the application of specific sections of the Act when amendments are made to the First or Third Schedule.

The consultation period runs from 20 September 2012 till 10 October 2012.

Source: Ministry of Finance (MOF)