Press Releases

The Ministry of Finance will be conducting a public consultation on three proposed legislative amendments under the draft Stamp Duties (Amendment No. 2) Bill 2010. This exercise will run from 6 to 19 August 2010.

Proposed Amendments

2. The draft Stamp Duties (Amendment No.2) Bill 2010 implements a tax change announced in Budget 2010 as well as two non-Budget changes arising from the periodic review of our stamp duty regime.

a) Stamp duty relief for qualifying mergers and acquisitions (M&As). This tax incentive was announced in the 2010 Budget Statement along with the income tax allowance for qualifying M&As to support business restructuring.

b) Stamp duty remission. The proposed amendments clarify that the Minister for Finance may impose conditions for any reduction or remission of stamp duty.

c) Breach of Stamp Duty Relief. Under the proposed amendments, when qualifying conditions for stamp duty relief (e.g. for transfer of assets between associated entities) are breached, the stamp duty that was earlier granted relief will be required to be paid within a month of the notice of payment issued by the Commissioner of Stamp Duties.  Failure to do so will attract late payment penalties.

Consultation Details

3. The public can access the consultation documents together with the explanations for the draft Stamp Duties (Amendment No.2) Bill 2010 on the Ministry of Finance's website and the REACH consultation portal. Respondents may send their comments to the Ministry of Finance directly via the website, email, fax or post.