STAMP DUTY
Stamp duty is a tax on commercial and legal documents. Here is a quick overview of stamp duty and how it affects your business. It is not meant to be an in-depth guide on stamp duty.
What Is Stamp Duty?
Stamp duty is actually a tax on commercial and legal documents.
By stamping your documents, and paying the tax, your transaction is recorded and "recognized".
When Do Documents Have To Be Stamped?
Stamp duty is only payable on documents relating to immovable property (land and property), stocks and shares, e.g. an agreement for the sale and purchase of land.
You can stamp your documents before or after executing (legally signing) them.
For documents executed in
For documents executed abroad, they must be stamped within 30 days of receiving them in
You should always stamp your documents in time to avoid penalty fees. If you fail to stamp your documents, you may be fined up to S$10,000 or imprisoned up to 3 years or both.
Stamp Duty payable by Buyer of
- First $180,000 is 1% .
- Second $180,000 is 2%.
- Thereafter, 3% of the remaining property price.
For property price more than $360K, a quick way to compute the stamp duty is to consider a flat rate of 3% on the total property price, then subtract the excess amount for the first $180K and next $180K which is $5400.
Quick Formula:
Stamp Duty = 3% x Property price - $5400
Example 1: Property Price = $1M
Stamp Duty = 3% of $1M - $5400 = $30,000 - $5400 = $24,600
Example 2: Property Price = $600K
Stamp Duty = 3% of $600K - $5400 = $12,600
For property price less than $360K, it's 1% for first $180K and 2% for the next $180K.
Example 3: Property Price = $280K
Stamp Duty = 1%x$180,000 + 2%x$100,000 = $3800
Example 4: Property Price = $160K
Stamp Duty = 1%x$160,000 = $1600
(The discounts given to the first 360K is to take care of people from the lower income group who are buying a small property like a 3-rm HDB flat.)
