PRESS RELEASE

Stamp Duty (Amendment) Bill 2010 to be gazetted this Friday

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A spokesman for the Transport and Housing Bureau said today (April 21) that the Government will publish the Stamp Duty (Amendment) Bill 2010 in the Gazette this Friday (April 23), with a view to implementing the two proposals relating to stamp duty in the 2010-11 Budget, namely to increase the stamp duty rate for property transactions valued more than $20 million to 4.25%, and disallow deferred payment of stamp duty for those transactions.

"The aforementioned two proposals aim to increase the transaction cost of property speculation to reduce the risk of a property bubble and ensure that the local property market will continue to have a stable development," the spokesman said.

"There were about 2,000 residential transactions with consideration above $20 million from November 2008 to October 2009, which accounted for about 1.5% of the annual property transactions. The vast majority of home buyers will not be affected by the two measures," the spokesman added.

The Stamp Duty (Amendment) Bill will be introduced into the Legislative Council on May 5, 2010.

Ends/Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Issued at HKT 18:45

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