Additional Conveyance Duties to be Imposed on Transfers of Equity Interests in Property Holding Entities into Living Trusts

On 9 May 2022, the Stamp Duties (Amendment) Bill 2022 (“Bill“) was introduced in Parliament. The Bill seeks to effect two main changes: (a) Introduce the Additional Conveyance Duties for Trust, which will be payable on transfers of equity interests in property-holding entities (“PHEs“) into a living trust, provided the significant ownership threshold has been reached; and (b) Sets out the stamp duty payable on the renunciation of an interest in a residential property held on bare trust.

The Bill is part of the measures introduced by the Government to plug a gap in the existing Additional Conveyancing Duties and Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty regime relating to the transfer of property, or equity interests in PHEs, into a living trust. This Update provides a summary of the key points of the Bill.