Current legislation on stamp duty covers all the bases

IT IS interesting that we once again get to revisit the issue of policy changes and whether they have been well designed to address specific shortcomings.

On March 10, the Ministry of Finance announced in a press release legislative changes in Parliament "aimed at treating transactions in residential properties on the same basis irrespective of whether the properties are transacted directly or through a transfer of equity interest in an entity holding residential properties". One can only assume that this is targeted at recent transactions where stamp duty on sale of shares in real estate investment companies was avoided.

My initial reaction to this was one of disap…