On the burden of duty, and shophouses in demand

“THEY made me do it.” Some homebuyers now facing the taxman’s probes - and hundreds of thousands in owed payments - are claiming they were coached by real estate agents into a “99-to-1” scheme. Conversations with others also reveal that agents routinely “advise” buyers to take this route, which is thought to spare buyers from having to pay Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty on their second property purchases. 

Jessie Lim gets agencies’ and lawyers’ takes on the matter. Read our story here for their views, and to see exactly how Iras calculates payments owed.  

Stamp duty revenue dipped 2.4 per cent to S$5.81 billion in the Singapore government’s financial year ended March 2024, after transaction volumes fell and prices eased in both the property sales and rental markets. Stamp duty takings have been falling since FY2021’s record high S$6.76 billion, following the slew of market cooling measures introduced between end-2021 and 2023.