Stamp Duties Act 1929

2021 REVISED EDITION

This revised edition incorporates all amendments up to and including 16 December 2021 and comes into operation on 31 December 2021

An Act relating to stamp duties.

[1 November 1929]

PART 1

PRELIMINARY

Short title

1. This Act is the Stamp Duties Act 1929.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“bare trust beneficiary”, in relation to a trust over property, means a person —

(a)	who is identified in the declaration of trust as a beneficiary of that property; and
(b)	who, upon the declaration of the trust, has beneficial ownership of that property; [Act 22 of 2022 wef 10/05/2022]

“Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Stamp Duties appointed under this Act;

“company” means any company incorporated or registered under any law in force in Singapore or elsewhere;

“conveyance on sale” includes every instrument and every decree or order of any court, by which any property, or any estate or interest in any property, upon the sale thereof is transferred to or vested in a purchaser or any other person on the purchaser’s behalf or by the purchaser’s direction;

“duly stamped”, as applied to an instrument chargeable with duty, means —

(a)	that the instrument bears an adhesive or impressed stamp of not less than the proper amount, and that stamp has been affixed in accordance with the provisions of this Act for the time being in force at the time of stamping; or
(b)	that the instrument, if stamped using the E‑Stamping system, has attached to it a stamp certificate issued for the instrument by the Commissioner in accordance with the provisions of this Act for the time being in force at the time of stamping;

“duty” means any stamp duty for the time being chargeable under this Act or any other Act;

“E‑Stamping system” means the computer service mentioned in section 6B(1);

“equitable mortgage” means an agreement or a memorandum under hand only, relating to the deposit of any title deeds or instruments constituting or being evidence of the title to any property whatever (other than stock or marketable securities), or creating a charge on such property;

“executed” and “execution”, used with reference to instruments not under seal, mean “signed” and “signature”;

“instrument” includes every written document;

“lease” means a lease of immovable property, and includes the following:

(a)	any undertaking in writing to cultivate, occupy or pay or deliver rent for immovable property;
(b)	any instrument by which tolls, rents or profits of any description are let to farm;
(c)	any writing on an application for a lease intended to signify that the application is granted;

“limited liability partnership” has the meaning given by the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2005;

“marketable security” means a security of such a description as to be capable of being sold or negotiated in any stock market;

“Master Plan” has the meaning given by section 2 of the Planning Act 1998;

“money” includes all sums whether expressed in the currency of Singapore or in any other currency;

“mortgage” means a security by way of mortgage for the payment of any definite and certain sum of money advanced or lent at the time, or previously due or forborne to be paid, being payable, or for the repayment of money to be thereafter lent, advanced or paid, or which may become due upon an account current, together with any sum already advanced or due, or without (as the case may be), and includes —

(a)	any conveyance of any property in trust to be sold or otherwise converted into money intended only as a security, and redeemable before the sale or other disposal of the property, either by express stipulation or otherwise;
(b)	any instrument in writing for defeating or making redeemable, or explaining or qualifying any conveyance of property, apparently absolute, but intended only as a security;
(c)	any agreement for a mortgage or any agreement (other than an agreement chargeable with duty as an equitable mortgage), contract or bond accompanied with a deposit of title deeds or with other instruments evidencing a right to property, for making a mortgage or any other security or conveyance as aforesaid of any property comprised in the title deeds or other instruments or for pledging or charging the same as a security; and
(d)	any deed operating as a mortgage of any stock or marketable security;

“paper” includes every material upon which words or figures can be expressed;

“proper officer” means the Commissioner and such other officer as may be authorised by the Commissioner to impress stamps or to issue stamp certificates;

“residential property” means —

(a)	any house, building or other premises or any part thereof which is permitted to be used under the Planning Act 1998 or any other written law as a dwelling house or which is lawfully so used; or
(b)	any land zoned in the Master Plan for solely residential purposes or for mixed purposes, one of which is residential,

and includes any estate or interest therein;

“settlement” means any non‑testamentary disposition in writing whether made voluntarily or upon a good or valuable consideration other than a bona fide pecuniary consideration by which any definite and certain property is settled, or agreed to be settled, in any manner for any purpose;

“stamp certificate” means a certificate that is issued electronically in respect of any instrument chargeable with duty denoting the amount of duty payable in respect of that instrument or that the duty otherwise chargeable in respect of that instrument is remitted;

“stock” includes any share in the capital stock or funded debt of a company, corporation, society or VCC in Singapore or elsewhere and stocks or funds of the Government or of any other government or country;

“VCC Act” means the Variable Capital Companies Act 2018.

[33/99; 36/2008; 37/2018; 28/2019; 40/2019]

(2) The following terms have the meanings given by the VCC Act:

(a)	share, in relation to a VCC;
(b)	sub‑fund;
(c)	non‑umbrella VCC;
(d)	umbrella VCC;
(e)	VCC. [28/2019]

Commissioner and Deputy Commissioners of Stamp Duties

3.—(1) The Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint an officer to carry out the provisions of this Act, to be called the Commissioner of Stamp Duties, and such number of Deputy Commissioners of Stamp Duties as the Minister thinks fit.

(2) Every Deputy Commissioner of Stamp Duties has and may exercise all the powers of the Commissioner under the provisions of this Act except subsection (3) and sections 40(3) and 68(1).

(3) The Commissioner may, subject to such conditions or restrictions as the Commissioner thinks fit, delegate to any person having official duty or employed in the administration of this Act, all or any of the powers, functions and duties vested in the Commissioner by this Act.

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