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Stamp Duties Act

(CHAPTER 312)

(Original Enactment: Ordinance 16 of 1929)

REVISED EDITION 2006

(1st April 2006)

An Act relating to stamp duties.

[1st November 1929]

PART I

PRELIMINARY

Short title

1. This Act may be cited as the Stamp Duties Act.

Interpretation

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

[Deleted by Act 33/99 wef 09/01/2012]

“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;

[36/2008 wef 16/12/2008]

“conveyance on sale” includes every instrument and every decree or order of any court, whereby 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 his behalf or by his direction;

[Deleted by Act 33/99 wef 09/01/2012]

“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);

[Act 37 of 2018 wef 04/10/2018]

“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”;

[Deleted by Act 33/99 wef 09/01/2012]

“instrument” includes every written document;

“instrument of partition” means any instrument whereby co-owners of any property divide or agree to divide the property in severalty, and includes also a final order for effecting a partition passed by the General Division of the High Court and an award by an arbitrator directing a partition;

[Act 40 of 2019 wef 02/01/2021]

“lease” means a lease of immovable property, and includes —

(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 same meaning as in the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2005 (Act 5 of 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 same meaning as in section 2 of the Planning Act (Cap. 232);

“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 thereof, 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 him to impress stamps or to issue stamp certificates;

[Deleted by Act 37 of 2018 wef 04/10/2018]

“residential property” means —

(a)	any house, building or other premises or any part thereof which is permitted to be used under the Planning Act (Cap. 232) 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 shall be residential,

and shall include 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 whereby any definite and certain property is settled or agreed to be settled in any manner for any purpose whatsoever;

“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;

[Act 28 of 2019 wef 15/01/2020]

“VCC Act” means the Variable Capital Companies Act 2018 (Act 44 of 2018).

[Act 28 of 2019 wef 15/01/2020]

(2) The following terms have the meanings given to them in the VCC Act:

(a)	share, in relation to a VCC;
(b)	sub-fund;
(c)	non-umbrella VCC;
(d)	umbrella VCC;
(e)	VCC. [Act 28 of 2019 wef 15/01/2020] [38/75; 14/83; 26/96; 33/99; 6/2005]

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 he thinks fit.

[38/75]

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

[33/99]

(3) The Commissioner may, subject to such conditions or restrictions as he 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 by this Act vested in him.