Taxes on property

Study notes

Property taxation is a Paper 2 scoring machine: know each duty’s trigger, who pays it, and the rough rate architecture — BSD and ABSD at purchase, SSD on early resale, property tax on ownership, GST and lease duty at the margins.

What you must know

• Buy’s stamp duty (BSD) is payable by every buyer, tiered by price; residential rates top out higher than the non-residential schedule.
• Additional buyer’s stamp duty (ABSD) surcharges residential purchases by buyer profile and property count — citizens buying a second home, PRs from their first, and foreigners and entities at the heaviest rates.
• Seller’s stamp duty (SSD) hits sellers of private residential property resold within the holding period (three years), tapering with holding length.
• Property tax is an annual tax on ownership, charged on the property’s annual value; owner-occupied residential rates are progressive and gentler than investment-property rates.
• GST applies to commercial property transactions where the seller is GST-registered; on new residential sales by developers it is remitted so buyers do not bear it.
• Leases attract stamp duty computed on the rent — distinct from the sale duties.
• Always locate the duty by its trigger: buying, owning, selling early, or leasing.