A general view of residential buildings in West Kowloon District, Hong Kong on April 11, 2023. (ANDY CHONG / CHINA DAILY)
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government on Wednesday welcomed the Legislative Council’s passage of the Stamp Duty (Amendment) Bill 2023, saying this would ease the financial burden of families purchasing their first residential properties, particularly small-and-medium apartments.
The Bill gives effect to a proposal in the 2023-24 Budget to adjust the value bands of the ad valorem stamp duty payable for the sale and purchase, or transfer of residential and non-residential properties.
After the adjustments to the value bands of the AVD at Scale 2 rates, the stamp duty applicable to property transactions amounting to or valued at between HK$2 million ($256,400) and below HK$10.08 million, will be cut by up to HK$67,500.
Christopher Hui Ching-yu, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
At present, the AVD’s Scale 2 rates mainly apply to the acquisition of non-residential, as well as residential properties, by a Hong Kong permanent resident acting on his or her own behalf, and is not a beneficial owner of any other residential property in the city at the time of acquisition. The value bands on which the AVD Scale 2 rates apply have not been adjusted since 2010.
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"After the adjustments to the value bands of the AVD at Scale 2 rates, the stamp duty applicable to property transactions amounting to or valued at between HK$2 million ($256,400) and below HK$10.08 million, will be cut by up to HK$67,500,” Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu said.
“The adjustment will benefit up to 37,000 property buyers, and reduce the government’s tax revenue by about HK$1.9 billion a year,” he said.
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The adjustment comes into effect at 11am on February 22 this year in accordance with the Public Revenue Protection (Stamp Duty) Order 2023 published in the gazette on the same day. Any instrument executed before 11am on that day remains chargeable under the AVD’s original Scale 2 rates.