Stamp duties reduced
Stamp duties on fixed property leases have been reduced in the latest amendments by SARS during May this year. Stamp duty on short-term leases has been abolished and duty on longer-term leases has been capped.
Sapoa and its Property Management Committee have been lobbying with SARS for a while to reduce stamp duties. The outcome is that leases with a term of less than five years will no longer need to be stamped at all. Stamp duty will also be limited to 8% of a property’s market value, ensuring a ceiling on the stamp duties payable on long leases.
Jay Junkoon of Sapoa’s Property Management Committee says that they are very pleased that their inputs and recommendations to SARS and the National Treasury have been accepted and acted upon.
Two particular points in contention first created concern under Sapoa when SARS published stamp duty amendments in 2005. The first point is that stamp duty was doubled for all leases unless duty was less than R200. Secondly, the market value method of stamping a lease was removed.
Sapoa believes that these amendments made stamp duty costs on leases rise exorbitantly for the commercial and industrial property industry and was mandated to lobby with SARS and the Treasury to address these concerns. New stamp duty amendments came into effect on the 1st of June 2007.
Original Article: Property 24, June 2007
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