Belongers Get Duty-Waiver On Land Purchases
Cabinet has taken a decision to waive stamp duty on land purchases by Belongers during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
While the Government is yet to announce a full COVID-19 stimulus package, Premier and Minister of Finance, Hon. Andrew Fahie explained the decision to offer the duty waiver.
"We recognise the need to ease some of the financial burden of those of our people who would be in a position to purchase property during this COVID-19 era in a manner that encourages the properties to remain in local hands. As such, part of the COVID-19 Economic Stimulus Response is the waiver of stamp duty on the sale or transfer of property to Belongers," the Premier disclosed yesterday, May 8.
He explained that Cabinet agreed the amendment of the Schedule of the Stamp Duty Act to allow for the waiver of stamp duty fees payable on the sale or transfer of property by a Belonger to another Belonger no matter the amount even if it’s just a transfer of love and affection.
According to Premier Fahie, Cabinet made these decisions in the best interest of you the people and during the Economic Response we will go more into the details of the waiver.
"So I am just giving you, two new aspects of the Territory’s Economic Stimulus Response- that will be part of the implementation of the Economic Stimulus Response. The overall response is being tweaked so that it is practical, realistic and gets into the hands of the people in an accountable and transparent manner," the Premier explained.
He pointed out that other parts of the response has been rolled such as the Fishing and Farmers stimulus of $2M approved by Cabinet; the free water delivery to Water and Sewerage Customers who have interruption in services from the Government's water distribution systems; the House to House Garbage Collection; and laptops for students and teachers to facilitate online education.
"We recognise the need to ease some of the financial burden of those of our people who would be in a position to purchase property during this COVID-19 era in a manner that encourages the properties to remain in local hands. As such, part of the COVID-19 Economic Stimulus Response is the waiver of stamp duty on the sale or transfer of property to Belongers," the Premier disclosed yesterday, May 8.
He explained that Cabinet agreed the amendment of the Schedule of the Stamp Duty Act to allow for the waiver of stamp duty fees payable on the sale or transfer of property by a Belonger to another Belonger no matter the amount even if it’s just a transfer of love and affection.
According to Premier Fahie, Cabinet made these decisions in the best interest of you the people and during the Economic Response we will go more into the details of the waiver.
"So I am just giving you, two new aspects of the Territory’s Economic Stimulus Response- that will be part of the implementation of the Economic Stimulus Response. The overall response is being tweaked so that it is practical, realistic and gets into the hands of the people in an accountable and transparent manner," the Premier explained.
He pointed out that other parts of the response has been rolled such as the Fishing and Farmers stimulus of $2M approved by Cabinet; the free water delivery to Water and Sewerage Customers who have interruption in services from the Government's water distribution systems; the House to House Garbage Collection; and laptops for students and teachers to facilitate online education.
