Butterworths Hong Kong Stamp Duty Handbook, 4th Edition

The Butterworths Hong Kong Stamp Duty Handbook (Fourth Edition) is a concise reference work detailing section-by-section annotations to the Stamp Duty Ordinance (Cap 117). It reproduces the text of the Stamp Ordinance and all subsidiary legislation to the Ordinance which is currently in force, with the inclusion of details of amendments and repeals to the Ordinance. 

• Charting the latest developments in Hong Kong tax policies following the new amendments to the Ordinance giving effect to the waiver of stamp duty payable on the transactions and transfers of shares or units of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”), as well as the latest policies under which persons who are admitted into Hong Kong as Hong Kong residents under specified admission schemes who acquire residential properties not as permanent residents may be refunded certain amounts of ad valorem stamp duty and buyer’s stamp duty if they subsequently became permanent residents.
• Recent important decisions by the Court of Final Appeal and Court of Appeal in John Wiley & Sons UK2 LLP and Anor v The Collector of Stamp Revenue [2025] HKCFA 11 deciding on the definition of the term “body corporate” in s 45 of the Ordinance, which spoke definitively on the application of intra-group stamp duty relief to foreign entities; updating the latest summary of what constitutes hardship in an application for leave to postpone payment of stamp duty and bring an appeal out of time in Choi Ching v The Collector of Stamp Revenue [2025] HKDC 1263.