Stamp duty (BSD, ABSD, SSD) and property tax: RES practice questions

IRAS states that gains may be taxable where property is bought and sold with a profit-seeking motive or the person is deemed to be trading in properties. Frequency is one assessment criterion, not an express first-sale exemption or a requirement for a second completed sale. The stated resale purpose therefore needs consideration in assessing the gain. This does not mean that every first sale is taxable; the correct conclusion is that his claimed automatic exclusion is unsound.

Ordinary mortgage duty is 0.4% of the loan, rounded down to the nearest dollar, subject to the stated minimum and maximum. A final S$320 is below the S$500 cap, so the uncapped computation must be at least S$320 but less than S$321. Dividing those bounds by 0.004 gives a loan of at least S$80,000 but less than S$80,250. The largest whole-dollar loan is therefore S$80,249: its raw duty is S$320.996, which rounds down to S$320. At S$80,250 the raw duty is exactly S$321, so that boundary is excluded. The answer does not assume that the stamp certificate uniquely fixes the loan at S$80,000.

IRAS distinguishes movable furniture from fixtures permanently attached to residential property. The freestanding sofa is movable furniture and its supply is taxable. Built-in wardrobes permanently attached to the dwelling fall within the fixtures that may be exempt together with the residential property. GST registration does not remove that exemption, but the dwelling exemption does not extend to the movable sofa.

IRAS includes financial means to hold long term among several criteria, alongside the reasons for buying and selling, transaction frequency and holding period. Strong resources are relevant evidence, but IRAS also states that gains may be taxable where properties are bought and sold with a profit-seeking motive. The documented resale plan and its regular implementation cannot be displaced by the absence of debt. There is no stated borrowing prerequisite or reserves-to-value exemption.

IRAS directs parties first to the agreement's terms on payment. If the document does not state who is liable, the payer follows the Third Schedule of the Stamp Duties Act. IRAS's table identifies the lessee or tenant as the payer for an ordinary lease or tenancy agreement. The salesperson's administrative undertaking to submit the record does not change the default payer, and receipt of rent or joint signing does not create the alternative allocations suggested.