Buying Property in Hong Kong in 2026: How Much Stamp Duty a Foreign Buyer Pays

On 28 February 2024 Hong Kong did what the market had been waiting eleven years for: it scrapped every surcharge on residential stamp duty. A foreign individual, a BVI company and a local owner of five flats all became liable for exactly the same duty as a Hong Kong permanent resident buying a first home. A HK$10,000,000 flat cost a non-resident HK$3,000,000 in stamp duty before 25 October 2023, HK$1,500,000 between 25 October 2023 and 27 February 2024, and HK$370,000 from 28 February 2024. The bill fell eightfold.

Then, on 26 February 2026, the pendulum swung back — but only at the very top of the market. From that date residential property above HK$100,000,000 moves into the upper part of the ladder, where the top rate has gone from 4.25% to 6.5%, and for the first time since February 2024 the rates for residential and non-residential property have diverged again.

The point most write-ups miss. Buyer’s Stamp Duty and Special Stamp Duty were not repealed. They remain live charging heads in the First Schedule to Cap. 117 with the rate set at 0%. That is not a technicality: section 63A lets the Financial Secretary change those rates by notice published in the Gazette, without a separate ordinance. The AVD rates cannot be changed that way: section 63A does not reach them, which is why the 2026 increase needed a full ordinance. The machinery that zeroed the surcharges in a single day can bring them back just as quickly.

This article works through the Stamp Duty Ordinance (Cap. 117) as in force in September 2026 — the consolidated text carrying a version date of 26 February 2026. Every rate, deadline, relief and penalty here has been checked against the primary text: the ordinance on e-Legislation, the amending ordinances themselves on the Legislative Council website, Inland Revenue Department (IRD) guidance and Government press releases.

The short version: nine facts

•          HK$370,000 is the stamp duty on a HK$10,000,000 home today, whatever the buyer’s nationality and however many flats they already own. Before 25 October 2023 a non-resident would have paid HK$3,000,000.

•          11 a.m. on 28 February 2024 is the moment Special Stamp Duty, Buyer’s Stamp Duty and New Residential Stamp Duty stopped being charged. The instrument that did it is the Stamp Duty (Amendment) Ordinance 2024, gazetted on 19 April 2024 with retrospective effect.

•          0% is the rate of BSD and SSD today. Not “abolished” — zero. The charging heads 1(1AA), (1AAB), (1B) and (1C) are still in the statute.

•          6.5% is the new top AVD rate for residential property above HK$109,574,470, introduced by the Stamp Duty (Amendment) Ordinance 2026 with effect from 26 February 2026. The previous ceiling was 4.25%.

•          Scale 3 is the new ladder that appeared on 26 February 2026 for non-residential property only. Its ceiling stayed at 4.25%, so an office and a flat at the same price above HK$100,000,000 are now taxed differently.

•          HK$4,000,000 is the ceiling below which the duty is a nominal HK$100. The threshold rose from HK$3,000,000 at 11 a.m. on 26 February 2025.

•          30 days from execution is the time for stamping, and being late is expensive. Being more than two months late costs ten times the duty under section 9.

•          0.3% is the share of residential transactions the Government expects the 6.5% rate to touch. The estimated revenue gain is about HK$1 billion a year.

•          88,088 sale and purchase agreements were lodged for registration in the 2025/26 financial year against 51,632 in 2023/24 — a 71% rise in the two years after the surcharges went.

What actually happened on 28 February 2024

The February 2024 abolition was not the repeal of two taxes but the zeroing of the rates inside charging heads that were left standing. The Government announced the measure on 2024-25 Budget day and issued a press release the same evening at 18:35: “the Special Stamp Duty, the Buyer’s Stamp Duty and the New Residential Stamp Duty will no longer be charged on all residential property transactions from February 28, 2024, onwards.”

How the measure had legal force on day one

Almost two months passed between the announcement and enactment, and throughout that period the measure worked through a separate instrument. The Chief Executive made the Public Revenue Protection (Stamp Duty) Order 2024(L.N. 26 of 2024) under the Public Revenue Protection Ordinance (Cap. 120), giving the bill full force and effect of law for as long as the order remained in force. The order was gazetted on 28 February 2024, the bill on 1 March 2024, and the bill was introduced into the Legislative Council on 13 March 2024.

The Stamp Duty (Amendment) Ordinance 2024 itself — Ordinance No. 8 of 2024 — was signed by the Chief Executive on 18 April 2024, gazetted on 19 April 2024 and, by section 1(2), “is deemed to have come into operation at 11 a.m. on 28 February 2024”.

What section 6 of the amending ordinance actually did

The mechanics matter, because they determine what survived the “abolition”.

Not one charging head was repealed. The definitions in section 2(1) were left untouched: “buyer’s stamp duty means buyer’s stamp duty chargeable under head 1(1AAB) or (1C) in the First Schedule”; “special stamp duty means special stamp duty chargeable under head 1(1AA) or (1B)”. Both remain inside the definition of “stamp duty” in the same section.

Two technical amendments almost nobody writes about

Sections 3 and 4 of the amending ordinance added new subsections 29CA(2A) and 29DA(2A). Each switches off the corresponding charging subsection: “subsection (2) does not apply if the rate of stamp duty set out in head 1(1B) in the First Schedule that is applicable to the agreement for sale is 0%” — and, in the second provision, “…set out in head 1(1AA) … that is applicable to the conveyance on sale”. Subsections 29CA(2) and 29DA(2) are the SSD charging provisions themselves; without the new riders the whole SSD machinery would have kept grinding away to no purpose on every resale.

What is still live law

Heads 1(1AA) and 1(1B) each run to four parts, and the first three remain fully operative for past transactions. They do so under their own words rather than through a transitional provision: Part 3 is expressly “for residential property disposed of on or after 25 October 2023 but before 28 February 2024”. The new section 77 preserves the pre-amended ordinance for three categories of instrument — one executed before 28 February 2024; an agreement for sale superseding another between the same parties and on the same terms made before that day; and a conveyance executed in conformity with such an agreement — but only “as if section 6(1), (4), (5) and (8) of the Amendment Ordinance had not been enacted”, that is, only as to AVD and BSD. The SSD amendments sit in section 6(2), (3), (6) and (7) and are untouched by section 77.

What that means in practice is that the provisional agreement (PASP) fixes the rate, not the formal one. A seller who signed a PASP on 27 February 2024 and a formal agreement on 18 March 2024 pays SSD at the old rates. The IRD devotes a dedicated note to exactly this in its FAQ on demand-side management measures.

What changed on 26 February 2026: the 6.5% rate and the new Scale 3

From 26 February 2026 residential property above HK$109,574,470 is charged at 6.5%, and non-residential property has its own ladder for the first time since 2020, capped at 4.25%. The Financial Secretary announced the measure in the 2026-27 Budget, and paragraph 261 of the speech puts it exactly this way: “The rates of stamp duty on residential property transactions valued above $100 million will be raised from 4.25 per cent to 6.5 per cent, affecting about 0.3 per cent of residential property transactions. It is estimated that revenue will increase by about $1 billion per annum.”

Three ladders instead of two

There are now formally three scales. The long title of the Stamp Duty (Amendment) Ordinance 2026 states the object plainly: “to add a new Scale 3 to head 1(1) and (1A) in the First Schedule to the Ordinance so that the existing Scale 1 and Scale 2 apply to residential property and the new Scale 3 applies to non-residential property”.

The technique is simple. In sections 29AI(b), 29AIA(2)(b), 29BA(b) and 29BAB(2)(b) the words “Scale 2” were repealed and “Scale 3” substituted. In Scale 1 Part 1 and Scale 2 paragraph (k) was rewritten and paragraphs (l) and (m) added. Scale 3 reproduces the former Scale 2 in full: its paragraph (k) again reads “in any other case” and closes the ladder at 4.25%.

Three differences from 2024 and 2025 that are easy to miss

First, no Public Revenue Protection Order was made in 2026. The press release of 25 February 2026 says so without hedging: “Before the proposal is passed by the Legislative Council, the Inland Revenue Department will continue to charge stamp duty at the prevailing rate of 4.25% for residential property transactions concerned. Once the bill is passed by the Legislative Council and the amendment ordinance comes into effect upon gazettal, the purchasers or vendors concerned have to pay the difference of the stamp duty within 30 days.”

Second, the ordinance commenced “on 26 February 2026” — with no hour stated. Ordinance No. 3 of 2024, No. 8 of 2024 and No. 12 of 2025 each commenced “at 11 a.m.” on their respective day. Section 1(2) of Ordinance No. 3 of 2026 reads differently: “This Ordinance is deemed to have come into operation on 26 February 2026.” Claims that the new rate bites from 11 a.m. on 26 February 2026 have no footing in the statutory text.

Third, the measure took effect the day after the Budget, not on Budget day. The Budget was delivered on 25 February 2026; the Financial Secretary’s speech says the change takes retrospective effect “from tomorrow”.

The passage timeline

Section 79: a 30-day window to pay the difference

Because there was no revenue protection order, top-end transactions between 26 February and 29 May 2026 were stamped at the old 4.25%. The ordinance dealt with that through a new section 79.

An “applicable instrument” is one executed on or after 26 February 2026 and before the gazettal date and chargeable under Part 1 of Scale 1 or Scale 2 of head 1(1) or 1(1A). Section 79(2) replaces the time for stamping the “additional stamp duty” with a period of 30 days commencing immediately after the gazettal date, and confines section 9 to that additional duty alone. Gazettal was 29 May 2026, so the window ran from 30 May to 28 June 2026 inclusive.

Section 79(3) preserves the pre-amended ordinance for instruments executed before 26 February 2026, for a superseding agreement between the same parties and on the same terms made before that day, and for a conveyance executed in conformity with an agreement made before that day — the same three-limbed construction as sections 76, 77 and 78.

The AVD ladders in force today

Ad valorem stamp duty (AVD) is, in GovHK’s formulation, “computed at the applicable rate on the consideration or value of the property (whichever is the higher)”. The scale is banded, with marginal relief at every threshold. There are three ladders, and since 26 February 2026 two of them apply to residential property and one to non-residential.

Scale 1 Part 1 and Scale 2: residential property

The two ladders carry identical rates, and the IRD’s own term for the equivalence is “Scale 2 Equivalent”. Thirteen bands from (a) to (m):

The bands expressed as “a fixed sum plus a percentage of the excess” are marginal relief: they smooth the step at each threshold so that one extra dollar of price does not add hundreds of thousands to the bill. The 30% in the second-to-last band is not a tax rate but the gradient of the bridge between 4.25% and 6.5%.

Scale 3: non-residential property

What that means in money

Up to HK$100,000,000 the two ladders are identical. The divergence begins precisely where the legislature intended it to.

Both tables are reproduced by the IRD in its questions and answers on AVD under the heading “Effective from 26 February 2026”, and the historical rates from 1 April 1988 to 25 February 2026 sit on the GovHK rates page.

Six worked examples on real numbers

Testing the ladder on actual transactions shows where the burden really changed and where nothing moved at all.Every figure below is computed on the bands in force, with marginal relief applied.

How those numbers are arrived at

A HK$4,050,000 flat. The price falls in band (b): HK$100 plus 20% of the excess over HK$4,000,000, that is HK$100 plus HK$10,000 = HK$10,100. The nominal-duty threshold only rose to HK$4,000,000 on 26 February 2025; before that it was HK$3,000,000, and between 11 a.m. on 22 February 2023 and 25 February 2025 the same flat fell into the 1.5% band, producing HK$60,750. Before 11 a.m. on 22 February 2023 an earlier version of Scale 2 with different band boundaries applied and the figure was different. The HK$50,650 difference is the result of the 2025 Budget measure, which on the Government’s estimate benefited about 15% of transactions and cut revenue by about HK$400 million a year.

A HK$6,500,000 flat. Band (f): HK$135,000 plus 10% of the excess over HK$6,000,000, that is HK$135,000 plus HK$50,000 = HK$185,000. A check on the marginal relief: 3% of HK$6,500,000 would have given HK$195,000, so the mechanism genuinely reduces the bill. For a permanent resident buying a first home this figure has not moved since 2023.

A HK$12,000,000 flat bought by a foreigner. Band (i): 3.75% = HK$450,000. Before 25 October 2023 the same buyer paid New Residential Stamp Duty at a flat 15% (HK$1,800,000) plus Buyer’s Stamp Duty at 15% (HK$1,800,000) — HK$3,600,000 in all. An eightfold reduction.

A HK$25,000,000 flat bought by a company. Band (k): 4.25% = HK$1,062,500. A company used to pay BSD regardless of the residence of its shareholders and directors — confirmed in terms in the IRD’s BSD guidance: “A limited company, regardless of the residency status of its shareholders and directors, will be liable to BSD if it acquires a residential property on or after 27 October 2012.” Before 25 October 2023 that meant 15% plus 15%, or HK$7,500,000.

A HK$130,000,000 house. Band (m): 6.5% = HK$8,450,000. Before 26 February 2026 the rate was 4.25%, or HK$5,525,000; the increase costs the buyer HK$2,925,000. And before 25 October 2023 a foreign buyer would have paid 30% of the price — HK$39,000,000.

A HK$130,000,000 office unit. Band (k) of Scale 3: 4.25% = HK$5,525,000. Nothing has changed for non-residential property: Part 2 of Scale 1 with its doubled rates was repealed back on 26 November 2020, and the new Scale 3 reproduces the rates that had been applying. The gap against residential property at the same price is HK$2,925,000.

Two checks worth doing yourself

First, cross-check the computation against the IRD’s worked examples and the GovHK calculator. Second, remember section 18A of Cap. 117: any fraction of a dollar in money payable to the Collector — duty, penalty or interest alike — is reckoned as a whole dollar.

Which ladder applies to your transaction

The default rule is set by section 29AI: residential property is charged under Part 1 of Scale 1, non-residential under Scale 3. Section 29AI names its own exceptions: eleven sections — 29AIA, 29AJ, 29AK, 29AL, 29AM, 29AN, 29AO, 29AP, 29AQ, 29AR and 29AS — plus Notes 1B and 1C to head 1(1). Most of them move a residential transaction onto Scale 2. The mirror rule for agreements for sale sits in section 29BA, which excepts sections 29BAB and 29BB to 29BK and, beyond them, Notes 1A and 1B to head 1(1A).

The exceptions to the default rule

The paradox worth understanding

Since 28 February 2024 Part 1 of Scale 1 and Scale 2 have carried identical rates, so the whole apparatus no longer changes the amount of duty. That does not make it ignorable. The provisions are in force word for word, the Collector is entitled to require proof, and the conditions of each exception — the obligation to act “on his or her own behalf”, the absence of any other beneficial ownership — remain legally relevant facts which, under section 11, must be “fully and truly set forth” in the instrument.

The distinction would also come alive instantly if Part 1 of Scale 1 ever diverged from Scale 2 again. That is precisely how the law worked between 5 November 2016 and 27 February 2024, when a buyer who did not fit an exception paid a flat 15%, and later 7.5%, instead of the Scale 2 ladder.

For a foreign buyer the conclusion is simple

A foreign individual and a foreign company fit none of the HKPR-facing exceptions — and that no longer affects the amount. The transaction runs under Part 1 of Scale 1, but the rates there are the same as those paid by a Hong Kong resident buying a first home.

Residential and non-residential: where the line runs

The ordinance defines non-residential property, not residential, and everything else becomes residential by default.Section 29A(1) defines “residential property” as “immovable property other than non-residential property”, and “non-residential property” as property which, under the existing conditions of a Government lease or an agreement for a Government lease, a deed of mutual covenant (within the meaning of section 2 of the Building Management Ordinance, Cap. 344), an occupation permit issued under section 21 of the Buildings Ordinance (Cap. 123) or any other instrument which the Collector is satisfied effectively restricts the permitted user of the property, may not be used, at any time during the term of the Government lease, wholly or partly for residential purposes.

The test is permitted use, not actual use. A loft in an industrial building where somebody lives remains non-residential if the Government lease does not permit residential use. Conversely, a flat let as an office remains residential.

Since 26 February 2026 that line affects the rate for the first time since February 2024 — but only above HK$100,000,000.

“Single residential property”: the definition added in 2018

The concept of a “single residential property” matters for the HKPR exceptions. The definition was added by Ordinance No. 18 of 2018 and is framed with the word “includes”, so the list is not closed:

•          a unit and a roof situated in the same building;

•          a unit and an adjacent flat roof in the same building;

•          a unit and an adjacent garden;

•          a unit that became a single unit after the demolition of the walls or the floor, or part of them, separating two units.

For the last case the statute demands evidence of a strictly defined kind: either a building plan and a letter from the Building Authority acknowledging receipt of a certificate of completion of the demolition works as required under the Building (Administration) Regulations (Cap. 123 sub. leg. A), or a plan signed by an authorized person after completion of the works.

Separately, section 29A(1A) lets the Collector determine for himself whether a property is a single residential property, having regard to building plans or plans signed by an authorized person, the deed of mutual covenant, the occupation permit and any other document that the Collector considers relevant.

The car parking space: a separate asset on its own ladder

Sections 29AK and 29BC let a flat and one car parking space share a single relief, but since 26 February 2026 they do so on different ladders: the flat under Scale 2 and the parking space under Scale 3. That is the direct effect of the new subsection (1A) inserted by section 5 of Ordinance No. 3 of 2026.

The condition “permitted for the parking of 1 motor vehicle” in section 29AK(3) is defined negatively: a space counts as single-vehicle unless a Government lease or an agreement for a Government lease, a deed of mutual covenant, an occupation permit or any other instrument which the Collector is satisfied effectively restricts the permitted user of the space provides that it may be used, at any time during the term of the Government lease, for parking more than one vehicle.

Mixed assets and series of transactions

Where a single instrument covers both residential and non-residential property that is separable for sale and subject to different rates, electronic stamping is unavailable — the IRD expressly excludes such transactions from its e-Stamping service. So are transactions forming part of a series, where the duty is not calculated on the price stated in the particular instrument.

The series mechanism sits in section 29: the reference in head 1(1) to a conveyance “certified at a particular amount” means the instrument contains a statement certifying that the transaction does not form part of a larger transaction or series of transactions whose aggregate consideration exceeds that amount. Without that certificate the lower rungs of the ladder are not available, and section 29G applies the same rule to agreements for sale.

When the liability arises: PASP, ASP, 30 days and the 14-day rule

Stamp duty on a Hong Kong home is charged not on the conveyance but on the agreement for sale, and the clock runs from the earliest agreement in the transaction — usually the provisional agreement (PASP) signed on the day the flat is chosen. This is where people who assume they have until completion lose money.

How the structure works

Since 31 January 1992 an agreement for the sale and purchase of residential property has been charged at the same rates as a conveyance. Once the agreement has been stamped, the related conveyance is chargeable with a fixed duty of HK$100. The mechanism sits in head 1(1A) of the First Schedule and in section 29D.

“Agreement for sale” is defined in section 29A(1) extremely broadly — eight limbs from (a) to (h). It captures not only an instrument in which a person contracts to sell or purchase immovable property, but also one conferring an option or a right of pre-emption other than a “specified option or right”; an instrument other than a mortgage or charge in favour of a financial institution within the meaning of section 2 of Cap. 112 which gives an irrevocable power of attorney to secure a proprietary interest of the donee or the performance of an obligation owed to the donee, or grants an authority to sell for which consideration moves from the grantee to the grantor; a declaration of trust over immovable property, other than one under which no beneficial interest passes; an instrument which, if implemented, would be implemented by a conveyance on sale; a memorandum or other evidence of an unwritten sale agreement; an assignment of a purchaser’s rights under such an agreement; and — except as provided in section 29AB — a nomination or direction transferring the purchaser’s benefit or authorising another person to take the conveyance.

Section 29B: the duty to put the deal in writing

The most underrated provision in the whole structure is section 29B. Subsection (1) requires each purchaser and each vendor under an unwritten sale agreement or an agreement for sale, if they have not already done so, to execute an agreement for sale within 30 days after the relevant date, containing the eleven matters listed in subsection (5). Subsection (2) carves out one person: a purchaser who, on the relevant date, does not know that the agreement affects him. That is the mirror of the disclosure required by subsection (5)(k), which asks whether the purchaser knew of the agreement at the time it was made.

Those eleven include the names and addresses of the parties, an individual’s identification number or a business registration number, the description and location of the property, a statement as to whether the property is residential or non-residential within the meaning of section 29A(1), the date the agreement was made, the date of the first of any preceding agreements between the same parties on the same terms, any agreed date for the conveyance, the agreed consideration, and the amount of any other consideration paid or agreed to be paid in connection with the transaction, with the recipient named and the benefit described.

Subsection (3) defines the relevant date precisely: for an unwritten sale agreement, the date it was made; for an agreement for sale not preceded by an unwritten agreement or another agreement between the same parties on the same terms, the date that agreement was made; and where there were such preceding agreements, the date the first of them was made. That is the statutory basis for the rule that the earliest agreement fixes the regime.

Subsection (6) closes the attempt to keep a deal off paper: a person required to execute an agreement who fails to do so is liable civilly to the Collector for the stamp duty they would have been liable to pay had the agreement been executed, plus any section 9 penalty, with joint and several liability where two or more fail. An oral bargain does not take the transaction out of duty — it only deprives the parties of the instrument.

Subsection (4) adds that where the deal is struck through an agent, the agent and the principal are jointly and severally liable to comply.

The deadlines

The 14-day rule in its exact terms

Note 2 to head 1(1A) reads as follows: if, within the first 14 days of the time for stamping, an agreement for sale is superseded by another agreement made between the same parties and on the same terms, executed in accordance with section 29B(1) and containing the matters specified in section 29B(5), then the second agreement is deemed to be made on the “relevant date” within the meaning of section 29B(3); its own time for stamping is not later than 30 days after it was executed; and the obligation to stamp any preceding agreement between the same parties and on the same terms is discharged — but, under paragraph (b), only if the second agreement is duly stamped or stamped under section 5(1), 13(2) or 18E(1). Until the second agreement is stamped, the obligation on the first survives.

Note 3 governs the converse case: where two or more agreements between the same parties and on the same terms fall outside Note 2, all of them are deemed made on the relevant date, and once one is duly stamped the others are chargeable with HK$100 each, with their own 30-day window running from execution.

Who is liable

Column (C) of the First Schedule allocates liability as follows: on a conveyance on sale (head 1(1)) — all parties and all other persons executing; on an agreement for sale (head 1(1A), Scale 2) — “all parties except a party who on the relevant date does not know that the agreement affects that party, and all other persons executing”; on BSD (heads 1(1AAB) and (1C)) — the transferee or the purchaser alone.

In practice that means the seller and the buyer are jointly exposed to the Collector regardless of what they agreed between themselves. A bargain that “the buyer pays the duty” binds the parties but not the Government.

Deferral of payment: no longer available

Historically the duty on an agreement for the sale of residential property could be deferred until the assignment was executed or the property resold, for a maximum of three years. From 1 April 2010 deferral ceased to apply where the consideration exceeded HK$20,000,000, and from 30 June 2011 no agreement for the sale of residential property signed on or after that date qualifies for deferment at all. That is recorded on the GovHK page on time limits for stamping.

SSD and BSD: zeroed, not repealed

Special Stamp Duty and Buyer’s Stamp Duty remain live charging heads in the First Schedule to Cap. 117 with a rate of 0%, rather than provisions struck out of the statute. The difference is not academic: a zero rate can be reversed by a notice of the Financial Secretary in the Gazette, whereas a repealed provision would have to be re-enacted by the Legislative Council.

The three surcharges and what became of them

The term “New Residential Stamp Duty” does not appear in the ordinance itself — it is the Government’s label for the flat rate in Part 1 of Scale 1. It is used in the press release of 28 February 2024 and in IRD material.

The four Parts of SSD, three of which are still alive

Note the asymmetry: Part 1 turns on the date of acquisition alone, Part 2 on both dates at once, and Parts 3 and 4 on the date of disposal alone. The October 2023 package cut the maximum holding period from 36 to 24 months; the February 2024 package took the rate to zero.

What that means for a seller today

A seller who bought a flat in 2023 and sells it now pays no SSD at all, however briefly they held it. A seller who signed a provisional agreement on 27 February 2024 pays SSD under Part 3 — not because section 77 rescues them, since that section reaches only AVD and BSD, but because Part 3 is by its own terms about property disposed of before 28 February 2024, and for SSD purposes the date of disposal is the date of the provisional agreement.

How quickly the surcharges could return

Section 63A is worded as follows: “The Financial Secretary may, by notice published in the Gazette, amend head 1(1AA), (1AAB), (1B) or (1C) in the First Schedule to effect a change to the rate of stamp duty set out in that head.” That is an exhaustive list of four charging heads — precisely the ones in which SSD and BSD sit.

The AVD rates in heads 1(1) and 1(1A) are not on that list. That is exactly why the increase to 6.5% in 2026 required a full ordinance with three readings, whereas the Financial Secretary could have changed the BSD rate by notice — even though in 2024 it was zeroed by ordinance along with the rest of the package.

The practical point for an investor is this: the surcharge regime was dismantled by zeroing rates rather than by repealing provisions, and bringing SSD and BSD back would not require a fresh ordinance. The flat NRSD rate could not be restored that way: it sits in heads 1(1) and 1(1A), which section 63A does not reach. That belongs in a holding-period assumption alongside the market ones.

The statistics that no longer exist

The IRD has stopped publishing monthly statistics on the demand-side management measures. The wording on its stamp duty statistics page is that, since all the measures were cancelled with effect from 28 February 2024, “monthly publication of relevant stamp duty statistics is suspended with effect from April 2024”. The last full annual set is 2023-24. There is therefore no official series against which the share of non-resident buyers can now be independently checked.

How the rates moved from 2010

Hong Kong’s residential surcharge regime took six years to build, from November 2010 to November 2016, stood for another seven, and was taken apart in four months, between 25 October 2023 and 28 February 2024. The chronology is useful not as history but as a checklist: for any past transaction you need to know which rules were in force on the date of the earliest agreement.

What each step meant for a foreign buyer

Before 27 October 2012 a foreigner paid the ordinary ad valorem duty — the same as a local resident. From 27 October 2012 BSD at 15% was added, and from 5 November 2016 the flat 15% under Part 1 of Scale 1 as well. At the peak, from November 2016 to October 2023, the combined burden on a non-resident buying a home was 30% of the price.

It then travelled 30% → 15% → the Scale 2 ladder in four months. On a HK$10,000,000 flat that is HK$3,000,000 → HK$1,500,000 → HK$370,000.

Why the peak fell in those particular years

The Government’s official name for all three surcharges was “demand-side management measures” (DSMM). The term is precise: they were introduced to cool the market rather than to raise revenue. They were accordingly removed as the market stopped needing to be cooled.

The formulation in the press release of 28 February 2024 reads: “the Government has decided to abolish all DSMMs, since such measures are no longer necessary amid the current economic and market conditions.”

The reverse logic is visible in 2026. The Government places the increase to 6.5% not under demand management but under the “Increasing Revenue” heading of the Budget speech, justified by the “affordable users pay” principle. The distinction matters: the 2010 to 2016 surcharges were a market instrument, whereas the 2026 rate is a fiscal one.

A historical note on the SSD clock

The holding period for SSD purposes is counted in calendar months. The IRD states the rule as follows: the period from a certain day in a month to the preceding day in the following calendar month counts as one month. The example in the IRD’s SSD guidance: a property acquired on 20 November 2010 and disposed of on 19 May 2011 was held for exactly six months.

The same guidance records an important limit on Part 3: the 24-month window for disposals between 25 October 2023 and 27 February 2024 can only reach property acquired on or after 26 October 2021.

The transitional provisions: sections 76, 77, 78 and 79

Four of the amending ordinances of 2024 to 2026 added four near-identical transitional sections to Cap. 117, and all four are built on the same three-limbed formula. (A fifth, Ordinance No. 33 of 2024, carried no transitional section at all.) The formula is that the pre-amended ordinance continues to apply to an instrument executed before the commencement date; to an agreement for sale superseding another agreement between the same parties and on the same terms made before that day; and to a conveyance on sale executed in conformity with an agreement for sale made before that day.

Why this matters more than it looks

A transitional section fixes not just the rate but which version of the whole ordinance governs the transaction. For a buyer that means the legally decisive date is almost always the date of the earliest agreement, not the date of payment, not the date of the conveyance and not the date of registration at the Land Registry.

The second limb — the superseding agreement — closes the obvious workaround of signing a provisional agreement before a rate change and a formal one after it in order to capture the better regime. The statute says in terms that a superseding agreement inherits the regime of the one it replaces.

The third limb closes the mirror-image gap on the conveyance: if the agreement predates the cut-off, a conveyance executed in conformity with it after the cut-off still runs on the old rules.

The hour and the day: a distinction worth noticing

The moment the amendments commence and the operative test in the transitional section are two different things. Sections 76, 77 and 78 each define the “pre-amended Ordinance” as the Ordinance as in force immediately before 11 a.m.on the relevant day. But subsection (2)(a) of each preserves that version for an instrument executed before the day itself, not before 11 a.m. An instrument executed at, say, 9 a.m. on 28 February 2024 is outside the preservation and runs on the amended text.

In practice that works in the taxpayer’s favour, and the IRD proceeds on the same footing: in its guidance on the abolition of the demand-side measures a buyer who signed a provisional agreement on 28 February 2024 pays at “Scale 2 Equivalent” rates, that is, at the new ones.

What is distinctive about section 79

Section 79 differs from its three predecessors in carrying an additional catch-up mechanism that appears in none of sections 76, 77 and 78. The reason is the absence of a Public Revenue Protection Order in 2026: duty was charged at the old rate for three months, and the difference had to be collected retrospectively.

Section 79(1) introduces the concept of “additional stamp duty” — the difference between the duty under the amended First Schedule and the duty under the pre-amended one, defined separately for four combinations: Part 1 of Scale 1 of head 1(1), Scale 2 of head 1(1), Part 1 of Scale 1 of head 1(1A) and Scale 2 of head 1(1A).

Section 79(2)(a) replaces the time for stamping that difference with a period of 30 days commencing immediately after the gazettal date. Section 79(2)(b) adds that where duty had already been paid under the pre-amended Schedule, the penalty provision in section 9 applies only to the additional duty, and only if it is not paid within that new window.

How to read these sections when reviewing an old transaction

If a transaction completed between late 2023 and mid-2026, the order of work is: establish the date of the earliest agreement in the transaction; check whether it was superseded within 14 days; match that date against the four cut-offs; and only then open the correct version of the First Schedule. The historical version is available on GovHK under the link “Duty rates from 1 April 1988 to 25 February 2026” from the rates page.

Buying through a company, and selling the shares of the owner

Since 28 February 2024 buying a home through a company is taxed exactly as buying it personally — which removed the main reason people used to pick a structure for tax rather than for structure. Before that date a corporate buyer paid BSD and the flat Part 1 of Scale 1 rate on top of the ordinary duty; today both are either zero or identical to Scale 2.

What is left of the share route

The classic alternative is not to buy the asset but to buy the shares of the company that owns it. The economics there are different, because a transfer of Hong Kong stock is charged under head 2 of the First Schedule rather than head 1.

The 0.1% per note has applied since 17 November 2023, having been cut from 0.13% by Ordinance No. 29 of 2023. On an ordinary sale and purchase of shares the total is therefore 0.2% of the value plus HK$5 for the instrument of transfer.

Why “0.2% instead of 4.25%” is the wrong conclusion to draw

First, the value of the shares is not the price of the property. Where a transfer is not at arm’s length, sections 27 and 13 come into play: the Collector may value the shares by reference to the company’s net assets, including the property at market value, and may refuse to stamp the instrument or stamp it subject to conditions where the facts are not “fully and truly set forth” under section 11.

Second, a share buyer acquires not an asset but a company with its whole history: past tax positions, liabilities, potential claims. Due diligence on that company costs money and time comparable to the duty saved on a moderately priced asset.

Third, the transaction raises a profits tax question. The IRD warns expressly on its stamp duty page: “Duty payers are reminded that despite the payment of stamp duty, there are also profits tax liabilities in respect of the assessable profits from the buying and selling of landed properties in the course of a trading adventure in Hong Kong.” Systematic dealing in property — whether through the asset or through the shares — can be characterised as trading.

We covered the share-transfer regime in detail in a separate piece on stamp duty on share transfers in Hong Kong.

What Cap. 117 does not contain

The Stamp Duty Ordinance has no general anti-avoidance rule. That is a checkable statement: the consolidated text as at 26 February 2026 contains no equivalent of sections 61 and 61A of the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112), which let the Revenue disregard artificial transactions. Cap. 117 carries targeted machinery only — section 27 on voluntary dispositions, section 13 on adjudication, section 11 on disclosure of facts, section 45(4) to (5A) on the conditions of intra-group relief.

That is not an invitation to structure. It is a signal that the risk in such arrangements sits in profits tax, in the Collector’s valuation and in the corporate side of the deal rather than in stamp duty.

When a company still makes sense

A corporate structure keeps its point where it solves non-tax problems: joint ownership by several investors, succession planning, limitation of liability, a lender’s requirements. Choosing the jurisdiction and the form for that job, incorporating and then administering it, is what UPPERSETUP’s company registration services cover. If you are setting up a Hong Kong company for one of those reasons, our guides to Hong Kong company registration and to corporate bank accounts for non-residents are the practical starting points, and for trust arrangements see our review of trusts and private trust companies.

The reliefs and refunds still on the statute book

Zeroing the surcharges left the whole apparatus of reliefs, refunds and exemptions in Cap. 117 intact — some of which now deliver nothing, while others still work. They are worth taking separately precisely because “in force” and “of use” are two different things.

Section 45: transfers between associated bodies corporate

Section 45 relieves from duty under heads 1(1), (1AA), (1AAB), 2(1) and 2(3) any instrument conveying a beneficial interest in immovable property or transferring Hong Kong stock between associated bodies corporate. The association test in the section as in force is that one is beneficial owner of not less than 90% of the issued share capital of the other, or a third body is beneficial owner of not less than 90% of the share capital of each.

Conditions and traps:

•          Section 45(3) reaches only instruments conveying a beneficial interest in immovable property and contract notes. Such an instrument is not duly stamped either until it is stamped with the duty it would have borne but for the section, or until it has been through section 13 and stamped with a denoting that it is not chargeable or is duly stamped.

•          The relief does not apply where the transaction was made in pursuance of an arrangement under which the consideration was to be provided or received wholly or partly by a person who was not associated; or the interest had previously been conveyed by such a person; or the parties were to cease to be associated.

•          Section 45(5A) is a two-year clawback. If the parties cease to be associated within 2 years after execution, they must notify the Collector within 30 days and pay, within the same 30 days, the duty that would have been chargeable without the relief. Non-payment attracts a penalty calculated as under section 9; failure to notify attracts a level 2 penalty, that is HK$5,000, recoverable by the Collector as a civil debt due to the Government, under section 45(7).

•          Section 47L governs the assessment made after the relief is deemed withdrawn.

Section 29H(3) extends the same treatment to agreements for sale: where a conveyance executed in conformity with the agreement would not be chargeable by virtue of section 45, the agreement itself is not chargeable under heads 1(1A), (1B) and (1C), and sections 45(3) and (5A) apply to it in the same way.

Redevelopment refunds

Three sections in Division 5 of Part IIIA preserve the developer refund machinery: section 29DD, refund of BSD on redevelopment; section 29DE, partial refund of AVD on redevelopment; and section 29DF, partial refund of AVD on disposal of the original residential property. Section 29DG imposes further AVD where the promised disposal does not complete, and section 29DH deals with liability for underpayment.

The economic effect of sections 29DE and 29DF is currently nil: in both sections the “specified amount” is defined as the difference between the duty paid under Scale 1 and the duty that would have been payable under Scale 2, and since 28 February 2024 those ladders produce the same figure. The section 29DD refund is likewise nil, BSD being zero. The provisions nevertheless remain in force and apply to instruments executed before 28 February 2024. The IRD’s practical guidance sits in its FAQ on stamp duty refund for redevelopment.

Section 29H: outright exclusions

Section 29H(1) disapplies Part IIIA and the First Schedule to an agreement for sale made in favour of the Government or an incorporated public officer; concerning exempted premises where the purchaser is an exempted person within the meaning of section 38; to which the Hong Kong Housing Authority or a person nominated by it is a party; or made with the consent of the Housing Authority.

The general exemptions in Part V

Sections 39 to 47B carry the general exemptions: section 39 for instruments generally exempted, section 40 for instruments specially exempted, section 41 for the non-liability of the Government and public officers, sections 42 and 43 for leases to the Government and consular premises, section 44 for gifts to exempted institutions, section 46 for instruments made for new Government leases, and sections 47A and 47B for mandatory provident fund scheme units and indirect allotment or redemption of units.

What follows from all this

For an ordinary purchase of a flat by a foreigner none of these reliefs applies and none is needed: the rate is already the lowest available. The reliefs matter in three scenarios — an intra-group reorganisation of ownership, a redevelopment, and transactions involving public bodies.

The incoming-talent regime: two mechanisms with nothing left to relieve

Division 6A of Part IIIA gives holders of visas under the talent admission schemes two mechanisms — a refund and a suspension of the surcharges — and both lost their content for purchases from 28 February 2024, because there is nothing left to refund or suspend. The provisions nevertheless remain fully in force for anyone who fell inside the relevant window.

The two mechanisms and their windows

•          The refund (Subdivision 2, sections 29DI to 29DL) covers residential property acquired between 19 October 2022 and 24 October 2023. It was created by Ordinance No. 14 of 2023, signed on 29 June 2023, gazetted on 30 June 2023 and deemed to have come into operation on 19 October 2022. The upper edge of the window came later: the words “before 25 October 2023” in section 29DJ(1)(a)(ii) were inserted by Ordinance No. 3 of 2024, when the refund gave way to the suspension. An “applicable instrument” is defined in section 29DI as one under which a single residential property was acquired and on which both BSD and duty under Part 1 of Scale 1 of head 1(1) or 1(1A) had been paid.

•          The suspension, or upfront relief (Subdivision 3, sections 29DM to 29DY) was added by Ordinance No. 3 of 2024. Section 29DN(2)(a) states the condition one-sidedly: the date of acquisition must fall on or after 25 October 2023, and the provision sets no closing date. The IRD’s guidance describes the window as “25 October 2023 to 27 February 2024”, which is right in substance because from 28 February 2024 there is nothing to suspend. The application is made on form IRSD125E at the same time as the instrument is submitted for stamping, and on approval a statutory charge arises automatically in favour of the Collector (sections 29DP to 29DR).

The seven schemes in Schedule 12

“Specified scheme” is defined by section 29DHA by reference to Schedule 12 to Cap. 117. The schedule lists seven:

•          General Employment Policy;

•          Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals;

•          Quality Migrant Admission Scheme;

•          Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates;

•          Technology Talent Admission Scheme;

•          Admission Scheme for the Second Generation of Chinese Hong Kong Permanent Residents;

•          Top Talent Pass Scheme.

The list is amended by notice of the Financial Secretary in the Gazette under section 63B — the same technique used for the SSD and BSD rates.

The deadline for a refund application

Section 29DL sets the long stop: no refund may be made if the application is made more than six months after the later of two dates — the date on which the Stamp Duty (Amendment) (No. 3) Ordinance 2023 was published in the Gazette (the editorial note to the section gives 30 June 2023) and the date on which the applicant, or, where the application relies on section 29DJ(1)(b)(ii), the last of the remaining co-buyers, became a Hong Kong permanent resident. Where the application relies on section 29DK the deadline extends to the latest of four dates, including two years after the date of the applicable instrument and two months after the conveyance of the original property.

How the mechanism worked, in numbers

The IRD gives a telling worked example: a talent buys a home for HK$10,000,000 under a provisional agreement dated 30 October 2023. He pays AVD at Scale 2 rates of HK$370,000, and the suspended “Specified Amount” is HK$1,130,000 — that is, the difference between 7.5% under Part 1 of Scale 1 and Scale 2 (HK$380,000) plus BSD at 7.5% (HK$750,000). If the talent becomes a permanent resident and meets the conditions, the suspended amount is waived; if not, it falls due.

The example doubles as a check on the arithmetic of the ladder: HK$370,000 on a HK$10,000,000 asset is band (h), HK$270,000 plus 10% of the excess over HK$9,000,000.

When a suspension is revoked

The suspension is revoked and the Specified Amount becomes payable if the applicant does not become a permanent resident within the prescribed period, ceases to be the beneficial owner of the property, or breaches the other conditions. The full treatment with worked examples is in the IRD’s FAQ on the talent attraction measures.

Pay particular attention to the interaction with a mortgage: the statutory charge in favour of the Collector arises automatically, and the IRD devotes a separate question to how it ranks against a lender’s mortgage on enforcement.

What this means today

For a purchase made now these provisions are irrelevant: the holder of a visa under any of the seven schemes pays the same duty as a permanent resident. They matter for anyone who bought between 2022 and 2024 and has not yet closed out the procedure, and for lawyers checking title: a suspended amount is secured by a charge that shows up in the land register and has to be discharged.

If the visa schemes themselves are what you are working through, they are set out in our guide to Hong Kong work and relocation visas, and the investment route in our review of the new CIES.

Penalties: what being late actually costs

A late stamping penalty in Hong Kong is not an annualised interest charge but a multiple of the duty itself, and by the third month it reaches ten times. The provision is section 9, and it knows no grace period.

The section 9 scale

The penalty is payable in addition to the duty. So a delay of more than two months on a HK$10,000,000 asset produces HK$370,000 of duty plus HK$3,700,000 of penalty — HK$4,070,000 in total.

Section 9(2) lets the Collector remit the whole or any part of the penalty, and section 9(3) lets the payment or remission be denoted on the instrument in whatever manner the Collector thinks fit. Remission does happen in practice, but it is a discretion, not an entitlement.

What happens to an unstamped instrument

Section 15(1) states the consequence bluntly: an instrument chargeable with stamp duty shall not “be received in evidence in any proceedings whatsoever” — except criminal proceedings and civil proceedings by the Collector to recover the duty or a penalty — “or be available for any other purpose whatsoever”, unless it is duly stamped.

Section 15(1A) carries the exception: a court may receive an unstamped instrument in civil proceedings on the personal undertaking of a solicitor to have it stamped and any section 9 penalty paid, or where the instrument is endorsed by the Collector under section 14(1C).

Section 15(2) forbids a public officer or a body corporate from acting upon, filing or registering an unstamped instrument; a breach attracts a level 2 penalty, that is HK$5,000, recoverable by the Collector as a civil debt due to the Government.

For a buyer the practical meaning is that an unstamped agreement for sale is useless in court and, as a general rule, will not be registered at the Land Registry. The general rule has exceptions: section 15(3) disapplies the bar in three limbs: an instrument an amount of whose stamp duty liability has been suspended under Subdivision 3 of Division 6A of Part IIIA (paragraph (aaa)); an instrument under the Land Registration Ordinance (Cap. 128) stamped under section 5(1), 13(2) or 18E(1) (paragraph (a)); and an instrument of transfer stamped under section 13(2) (paragraph (b)) — though even there “the registration does not affect the question of whether the instrument is duly stamped”. That is not a theoretical risk but a direct obstacle to perfecting title and to drawing down a mortgage.

The criminal offences

The fine levels are set by Schedule 8 to the Criminal Procedure Ordinance (Cap. 221): level 1 HK$2,000, level 2 HK$5,000, level 3 HK$10,000, level 4 HK$25,000, level 5 HK$50,000, level 6 HK$100,000.

The procedural protection before certain penalties

Section 58A requires the Collector, before taking action under sections 5A(4), 15(2), 19(15), 37, 45(7), 47H(5), 47J(6) or 58, to notify the person of the grounds and to afford an opportunity to explain in writing; if the explanation satisfies the Collector, no action is taken. Section 58B allows those penalties to be remitted wholly or in part.

Note what is missing: section 9 is not on that list. The late stamping penalty is imposed without a prior representations procedure — remission under section 9(2) remains a separate discretion.

Force of circumstances

The IRD operates special arrangements in bad weather: stamping deadlines are adjusted for typhoons and rainstorm warnings. The current arrangements are linked from the GovHK page on time limits for stamping.

Adjudication, valuation and appeal

Adjudication is a formal opinion of the Collector on whether an instrument is chargeable with stamp duty and in what amount; for certain instruments it is compulsory, and for the rest it is available on application against a prescribed fee. The mechanism sits in section 13.

When adjudication is compulsory

Section 13(1B) lists the cases in which no adjudication fee is payable because the procedure is required by other provisions: sections 24(2), 27(3), 29F(2), 29H(3), 44(3), 45(3) and 47I, together with Note 4 to head 1(1) and Note 3 to head 2(3) of the First Schedule. Two of those matter to a property buyer in practice: section 27(3) on voluntary dispositions and undervalue transfers, and section 45(3) on intra-group relief.

The Collector’s valuation powers

Section 12 allows the Collector, when an instrument is presented for stamping, to require an abstract of the instrument and such evidence as he deems necessary to satisfy himself that all the facts and circumstances affecting liability are fully and truly set forth.

Section 11(4) gives the Collector two tools where they are not: he may refuse to stamp the instrument, or stamp it subject to such conditions as he thinks fit.

Section 27 governs voluntary dispositions inter vivos. A transaction at less than market value can be recharacterised and charged on the value of the property rather than the stated price. The First Schedule itself says only “of the amount or value of the consideration” in all three ladders; the familiar “consideration or value of the property, whichever is the higher” is the IRD and GovHK formulation, and value substitutes for price through sections 27 and 29F rather than through the ladders.

The appeal: District Court, one month, pay first

Section 14 sets out the route for appealing the Collector’s assessment. The key elements:

•          The time limit is one month from the date the assessment is made, extendable by the court under section 14(5B) where the person was prevented from appealing by illness, absence from Hong Kong or other reasonable cause.

•          The condition of appealing is payment of the duty in conformity with the assessment, unless payment is postponed under section 14(1A) or a hardship order is made under section 14(1B).

•          The form is a notice served on the Registrar; the appellant may require the Collector to state and sign a case setting out the question and the assessment made.

•          The court is the District Court; the definitions of “court” and “Registrar” in section 14(6) point to it specifically.

•          Section 14(5A) allows the court to appoint a member of the Lands Tribunal to sit and assist, but the decision in the appeal remains the decision of the court alone.

Postponement under section 14(1A) requires a written application received by the Collector within 14 days of the assessment, a statement of the intention to appeal, and security to the Collector’s satisfaction.

If the court assesses a lower amount, the excess duty is repaid together with any excess penalty paid under sections 9, 45(5A)(d) or 47H(3). If the assessment is found not to be excessive, the court makes an order confirming it.

The adjudication fee

The amount is prescribed by the Fifth Schedule to Cap. 117, and section 13(1A) lets the Financial Secretary amend that schedule by order.

A practical point

Adjudication is available only “in respect of any executed instrument” — section 13(1) says so in terms. What can be planned in advance is something else: requiring the Collector’s opinion before or within the time for stamping. That brings section 13(7)(a) into play, so the instrument may be stamped on payment of the duty not later than the time for stamping or within one month of the date of the assessment, whichever is the later. Miss that moment and section 13(7)(b) applies instead: the duty plus a penalty calculated under section 9.

Three situations in which this is worth thinking about before execution: the transaction is not at arm’s length (a transfer to a relative, a contribution to capital, a distribution on liquidation) — where stamping under section 13(3)(b) is compulsory by force of sections 27(3) and 29F(2), and section 13(1B) waives the adjudication fee for that reason; the asset is mixed or forms part of a series; and section 45 relief is claimed.

The general route for challenging tax assessments in Hong Kong — objections under Cap. 112, appeal to the Board of Review and holdover of the tax in dispute — is covered in our article on disputing an IRD assessment. Note that the stamp duty route is fundamentally different: it does not go through the Board of Review but straight to the District Court.

How to pay: e-Stamping, deadlines and what will not go through online

Stamping in Hong Kong has long since stopped being about a physical impression: the e-Stamping system issues a stamp certificate that has the same legal status as a conventional stamp on the instrument. The certificate is issued instantly on online payment, or within 2 working days where payment is made offline.

How the process works

•          The original instrument need not be presented to the Stamp Office unless you want a conventional stamp.

•          The stamping application is submitted either in paper form or electronically.

•          The duty is paid online, through the existing tax payment channels, or at the Stamp Office.

•          The certificate arrives over the internet or in paper form depending on the mode of submission.

•          The certificate is attached to the original instrument as evidence of stamping.

•          The authenticity of a certificate can be checked on GovHK at www.gov.hk/estamping.

What will not go through e-Stamping

The exclusion list on the e-Stamping page is worth reading before the agreement is signed rather than after:

•          adjudication cases;

•          stock transactions involving derivatives or share swaps, indebtedness taken as the whole or part of the consideration, or consideration subject to adjustment;

•          sale and purchase of listed shares for jobbing business;

•          property transactions involving nomination, supplemental agreements, buyer’s stamp duty or special stamp duty;

•          property transactions under the Home Ownership Scheme primary market;

•          transactions in which the duty is not calculated at a rate pertinent to the consideration stated in the instrument — for example those forming a series, or covering residential and non-residential property separable for sale and subject to different rates;

•          tenancy agreements with consideration other than rent, such as a premium or a construction fee;

•          addenda or supplemental agreements to a tenancy that increase the original rent;

•          transactions involving more than four purchasers, four landlords, four tenants or twenty vendors;

•          sub-sales involving more than two confirmor transactions.

Late stamping through the system

The service accepts late stamping cases where they do not involve a bulk application, the delay does not exceed 4 yearsand no remission of penalty is requested. The certificate is issued after the duty and penalty are paid online.

If you are asking for remission under section 9(2), the online route is closed: the application goes to the Stamp Office in the ordinary way.

Who submits the instrument

In practice the solicitor running the transaction handles the stamping. But liability under column (C) of the First Schedule rests on the parties, not on their agent. If the solicitor misses the deadline, the section 9 penalty is still owed by the parties, and the question of compensation is a matter between the client and the firm.

The checks to run before completion

Before executing the conveyance it is worth confirming three things: that the agreement for sale has been stamped and the certificate exists; that no statutory charge in favour of the Collector, left over from the incoming-talent suspension mechanism, sits on the land register; and that the section 29 certificate stating the transaction is not part of a series is in fact accurate.

What an owner pays after completion: rates, Government rent and property tax

Stamp duty is a one-off cost at purchase; the annual cost of ownership is made up of rates, Government rent and, where the property is let, property tax. For an investor modelling yield those three lines matter more than the one-off duty.

The progressive rating scale for homes

Since 1 January 2025, following the gazettal of the Rating (Amendment) Ordinance 2024 on 1 November 2024, domestic tenements are charged on a progressive scale:

On the Rating and Valuation Department’s figures about 98% of private domestic tenements stay on the flat 5%. For the 2026-27 financial year the valuation reference date is 1 October 2025, and the new rateable values took effect on 1 April 2026.

The progressive scale does not apply to public rental housing provided by the Housing Authority or the Housing Society, flats in Tai Hang Sai Estate, flats under Light Public Housing or Transitional Housing, or dormitories provided by non-profit-making registered schools, post-secondary institutions, the Hospital Authority, The Chinese Medicine Hospital of Hong Kong and religious institutions.

Both the owner and the occupier are liable for rates; absent any agreement to the contrary the liability rests with the occupier. Government rent is the owner’s, and is payable only on the classes of Government lease listed in Cap. 515.

Property tax: the details that change the model

Section 5(1) of Cap. 112 charges the owner at the standard rate on the net assessable value. Section 5(1A)(b) deducts from the assessable value first the rates paid by the owner and then 20% of the balance as a notional allowance for repairs and outgoings. No actual expenditure, mortgage interest included, is deductible from the property tax base.

The standard rate is set by Schedule 1 to Cap. 112. From the year of assessment 2024/25 that schedule distinguishes two cases: for salaries tax, provisional salaries tax and tax under personal assessment a two-tiered rate applies — 15% on the first HK$5,000,000 and 16% on the remainder; for other taxes, 15%. Property tax falls into the second case and therefore stays flat.

Section 5(2)(a) lets a corporation carrying on a trade, profession or business in Hong Kong claim exemption from property tax on written application where it would in any event be entitled to a set-off under section 25 against profits tax. Section 5(2)(c) obliges such a corporation to notify the Commissioner within 30 days of any change in ownership, use or other circumstances affecting the exemption. Accounting for rental income, computing net assessable value and filing property tax and profits tax returns is what UPPERSETUP’s accounting services handle.

What Hong Kong does not have

There is no capital gains tax in Hong Kong. That does not mean a gain on the sale of property is always untaxed: where the buying and selling is done in the course of a trading adventure, the profit is chargeable to profits tax. The IRD says so expressly, and the line between a capital investment and a trade is drawn on the whole of the circumstances rather than on any formal marker.

The profits tax filing mechanics are covered in our article on the Hong Kong profits tax return, and the deductions and incentives in our review of profits tax deductions and incentives.

Stamp duty on a lease: what the landlord and the tenant pay

A Hong Kong lease is charged under head 1(2) of the First Schedule, and the rate turns on the length of the term rather than on the type of property. For an investor letting a flat this is the second most frequent encounter with the Ordinance after the purchase.

The yearly, average yearly or total rent is rounded up to the nearest HK$100, and the resulting duty up to the nearest dollar. A deposit mentioned in the lease is not taken into account in assessing the duty. The time for stamping is 30 days after execution, and liability falls on all parties and all other persons executing.

Duplicates and counterparts

Head 4 of the First Schedule charges a duplicate or counterpart of any instrument chargeable with duty: where the duty on the original does not amount to HK$5, the same duty as on the original; in any other case, HK$5. The time for stamping is 7 days after execution, or such longer period as the original would allow.

Key money and construction fees

Where a premium, key money or a construction fee is payable in addition to rent, that part of the consideration is charged under head 1(2)(a), which refers across to Note 1 to head 1(1).

This is where a divergence between the statute in force and the published Government rate table sits, and it is worth knowing about. Note 1 to head 1(1) was replaced in full by section 14(7) of Ordinance No. 3 of 2026 and now has two limbs. Limb (a) applies Scale 2 to a lease of residential property “as if paragraphs (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), (i), (j), (k) and (l) in Scale 2 and the words ‘in any other case’ in paragraph (m) in Scale 2 were omitted” — leaving a single rate of 6.5%. Limb (b) applies Scale 3 to a lease of non-residential property with paragraphs (a) to (j) and the words “in any other case” in paragraph (k) omitted — leaving 4.25%.

The GovHK rates page, last revised in May 2026, nevertheless still shows a single figure for the rent case: “Key money, construction fee etc. mentioned in the lease — 4.25% of the consideration if rent is also payable under the lease. Otherwise, same duty as for a sale of immovable property.”

We record this as a divergence between official sources and do not resolve it in favour of either: the published rate table matches the statute only for non-residential property, while for a residential lease the text of the Ordinance produces 6.5%. Before structuring a residential lease with a premium it is worth seeking adjudication under section 13.

What will not go through e-Stamping

Tenancy agreements with consideration other than rent — that is, with a premium or a construction fee — cannot be stamped through the electronic system, nor can supplemental agreements that increase the original rent. Both exclusions are stated on the e-Stamping page.

Why stamp a lease at all

Under section 15 an unstamped lease cannot be received in evidence in court and is not “available for any other purpose whatsoever”. For a landlord that means no recovery of arrears and no possession proceedings until the lease has been stamped and any section 9 penalty paid.

Announced but not yet law

Of the three stamp duty measures announced in the 2026-27 Budget, only one has become law — the increase to 6.5%. As at September 2026 the other two remain proposals. The distinction is worth keeping in view. For one of them — the intra-group relief — the press release of 25 February 2026 says it would apply “to instruments … executed on or after February 25, 2026”, but the provision that would give that effect has not been enacted. The REIT waiver carries no such date: the Budget speech promises the bill for the first half of 2027.

Relaxing the intra-group relief criteria

Paragraph 103 of the Budget speech puts the proposal this way: “we propose to relax the criteria for stamp duty relief in relation to the intra-group transfer of assets. This would expand the scope of eligible associated body corporates. We will introduce an amendment bill this year and the new arrangement will apply retrospectively to instruments signed from today.”

The press release of 25 February 2026 pins the date: the proposal “applies to instruments for sale and purchase or transfer of assets executed on or after February 25, 2026”.

The checkable fact is this: section 45 in the consolidated text of Cap. 117 carries a version date of 10 April 2014. The association test is still “not less than 90% of the issued share capital”. The Legislative Council’s bills database records only two bills against the Stamp Duty Ordinance since the Budget — the Stamp Duty (Amendment) Bill 2026 and the Stamp Duty (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2026 — and neither touches section 45. In other words, no bill relaxing the intra-group relief has yet been gazetted.

For groups planning a reorganisation the practical conclusion is that the announced relaxation cannot be relied on. Where a deal needs the ownership structure worked through against the test as it stands rather than the one that was announced, that is exactly what UPPERSETUP’s legal services are for. Until it is enacted the not-less-than-90% threshold and the two-year clawback in section 45(5A) apply. Anyone structuring towards the future criteria should note that “details of the measures are subject to change during the legislative process” — the IRD’s own words on its 2026-27 Budget tax measures page.

A stamp duty waiver for transfers of non-residential property into REITs

Paragraph 99 of the Budget speech promises a stamp duty waiver “for the transfer of non-residential properties into REITs seeking to list”; the IRD describes the same measure as a waiver “in respect of acquisition of non-residential property for real estate investment trusts” where specified conditions are met. The same paragraph gives the timing: “The relevant amendment bill will be introduced in the first half of next year” — that is, the first half of 2027.

This should not be confused with a waiver that already exists. The Stamp Duty Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance 2024 — Ordinance No. 33 of 2024, signed on 19 December 2024 and gazetted on 20 December 2024 — already waived duty on transactions and transfers of shares or units of real estate investment trusts, inserting Schedule 11A into Cap. 117; Note 4 to head 2(3) points straight at Part 3 of that schedule, and Part 2 of the ordinance came into operation the day after gazettal. So the securities-side waiver has been law since the end of 2024; what is promised is a waiver on the property side.

Ordinance No. 5 of 2026: enacted but not in operation

The Stamp Duty (Amendment) (No. 2) Ordinance 2026 — Ordinance No. 5 of 2026 — was signed by the Chief Executive on 16 July 2026. It has nothing to do with real estate: it inserts a new section 18AA, a new Schedule 14 and a new section 63C, allowing stamp duty on a contract note for dual-counter stock denominated in Renminbi to be calculated and paid in Renminbi.

The key detail is section 1(2): the ordinance “comes into operation on a day to be appointed by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury by notice published in the Gazette”. No such notice had appeared by September 2026 — the consolidated text of Cap. 117 still carries a version date of 26 February 2026. The ordinance is enacted, but not one of its provisions is in force.

How to tell enacted from announced

The practical procedure is simple and needs no lawyer: open the particular section on e-Legislation and read the version date in the top right; check the consolidated version date of the chapter as a whole; and where necessary cross-check the chronological table of ordinances, which lists every ordinance enacted in the year with its number.

That method is also what explains a discrepancy that would otherwise look like an error. The IRD’s 2026-27 Budget tax measures page groups the rate increase with the other two and states that “measures (v) to (vii) … have to be implemented through legislative amendments”, although measure (v) became law on 29 May 2026. The explanation is simple and checkable: the page was last updated on 22 May 2026, a week before gazettal. By contrast the AVD questions and answers page was updated on 29 May 2026 — gazettal day — and already carries the new ladders. The paragraph on measure (v) itself likewise describes the new rates as applying “to any instrument executed on or after 26 February 2026”.

What the numbers show after the abolition

Scrapping the surcharges in February 2024 lifted transaction volumes sharply but did not hold prices up: after a brief rebound in March 2024 the private domestic price index fell for another year and bottomed out in March 2025. That is an important fact for anyone judging the measure by its result rather than by the headlines.

Volume: the Land Registry

The 2023/24 year ended on 31 March 2024, so the abolition fell in its penultimate month and only March sits inside that year on the new footing. The first full year after the measure was 2024/25: volume rose 38.1% and value 29.3%. The rise continued in 2025/26: 88,088 agreements, more than in any of the ten years in the Land Registry’s table, including the 2021/22 peak.

Over the two full years after the abolition the number of agreements went from 51,632 to 88,088, a rise of 71%.

Prices: the Rating and Valuation Department index

The private domestic price index, all classes, territory-wide:

The pattern reads as follows: the index rebounded to 308.1 in March 2024, then fell for a full year, losing about 7.5% against that level by March 2025, and only durably passed its February 2024 reading in January 2026 — almost two years after the measure.

The current snapshot

On Land Registry figures for August 2026 (updated 2 September 2026), 5,768 sale and purchase agreements of building units covering 6,272 units were lodged for registration in the month, for a total consideration of HK$44,518 million, alongside 12,457 assignments of building units for HK$78,986 million.

The fiscal context

Paragraph 271 of the 2026-27 Budget speech: the revised estimate of stamp duty revenue for 2025-26 is HK$99.5 billion, about HK$31.9 billion above the original estimate, attributed to a buoyant equity market and accelerated economic growth. The same paragraph records that land premium revenue stays low, with a revised estimate of HK$17.5 billion, because “the residential property market has just stabilised while the commercial property market remains relatively sluggish”.

The Government attributes the increase to the equity market rather than to property. Paragraph 93 of the same speech gives a telling figure: Severe Weather Trading, introduced by the Hong Kong Exchange in September 2024, has run on seven trading days and generated about HK$2.5 billion in stamp duty.

How to read these numbers

Putting the three series side by side supports a cautious conclusion: the abolition restored liquidity, not prices. Volume returned to historical levels within two years, whereas the price index only durably regained its February 2024 reading at the beginning of 2026. No direct causal link can be established from this data — interest rates, new supply and the general economic backdrop were all moving at the same time — but the divergence between volume and price is itself documented in official statistics.

One further limitation: since April 2024 the IRD has published no monthly statistics on the surcharges, so the share of transactions involving non-residents cannot currently be verified from official data.

The transaction, step by step

The sequence below is arranged so that every decision affecting the amount of duty is taken before the provisional agreement is signed rather than after it. Once the PASP is signed, the rate and the deadline are already fixed.

1.        Establish the status of the asset by permitted use rather than actual use: residential property runs under Part 1 of Scale 1 or Scale 2, non-residential under Scale 3. The basis is the definition in section 29A(1).

2.        Check whether the price exceeds HK$100,000,000. If it does and the asset is residential, the upper part of the ladder applies, with its 30% bridge band and a 6.5% ceiling.

3.        If the transaction covers a flat and a car parking space, note that since 26 February 2026 they are charged on different ladders under sections 29AK(1A) and 29BC(1A).

4.        Check whether the transaction forms part of a series. If it does, the certificate under section 29 or 29G cannot be given and the lower rungs of the ladder are unavailable.

5.        Compute the duty on the current ladder, remembering the marginal relief mechanism and the rule in section 18A that any fraction of a dollar is rounded up to a whole dollar.

6.        Cross-check the computation against the GovHK “Stamp Duty Computation (Landed Properties)” calculator and the IRD’s worked examples.

7.        If the transaction is not at arm’s length — a transfer to a relative, a contribution to capital, a distribution on liquidation — remember that the section 13 procedure is compulsory there by force of sections 27(3) and 29F(2), is available only in respect of an executed instrument, and is worth requiring before or within the time for stamping, which brings the extended payment window in section 13(7)(a) into play.

8.        If section 45 relief is claimed, remember that the instrument is duly stamped only if the full duty is paid or the section 13 route is taken, and that the association threshold is not less than 90%, whatever the Budget announced about relaxing it.

9.        Set out in the provisional agreement every fact and circumstance affecting liability — section 11 requires it, and breaching it is a criminal offence where there is intent to defraud the Government.

10.    Diarise the date of the earliest agreement in the transaction: the 30 days for stamping run from it.

11.    If the formal agreement will be signed within 14 days on the same terms between the same parties, Note 2 to head 1(1A) applies and the clock runs from the second agreement.

12.    Check whether the transaction can go through e-Stamping. Mixed assets, nominations, supplemental agreements and series of transactions cannot.

13.    Pay the duty and obtain the stamp certificate. Verify it at www.gov.hk/estamping.

14.    Before executing the conveyance, confirm that the agreement has been stamped and that no undischarged statutory charge in favour of the Collector, left by the incoming-talent suspension mechanism, sits on the land register.

15.    Stamp the conveyance with the fixed HK$100 within 30 days of execution where the agreement for sale has already been stamped.

16.    Register the property for rates and Government rent and model the annual burden, including property tax if the property will be let.

Ten common mistakes and what they cost

Most money lost on Hong Kong stamp duty is lost not to the rate but to the date, to the wording of the instrument, and to trusting a press release. Ten mistakes that come up more often than the rest, each with its price attached.

1. Counting the deadline from the formal agreement instead of the provisional one

The 30 days run from the earliest agreement in the transaction, usually the PASP signed at the agency. Note 2 to head 1(1A) rescues you only where the replacement happens within 14 days, between the same parties and on the same terms.

Cost: double duty as a penalty under section 9 where the delay is under a month — on a HK$10,000,000 asset, HK$740,000 on top of the duty.

2. Missing the three-month gap in 2026

Transactions in residential property above HK$100,000,000 carried out by an instrument executed on or after 26 February 2026 and before 29 May 2026 were stamped at 4.25%, and the top-up to 6.5% had to be paid within 30 days of gazettal — that is, by 28 June 2026.

Cost: on a HK$120,000,000 asset the shortfall is HK$2,700,000; the tenfold section 9 penalty on that sum is HK$27,000,000.

3. Relying on the announced relaxation of section 45

The 2026-27 Budget announced a wider class of associated bodies corporate with retrospective effect from 25 February 2026. As at September 2026 no bill has been introduced, section 45 is unamended and the threshold remains not less than 90%.

Cost: the full duty under head 1(1) on the value of the property transferred — on a HK$50,000,000 asset, HK$2,125,000 that could have been avoided by waiting for enactment or by arranging ownership to meet the test as it stands.

4. Forgetting the two-year clawback in section 45(5A)

The relief is withdrawn if the companies cease to be associated within two years of execution. The Collector must be notified within 30 days, and the duty paid within the same 30 days.

Cost: the duty in full, plus a penalty calculated as under section 9, plus HK$5,000 for failing to notify under section 45(7).

5. Assuming SSD is “abolished” and not checking older transactions

For property disposed of before 28 February 2024, Parts 1 to 3 of heads 1(1AA) and 1(1B) continue to apply on their own terms: each Part is expressly tied to its own window of disposal. Section 77 is not what saves them — it preserves the former text only as to AVD and BSD. A seller who signed a PASP on 27 February 2024 pays SSD under Part 3.

Cost: up to 20% of the price where the disposal falls within six months of acquisition.

6. Omitting the series-of-transactions certificate, or giving it wrongly

The lower rungs of the ladder are available only where the instrument carries the certificate under section 29 (for conveyances) or section 29G (for agreements) that the transaction does not form part of a larger transaction or series with a higher aggregate consideration.

Cost: loss of the lower bands and a jump to the top-band rate; and, where the certificate is knowingly false, an offence under section 11(2) punishable under section 60 by a HK$100,000 fine and one year’s imprisonment.

7. Treating a purchase through a company as tax planning

Since 28 February 2024 a company pays exactly what an individual pays. The saving arises only on a purchase of the owner’s shares, and that brings in net-asset valuation, the risk of the activity being characterised as trading, and corporate risk.

Cost: the expense of the structure and of due diligence, with no tax benefit.

8. Misclassifying the asset

Status is fixed by permitted use under the Government lease, the deed of mutual covenant, the occupation permit or another instrument, not by whether anyone lives there. Since 26 February 2026 the mistake has become expensive above HK$100,000,000.

Cost: on a HK$200,000,000 asset the gap between the ladders is HK$4,500,000.

9. Executing an instrument that does not set out every material fact

Section 11(1) requires all facts and circumstances affecting liability to be fully and truly set forth. Section 11(4) lets the Collector refuse to stamp or stamp subject to conditions.

Cost: a missed completion date, the section 9 multipliers starting to run, and the instrument being unregistrable under section 15(2).

10. Modelling yield without rates, Government rent and property tax

A one-off 3.75% can be smaller than the annual burden. Above a rateable value of HK$550,000 the progressive rating scale runs to 12%, Government rent is 3%, and property tax is 15% of net assessable value, from which neither mortgage interest nor actual expenditure beyond the 20% allowance is deductible.

Cost: a net yield systematically overstated across the whole holding period.

Frequently asked questions

Does a foreign buyer pay a higher rate of stamp duty on a Hong Kong home?

No. Since 28 February 2024 a foreign individual and a foreign company pay the same ad valorem duty as a Hong Kong permanent resident buying a first home. Buyer’s Stamp Duty is 0%, and the flat Part 1 of Scale 1 rate has been replaced by a ladder identical to Scale 2.

Have Buyer’s Stamp Duty and Special Stamp Duty been abolished for good?

Legally they have not been repealed. The charging heads 1(1AA), (1AAB), (1B) and (1C) remain in the First Schedule to Cap. 117 with a rate of 0%. Section 63A allows the Financial Secretary to change those rates by notice published in the Gazette, without a separate ordinance; the power does not reach the AVD rates.

How much stamp duty is payable on a HK$10,000,000 flat?

HK$370,000. That is band (h) of the ladder: HK$270,000 plus 10% of the excess over HK$9,000,000. The same figure appears in the IRD’s own worked example in its guidance on the talent attraction measures.

What changed in stamp duty on 26 February 2026?

Two new top bands were added for residential property: a bridge band from HK$100,000,001 to HK$109,574,470 charged at HK$4,250,000 plus 30% of the excess, and a rate of 6.5% above HK$109,574,470. At the same time a separate Scale 3 was introduced for non-residential property, keeping the previous 4.25% ceiling.

Is non-residential property charged at the new 6.5% rate?

No. Scale 3 applies to non-residential property and ends with a 4.25% band “in any other case”. The 6.5% rate exists only in Part 1 of Scale 1 and Scale 2, which apply to residential property.

From what date do the 30 days for stamping run?

From the execution of the earliest agreement for sale in the transaction — normally the provisional agreement. The exception is Note 2 to head 1(1A): where within the first 14 days of the time for stamping the agreement is superseded by another between the same parties and on the same terms, the clock runs from the second agreement.

What happens if the stamping deadline is missed?

Section 9 sets a penalty as a multiple of the duty: double where the delay is up to one month, four times where it is between one and two months, and ten times in any other case. The penalty is payable on top of the duty, and the Collector may — but need not — remit it.

Is SSD payable on a quick resale?

For property disposed of on or after 28 February 2024 the SSD rate is 0% regardless of the holding period. For earlier disposals Parts 1 to 3 of heads 1(1AA) and 1(1B) apply, and the decisive date is that of the provisional agreement, not the formal one.

Is it better to buy a Hong Kong home through a company?

Not for stamp duty purposes — the rate is the same. A company earns its place where it solves non-tax problems: joint ownership, succession planning, limitation of liability, a lender’s requirements.

Can the shares of the owning company be bought instead, at 0.2%?

The head 2 rate is indeed 0.1% on each of the two notes plus HK$5 for the instrument of transfer. But the Collector may value the shares by reference to the company’s net assets, including the property at market value; systematic activity can be characterised as trading for profits tax purposes; and the buyer takes the company’s whole history with it.

Is the incoming-talent stamp duty relief still available?

The Division 6A mechanisms remain in force but have lost their content for new purchases: the refund covers acquisitions between 19 October 2022 and 24 October 2023, and the suspension, under section 29DN(2)(a), covers acquisitions on or after 25 October 2023 with no closing date stated. After 28 February 2024 there is nothing to refund or suspend, the surcharges being zero.

Has section 45 relief been relaxed for corporate groups?

Not as at September 2026. The 2026-27 Budget announced a wider class of associated bodies corporate with retrospective effect from 25 February 2026, but no bill has been introduced, and section 45 keeps its not-less-than-90% ownership test and its two-year clawback.

What does owning Hong Kong property cost each year?

Rates at 5% of rateable value for most homes, rising on a progressive scale to 12% where the rateable value exceeds HK$550,000; Government rent at 3% of the same rateable value on the classes of Government lease listed in Cap. 515; and, if the property is let, property tax at 15% of net assessable value, that is rent less rates paid by the owner less a 20% allowance for repairs and outgoings.

Who this is for, and where UPPERSETUP helps

This article is written for people deciding on a Hong Kong property purchase from abroad who would rather work from the statute as it stands than from headlines. That is four groups.

The private non-resident buyer. The essential point is that the surcharges are gone, the rate is the same as a local resident’s, and the decisive date is the day the provisional agreement is signed. Everything else is detail of computation and timing.

The investor modelling yield. A one-off 3% to 4.25% on typical investment sums is not the largest line in the model. The annual burden is made up of rates rising to 12%, Government rent at 3% and property tax at 15% with no deduction for mortgage interest. A separate risk is that the surcharges can be restored by a notice in the Gazette.

The owner of a group reorganising its holdings. The governing provisions here are section 45 with its not-less-than-90% threshold and two-year clawback, the section 45(3) requirement to pay the full duty or go through section 13, and the absence of any general anti-avoidance rule in Cap. 117 alongside a set of targeted ones.

The lawyer or accountant reviewing a past transaction. The order of work is set by the four transitional sections — 76, 77, 78 and 79 — and by the rule that the regime is fixed by the date of the earliest agreement.

Where we help

UPPERSETUP works on the corporate and tax side of transactions like these. We incorporate and administer Hong Kong companies, build the holding structure and the bank documentation, run the accounting and reporting, and work through the tax consequences of holding and selling.

•          Company registration services — where ownership will sit in a Hong Kong entity or one elsewhere.

•          Legal services — reviewing the structure of the transaction, corporate documents, and liaison with property advisers.

•          Accounting services — accounting for rental income, property tax and profits tax reporting, and support when the Revenue asks questions.

We do not act as estate agents and we do not transact in property. Our area is everything around the transaction: the entity, the account, the reporting and the tax consequences.

Key takeaways

•          Nationality and the number of homes already owned no longer affect the amount of stamp duty. Since 28 February 2024 a foreigner pays what a Hong Kong permanent resident buying a first home pays.

•          The surcharges were not repealed but zeroed. SSD and BSD remain charging heads at 0%, and section 63A lets the Financial Secretary change that rate by notice published in the Gazette without a separate ordinance; the power does not extend to the AVD rates.

•          Since 26 February 2026 the top rate on residential property is 6.5%. It applies above HK$109,574,470, with a bridge formula of HK$4,250,000 plus 30% of the excess between HK$100,000,001 and that figure.

•          Non-residential property has been moved onto its own Scale 3, keeping the 4.25% ceiling. On a HK$200,000,000 asset the gap between the ladders is HK$4,500,000.

•          No Public Revenue Protection Order was made in 2026. Duty was charged at the old rate for three months, and the difference had to be paid within the 30-day window opened by section 79 after gazettal on 29 May 2026.

•          Ordinance No. 3 of 2026 commenced “on 26 February 2026” with no hour stated, unlike the three preceding amending ordinances, each of which took effect at 11 a.m.

•          The decisive date is almost always that of the earliest agreement in the transaction. The 14-day rule in Note 2 to head 1(1A) is the main qualification but not the only one: Notes 3, 4 and 5 to the same head and section 29B(3) carry their own rules for fixing the relevant date.

•          A late stamping penalty reaches ten times the duty and is payable on top of it; section 9 is absent from the list in section 58A, which elsewhere gives a right to make representations before a penalty is imposed.

•          The apparatus of permanent-resident exceptions is still in force but delivers no saving, because Part 1 of Scale 1 and Scale 2 carry identical rates. It would come alive the moment those rates diverged again.

•          The announced relaxation of section 45 and the REIT waiver have not become law. Section 45 carries a version date of 10 April 2014, and Ordinance No. 5 of 2026, although enacted on 16 July 2026, has not been brought into operation.

•          The abolition restored transaction volume, not prices. The number of agreements rose 71% in two years, while the RVD price index, after its March 2024 rebound, fell for another year and only durably passed its February 2024 level in January 2026.

•          The annual cost of ownership can exceed the one-off duty. Rates rising to 12%, Government rent at 3% and property tax at 15% with no deduction for mortgage interest are calculated separately from the transaction.

Summary

How much stamp duty does a foreigner pay on a Hong Kong home in 2026? The same as a Hong Kong permanent resident buying a first home. Buyer’s Stamp Duty and Special Stamp Duty have been charged at 0% since 28 February 2024, and the flat Part 1 of Scale 1 rate has been replaced by a ladder identical to Scale 2. A HK$10,000,000 flat attracts duty of HK$370,000.

What is the maximum rate of stamp duty on a Hong Kong home? 6.5%, on consideration above HK$109,574,470, with effect from 26 February 2026. Between HK$100,000,001 and HK$109,574,470 the duty is HK$4,250,000 plus 30% of the excess over HK$100,000,000. Up to HK$100,000,000 the top rate is 4.25%.

What is the rate for non-residential property? A maximum of 4.25% under Scale 3, introduced on 26 February 2026.

What is the time for stamping? 30 days from the execution of the earliest agreement for sale in the transaction, usually the provisional one. The penalty under section 9 of Cap. 117 is double, four times or ten times the duty depending on the length of the delay.

Which statute governs this? The Hong Kong Stamp Duty Ordinance (Cap. 117), consolidated text with a version date of 26 February 2026, as amended by (among others) Ordinance No. 14 of 2023, No. 3 of 2024, No. 8 of 2024, No. 33 of 2024, No. 12 of 2025 and No. 3 of 2026.

Sources

Every link goes straight to the source cited and was checked for availability in September 2026.

Hong Kong legislation

1.        Stamp Duty Ordinance (Cap. 117) — consolidated text, version date 26 February 2026

2.        First Schedule to Cap. 117 — all charging heads and rate ladders

3.        Section 29A of Cap. 117 — definitions for Part IIIA

4.        Section 29B of Cap. 117 — the duty to execute a written agreement and the definition of the relevant date

5.        Section 29AI of Cap. 117 — the ladders for conveyances on sale

6.        Section 29AJ of Cap. 117 — the permanent-resident exception

7.        Section 29AK of Cap. 117 — a home together with a car parking space

8.        Section 9 of Cap. 117 — late stamping penalties

9.        Section 11 of Cap. 117 — the duty to set out the facts fully and truly

10.    Section 13 of Cap. 117 — adjudication

11.    Section 14 of Cap. 117 — appeal against an assessment to the District Court

12.    Section 15 of Cap. 117 — the consequences of not stamping

13.    Section 29 of Cap. 117 — the series-of-transactions certificate

14.    Section 29D of Cap. 117 — the relationship between agreement and conveyance

15.    Section 29DL of Cap. 117 — the deadline for an incoming-talent refund application

16.    Section 29H of Cap. 117 — Part IIIA exemptions and relief

17.    Section 45 of Cap. 117 — relief on transfers between associated bodies corporate

18.    Section 58A of Cap. 117 — the right to make representations

19.    Section 60 of Cap. 117 — punishment for offences under the Ordinance

20.    Section 63A of Cap. 117 — changing the SSD and BSD rates by Gazette notice

21.    Section 63B of Cap. 117 — amendment of Schedule 12

22.    Section 77 of Cap. 117 — the 2024 transitional provisions

23.    Section 78 of Cap. 117 — the 2025 transitional provisions

24.    Section 79 of Cap. 117 — the 2026 transitional provisions and the catch-up window

25.    Schedule 12 to Cap. 117 — the seven talent admission schemes

26.    Schedule 8 to the Criminal Procedure Ordinance (Cap. 221) — the fine levels

27.    Section 5 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112) — property tax

28.    Schedule 1 to Cap. 112 — the standard rate

29.    Chronological table of ordinances — ordinances enacted, by year

The amending ordinances

30.    Stamp Duty (Amendment) (Residential Properties) Ordinance 2024, Ordinance No. 3 of 2024

31.    Stamp Duty (Amendment) (No. 3) Ordinance 2023, Ordinance No. 14 of 2023

32.    Stamp Duty Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance 2024, Ordinance No. 33 of 2024

33.    Stamp Duty (Amendment) Ordinance 2024, Ordinance No. 8 of 2024

34.    Stamp Duty (Amendment) Ordinance 2025, Ordinance No. 12 of 2025

35.    Stamp Duty (Amendment) Ordinance 2026, Ordinance No. 3 of 2026

36.    Stamp Duty (Amendment) (No. 2) Ordinance 2026, Ordinance No. 5 of 2026

37.    Stamp Duty (Amendment) Bill 2026

38.    Stamp Duty (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2026

Inland Revenue Department material

39.    Questions and answers on ad valorem stamp duty — the ladders in force

40.    Illustrative examples of the computation of AVD

41.    Questions and answers on the demand-side management measures

42.    Questions and answers on the talent attraction measures

43.    Questions and answers on stamp duty refund for redevelopment

44.    The general stamp duty page

45.    e-Stamping

46.    2026-27 Budget tax measures

47.    Stamp duty statistics

48.    Property tax for property owners

49.    Table of stamp duty rates on immovable property from 1 April 1988 to 25 February 2026

50.    Table of stamp duty rates on transfers of Hong Kong stock from 1 April 1993 to 16 November 2023

GovHK material

51.    Stamp duty rates

52.    Time limit for stamping and deferral of payment

53.    Late stamping and omission to stamp a document

54.    Validity of unstamped documents

Government announcements and the Budget

55.    Abolition of the demand-side management measures, 28 February 2024

56.    Raising the HK$100 duty threshold to HK$4 million, 26 February 2025

57.    Passage of the Stamp Duty (Amendment) Bill 2025, 7 May 2025

58.    Tax measures proposed in the 2026-27 Budget, 25 February 2026

59.    Gazettal of the Stamp Duty (Amendment) Bill 2026, 4 March 2026

60.    2026-27 Budget speech, paragraphs 91 to 100

61.    2026-27 Budget speech, paragraphs 101 to 111

62.    2026-27 Budget speech, paragraphs 256 to 265

63.    2026-27 Budget speech, paragraphs 270 to 273

Statistics

64.    Land Registry: ten-year statistical summary

65.    Land Registry: latest monthly statistics

66.    Rating and Valuation Department: property market statistics

67.    Rating and Valuation Department: rates

68.    Rating and Valuation Department: Government rent

69.    Rating and Valuation Department: the progressive rating system for domestic tenements

On method

The work was done in this order. The consolidated text of Cap. 117 was first taken from e-Legislation together with its amendment source notes and the version date of each individual section. The amending ordinances were then read in their official Legislative Council publications — which is what separates what was announced from what was enacted and fixes the exact dates of signature, gazettal and commencement. Rates and practical guidance were checked against IRD and GovHK material, and the market figures against Land Registry and Rating and Valuation Department statistics.

No figure in this article comes from a secondary source. Where one official source contradicts another, the divergence is stated in the text rather than smoothed over: that applies to the IRD’s 2026-27 Budget tax measures page, which groups the rate increase among measures that “have to be implemented through legislative amendments” although it became law on 29 May 2026 — the page was last updated on 22 May 2026, a week before gazettal — and to the GovHK rates page, which shows key money and construction fees under a lease at 4.25% while Note 1 to head 1(1) as in force produces, for a lease with rent payable, 6.5% on residential property and 4.25% on non-residential.

Current as at September 2026.

Disclaimer

This material is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, financial, investment or consulting advice. Before taking any decision, individual professional advice should be obtained that takes into account the specific situation, the jurisdiction, the status of the company and the current requirements of the regulators.