Engagement Session

[18 Oct 24] - Stay Updated on Stamp Duty for Property Transfer and CBD Office

Join us on 18 October … Stay updated and gain insights as our experts Mr Leung Yew Kwong and Mr Alan Cheong share and discuss the following areas : 

The stamp duty regime in Singapore has undergone some significant changes in recent years. When do transfers of property attract stamp duty?  When they do not? Even where such transfers attract stamp duty, is there relief available under the Stamp Duties Act 1929?

The CBD office market in Singapore appears to be insulated from the woes that beset their foreign counterparts in developed countries. While that may have been and is still so, the gradual roll back of hybrid working appear to be a positive for the sector. However, may this soon be impacted by the prospect of the adoption of Artificial General Intelligence as companies seek to reduce cost and strive to stay on top of their game? For Singapore, the outlook is further complicated by the repeated urge to develop non-CBD office centres. What are the potential outcomes of the Singapore CBD office market arising from some of these Issues?

KNOWLEDGE PARTNERS

Mr Leung Yew Kwong, Principal Advisor, Tax, KPMG

Yew Kwong is Principal Tax Advisor of KPMG in Singapore. He has over 45 years of experience in tax law and practice.

Yew Kwong was with Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) for 28 years, and his last-held positions in IRAS were Chief Legal Officer, Chief Assessor, Deputy Comptroller of Property Tax and Chief Valuer. As the Chief Legal Officer, Yew Kwong dealt with all the taxes administered by IRAS, namely income tax, GST, stamp duty, property tax and estate duty. In the civil service, he was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver). 

After leaving IRAS in 2004, Yew Kwong was in practice as a tax lawyer for 8 years, before joining KPMG in April 2012. He has argued successfully for clients in a number of tax cases before the courts and the Boards of Review. His notable cases which reached the Court of Appeal include ZF v Comptroller of Income Tax (on whether demountable workers’ dormitories constituted plant under the Income Tax Act), ACC v Comptroller of Income Tax (concerning withholding tax on interest rate swap payments), Clifford Development Pte Ltd v Commissioner of Stamp Duties (on reconstruction of companies and stamp duty treatment), First DCS Pte Ltd v Chief Assessor (property tax matter concerning a district cooling plant and pipelines), Harmony Convention Holding Pte Ltd v Chief Assessor (concerning the determination of annual value  of a conventional hall using the profit’s method) [2022] SGVRB 1, among others.

Yew Kwong has also authored and co-authored a number of books, including Stamp Duties Act – LexisNexis Annotated Statutes of Singapore (2022, electronic edition), Property Tax in Singapore (Third Edition, LexisNexis, 2015), Butterworths Annotated Statutes of Singapore – Revenue Law (2000), Development Land and Development Charge in Singapore (Butterworths 1987), and Real Estate and Taxation in Singapore (World Scientific, 2022). He is on the Panel of Assessors of the Land Acquisition (Appeals Board).

Mr Alan Cheong, Executive Director, Head of Research & Consultancy, Savills

Alan’s experience in real estate spans more than twenty years, covering research, project financing and property equity analysis both locally and regionally.

He began his career in real estate research in 1990 with the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), focusing on property market forecast and land supply policy. Subsequently, he joined UOB where he was involved with project financing for large real estate deals. He was also the acting head of equity research for Prudential Securities, covering regional real estate and infrastructure companies before moving to investment banking with OCBC where he raised capital for companies and REITs during their Initial Public Offering. 

Alan came on board Savills Singapore in May 2011. He was also an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Real Estate, NUS for the period of 2019 to 2022.

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