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Tax Alert

Document duty on property company shares

It’s been a long while coming, but as they have been threatening to do for some time, the States of Guernsey voted on 17 May 2017 to change the rules regarding the payment of Document Duty for property companies. So duty will become payable when shares are sold to cause the same duty cost as if the property were itself being purchased.

When Will This Happen?

As with any new law it has to pass through the Privy Council and then be introduced into Guernsey law, so it’s not certain when these conditions will all be met, but we know the process is taking place and can realistically expect it to become effective quite soon.

The new regime only applies to Guernsey property; the current Alderney system will continue unchanged.