Hong Kong’s taxman wins in appeal case over stamp duty

Home buyer fails to claim refund of more than HK$270,000 after court rejects his interpretation of ordinance which seeks to limit housing speculation

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In allowing the appeal, the Court of Appeal asserted asserted the term the expressionterm “original property” was not intendedintended to refer to more than one property.“The collector’s decision ... in rejecting his application for a refund is correct as a matter of law”, it wrote. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 10:59pm, 31 Oct 2016Updated: 11:30pm, 31 Oct 2016

A homeowner’s bid to claim a stamp duty refund of more than HK$270,000 has failed after an appeal court rejected his interpretation of an amended law aiming to curb housing speculation, and reversed a ruling in his favour.

The tax authority welcomed the Court of Appeal’s decision, saying it clarified who would be eligible for an exemption under the Stamp Duty Ordinance.

In a judgment handed down yesterday, the appeal court found Ma Wan resident Ho Kwok-tai failed to qualify for a refund of HK$273,750 – half of the stamp duty he paid for selling two flats in Tsing Yi in 2013. Ho was also required to foot the tax collector’s legal bills for the appeal and for the preceding lawsuit.

The case centred on the amended Stamp Duty Ordinance which aims to restrict property speculation by raising the cost of selling one. The law, introduced in 2014, imposes a double stamp duty but allows exemptions for those who buy a new home for their own use and sell their previous one within six months.

But Ho sold two small flats to buy a bigger one in Ma Wan for his family and did not get the tax refund. He launched a judicial review over the tax collector’s move.