WHAT IS TRANSFER DUTY?
Transfer Duty is a tax that is levied on the value of any immovable property which is acquired by way of a transaction.
Property includes:
- Land and fixtures
- Real rights in land, excluding rights under mortgage bonds or leases
- Rights to minerals or rights to mine for minerals including leases or sub-leases to mine for minerals
- A share or interest in a “residential property company”
- A contingent right to residential property or share or member’s interest in a “residential property company” held by a discretionary trust (not a special trust), where the acquisition of the right is?
- In consequence of an agreement for consideration in relation to property held by that trust
- Accompanied by a change in the debt or security structure of the trust; or accompanied by a change in the trust’s trustees.
- A share in a share-block company.
The following are also regarded as TRANSACTIONS:
- Antenuptial and postnuptial contracts
- Donatio mortis causa (a gift made in contemplation of death)
- Partition agreements
- Redistribution agreements (in the process of the liquidation of a deceased estate)
- Nomination agreements
- Cession or assignment
- Cancellation agreements
- A decree of divorce
- By way of prescription
- Expropriation
- Inheritance
- Massing of estates
- Marriage within community of property
- Conversion of close corporations into private companies, or vice versa.
Please click here for the detailed Transfer Duty Guide (pdf – 114 pages)
For frequently asked questions on Transfer Duty, click here. (pdf – 19 pages)