Wednesday 18 October 2017
Royal Sanction has been granted in respect of the Document Duty (Guernsey) Law, 2017 and the Document Duty (Anti-Avoidance) (Guernsey) Law, 2017.
The new rules are set to come into force on 15 November 2017.
Under the present document duty regime, where Guernsey real property is transferred by way of conveyance, the document is registered at the Greffe and document duty is payable. However, document duty is not payable where effective ownership of a property passes to another person by another means, such as by the transfer of shares in a company which owns that property.
The purpose of the Document Duty (Anti-Avoidance) (Guernsey) Law, 2017 is to ensure that transactions other than conveyances, which have the effect of transferring Guernsey real property in a form similar to ownership, are treated in the same way, as far as possible, as conveyances registered at the Greffe, and duty will be payable at the same rate as document duty.
The Document (Duty) (Guernsey) Law, 2017 repeals and re-enacts the present legislation relating to Document Duty so as to update and simplify it.
Further background information can be found in the policy letter published at https://gov.gg/article/159398/The-Document-Duty-and-Anti-Avoidance-Duty
