The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) and Singapore Land Authority (SLA) have streamlined the electronic lodgement process such that it is no longer necessary to present Stamp Duty certificates when documents are lodged electronically with the Land Titles Registry. Examples include mortgages, transfers and leases.

Greater Convenience with e-Lodgement - No Need for Manual Submission of Stamp Duty Certificate

Documents such as mortgages, transfers and leases have to be lodged with the Registry. As these documents are subject to Stamp Duty, Stamp Duty certificates have to be presented when the documents are lodged with the Registry. This is normally done manually over the counter at the Registry.

From 6 Mar 2012, law firms no longer need to present Stamp Duty certificates when the documents are lodged electronically with the Registry. Instead, law firms just need to provide the “Stamp Duty Certificate Reference” in the relevant section of the documents which they then lodge electronically.

This joint initiative by IRAS and SLA saves law firms time and provides greater convenience as law firms are now able to complete their legal requirement of submitting documents and Stamp Duty certification with a few mouse clicks using the Registry’s e-Lodgement system.

Mr Chye Kit Min, Senior Director of Real Estate and Conveyancing at Tan Peng Chin LLC, said, “Doing away with the manual submission of the Stamp Duty Certificate is a good development towards less paper work to make lodgement and registration easier. Any move towards streamlining is a good move in the right direction. This allows for a quicker response to our customers, for example to their banks for transactions that are dependent on the registration of the particulars of our clients’ mortgage.”