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Written by: Zhu Dixin
2021-01-06 15:22
Last update date: 2021-01-06 15:23
In 2013, a female buyer bought a residential property on behalf of another Hong Kong citizen for more than $7 million.
Although both the female buyer and the beneficial holder are permanent residents of Hong Kong, the Inland Revenue Department alleged that the female buyer did not act for herself and collected buyer stamp duty on her, which involved about 1.07 million yuan.
The female buyer claimed that this action violated the Basic Law and applied for judicial review. She applied to the court for permission for review earlier. The judge today (6th) issued a sentence stating that the purpose of introducing buyer's stamp duty is not only to order Hong Kong People can buy homes first and at the same time curb the overheating of the property market. This can also reduce the number of Hong Kong people looking for others to buy properties on their behalf. Therefore, they believe that female buyers have no reasonable arguable grounds and refuse to grant judicial review permission.
The applicant is Huang Yonghua (transliteration), and the respondent is the Director of Stamp Taxation.
Huang bought a residential property on Kwun Tong Road in 2013 for about 7.18 million yuan.
She later wrote to the department and asked her to purchase the property on behalf of others.
However, the department believes that although the beneficial owners of Wong Ho's properties are all permanent residents of Hong Kong, she does not act on her behalf when she buys the property. Therefore, she has to pay buyer's stamp duty, which is 15% of the property price, which is about 1.07 million yuan.
Refers to policies affecting Hong Kong people's right to home ownership
The judge stated in his ruling that Huang had appealed to the District Court against the Department’s practice, but it was rejected.
Huang then applied to the Court of Appeal for permission to appeal, and the Court of Appeal held that the dispute raised by Huang should be handled through judicial review.
Huang Sui applied for judicial review in the middle of last year.
The current practice of the Huang Dispute Department has affected the protection of the rights of Hong Kong people to purchase properties under the Basic Law, and it is not in proportion to the policy objectives.
Official pointed out that the policy is also to reduce Hong Kong people looking for others to buy properties
However, the judge believes that the purpose of introducing a buyer's stamp duty is not only to give Hong Kong people a priority in home ownership, but also to curb the overheating of the property market.
Buyer's stamp duty can reduce Hong Kong people looking for others to buy properties on their behalf, thereby reducing the demand for the property market. Therefore, he believes that Huang has no chance of winning. At the same time, the application has serious delays. In the end, he decided to refuse to approve the review permission, and Huang also had to pay the agency's costs.
Case number: HCAL 1479/2020
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