Stamp Duty duplication

[angiewh1]

Good Morning

I am currently buying a property, off plan,in Cyprus. All seemed to be going well but we are a little confused as being asked to pay 2 x Stamp Duty - is this correct?

The house is €169000, we have paid a deposit leaving a mortgage of €152000. We paid the solicitor €223 stamp duty but are now being asked to pay €259.76 Stamp duty to the Mortgage Company (Emporiki)without much explanation - up to now I am not signing the paperwork.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Angie Whitehorn

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi Angie and welcome to the forum.

It's a public holiday here today, so I expect Louise is taking a well-earned break.

Here's some information on the subject of Stamp Duty from PricewaterhouseCoopers. You can read the whole document at http://www.pwc.com/cy/eng/ins-sol/publ/ ... ngCom1.pdf

"Under the Stamp Duty legislation of Cyprus, stamp duty is imposed on documents referring to assets in Cyprus, or matters or things that will be done in Cyprus irrespective of where the documents are signed. Therefore, if there is no document, no stamp duty arises. Stamp duty rates are as follows:

• Stamp duty on agreements that do not include values on which stamp duty can be calculated - C£20 (in case where the Commissioner of Stamp Duty can determine the value, he can still seek to apply Stamp Duty)
  
  Stamp duty on agreements (Contracts/Loan agreements) - between 0.15% - 0.20%

The duty is payable within 30 days after signing the agreement. A penalty charge of 10% applies if payment is not made within the due period, and up to 6 months. This penalty rises to 20% for periods of more than 6 months."

So it looks as if the Stamp Duty you're now being asked to pay is for the mortgage agreement you have with the Emporiki.

The original €223 would have been the Stamp Duty due on your contract of sale.

Regards,