CAYMAN STAMP DUTY UPDATE

Wednesday April 7th, 2021

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UPDATE: STAMP DUTY SAVINGS DEADLINE

In spite of the COVID 19 pandemic resulting in our borders being closed for over a year, the real estate market in Cayman continues to grow at a significant rate, with record sales and new developments being at an all-time high.

Many developers in Cayman are marketing the sale of their new developments by encouraging purchasers to take advantage of stamp duty savings prior to 30 June 2021. Surely it sounds too good to be true. However, it is not! The genesis of these stamp duty savings derived from the guidance received from The Lands and Survey Department which permits purchasers to benefit from stamp duty savings on the assignment of qualifying purchase agreements provided that the qualifying purchase agreement is assigned to them prior to 30 June 2021. A qualifying purchase agreement refers to an agreement for the purchase of any land or strata title executed prior to 1 January 2020 on which ad valorem stamp duty has been (or will be) paid at the prevailing rate (generally 7.5%).

Purchasers therefore derive stamp duty benefits from the assignment of purchase agreements in these developments or otherwise where the agreements were executed prior to 1st January 2020.

The following table sets out the guidelines for stamp duty payable on the assignment of qualifying purchase agreements.

Standard Duty Rates

Document	Stamp Duty on Assignment of the Qualifying Purchasing Agreement	Stamp Duty payable on the Transfer of Land
The assignment of a qualifying purchase agreement on or before 30th June 2021 with no premium.	CI$200	0% Stamp Duty paid on Qualifying Purchase Agreement shall be applied to conveyance.
The assignment of a qualifying purchase agreement on or before 30th June 2021 with a premium.	7.5% of Premium	0% Stamp Duty paid on Qualifying Purchase Agreement shall be applied to the conveyance.
The assignment of a qualifying purchase agreement after 30th June 2021 with no premium.	CI$200	7.5% Of TOTAL consideration or Market Value, whichever is higher, of the conveyance
The assignment of a qualifying purchase agreement after 30th June 2021 with a premium.	CI$200	7.5% Of TOTAL consideration or Market Value, whichever is higher, of the conveyance

The deadline to submit assignments to Lands and Survey is on or before 31 August 2021. All assignments of qualifying purchase agreements must be certified by a Justice of Peace or Notarized by a Notary Public.

If you require further information, please contact:

Francine Bryce francine.bryce@bransens.com or Jo-Anne Stephens at jo-anne.stephens@bransens.com

Please note that this briefing is intended to provide a very general overview of the matters to which it relates and is not intended as legal advice and should not be relied upon as such.