Zhitong Finance App learned that on October 14, the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of Hong Kong, Mr Hui Ching-yu, moved for the second reading of the “Stamp Duty (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2026” at the Legislative Council meeting. The Bill aims to implement the 2026-2027 Budget recommendations and relax the stamp duty relief criteria for asset transfers within linked corporate bodies.
Xu Zhengyu pointed out that according to the current “Stamp Duty Regulations”, whether the two corporate bodies are linked mainly depends on whether one of them owns 90% or more of the other party's issued share capital. In order to meet the development of commercial operating models, the Hong Kong Government proposes to relax the relevant guidelines in two areas:
The first is to expand the scope of linked certification. In determining whether the two corporate bodies are linked, in addition to the issued share capital, other direct or indirect beneficial interests and voting rights will also be taken into account. This means that qualified limited liability partnerships and guarantee companies with no share capital can also benefit.
The second is to lower the shareholding threshold. The relevant equity holding percentage requirement was lowered from 90% to 75%.
The above proposed measures will reduce the cost of transferring properties or securities within the enterprise and facilitate the flexible restructuring or expansion of the enterprise's business. If the Bill is passed, the relaxed guidelines will apply to documents signed on or after February 25, 2026 (that is, the date of publication of this year's Budget).
Hui Ching-yu said that members of parliament are urged to support the Bill and implement this measure to help optimize Hong Kong's business environment and maintain the competitiveness of the tax system.