What Has Changed?
The Finance Act, 2026 amended Section 96A of the Stamp Duty Act to include instruments used to transfer a beneficial interest in property to a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT).
What Is a Beneficial Interest?
A beneficial interest refers to the rights or benefits a person enjoys in a property, even where legal ownership is held differently.
What Does This Mean?
The amendment extends the relevant stamp-duty relief to instruments whose effect is to transfer a beneficial interest in property from one or more persons to a REIT.
This supports REIT property-transfer structures by extending the relevant relief to qualifying transfers of beneficial interests. The actual relief remains dependent on whether the transaction meets the applicable legal requirements.
Practical point: Parties involved in a proposed REIT property transfer should review the legal structure and supporting documentation before relying on stamp-duty relief.
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