In a landmark case, the High Court ordered the Commissioner of Stamp Duties to refund the S$986,965 in duty and late fees paid by the trustees of Chew How Teck Foundation in relation to a condominium unit it acquired in 2015, reported The Straits Times.
This comes after the founder of the foundation, upon his death, left a will that provided for a property in Chee Hoon Avenue for the use of his widow but with eventual ownership to Chew How Teck Foundation.
Consequently, a unit in Goodwood Residence condominium in Bukit Timah Road was acquired, with the Commissioner of Stamp Duties imposing the 15 percent ABSD on the S$6.56 million property.
In appealing the case, the lawyer for the trustees argued that the ABSD should not be imposed since the foundation is not an entity per se and is the one that would eventually inherit the property.
Counsel for the commissioner disputed the appeal, saying that those factually benefiting from the foundation’s charity works are the beneficial owners of the condominium unit, which in this case include Malaysian researchers and research institutes.
Judicial Commissioner Aedit Abdullah, however, said there is a difference between beneficial ownership and receiving a factual benefit from something.
“It goes against the very concept of a charitable trust to find that beneficial ownership is vested in factual beneficiaries of the charity,” he said.
“If that were the case, it should follow that all the persons factually benefiting could, if they so desired, get together and dispose the subject matter of the trust. But that is simply not the law.”
He explained that properties held by charitable purpose trust do not have “identifiable beneficial owners” for ABSD to apply.
This article was edited by Denise Djong.
