The Seychelles government has made new amendments to the Stamp Duty Exemption Act that will allow those in a position to buy their own houses can do so. 

The director general for the domestic and international tax policy division, Seylina Joymon, told reporters on Tuesday that the main aim for the amendments incorporated was to "ensure that we are always in line with what exists the market at the moment, and we also want to encourage individuals to take it on themselves to go and build their own house."

She said this is because there is now a consideration of partial exemption for first-time owners.

"If two or more individuals purchase a single property together, they would have divided share. We do consider those of them that do not own any property, so they would be considered first time owners and they will benefit from the stamp duty exemption," explained Joymon.

In this case, the exemption will be based on the proportion of the ownership of the first-time owner, however, Joymon explained that the exemption is only valid if the property is valued at less than SCR3 million ($224,327).

According to the amendment, in such purchasing agreements, those who have owned property in the past will have to pay the stamp duty.

The applicable Stamp Duty is currently 5 percent of the market value of the property, which means if the property costs $100,000, the stamp duty would be $5,000.

The second major amendment in the Stamp Duty Act concerns the issue of matrimonial property.

Joymon said that in situations where the undivided share is not 50 percent, "what we have considered this time around is that the exemption will be based on the proportion of the ownership."

It was furthermore amended to keep abreast with changes in the civil code, which now recognises domestic partnerships. This is when a couple has been living together for a number of years without getting married.

In line with the new amendments, applicants must now provide evidence of a domestic relationship, normally an affidavit, to also benefit from the exemption.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance is processing refunds to applicants who were unaware of the amendments and made their Stamp Duty payments.

"We are now considering refunds to be made for a period of four years, so for anyone who pays a Stamp Duty and for some reason or another were unaware of the exemption order that exists, they have four years down the line for them to claim for them to claim their refund from the Ministry of Finance," said Joymon.

Those who have paid the Stamp Duty for the period from September 2019, when the Stamp Duty order was gazetted, up until August 21, 2022, have four years from the day which falls on July 28, 2028, to claim their refunds.

Those who made payments between September 1, 2022, and July 29, 2024, will have four years from the day that the Stamp Duty was paid. According to the Ministry of Finance's figures, there were 341 applications for Stamp Duty exemption among which 28 were not approved.