Stamp duty 

Stamp duty is payable by all parties executing a document in relation to: (a) purchase and sale of a real property, (b) leasing of a real property, or (c) purchase and sale of company shares.  Real property means a land, a building, or part of a land and building. The duty rate for purchase and sale of a real property is as follows. 

Value of property	Duty  Rate
under $2,000,000	$100
$2,000, 001 to $2,351,760	$100 + 10% of excess over $2,000,000
$2,351,761 to $3,000,000	1.5%
$3,000,001 to $3,290,320	$45,000 + 10% of excess over $3,000,000
$3,290,321 to $4,000,000	2.25%
$4,000,001 to $4,428,570	$90,000 + 10% of excess over $4,000,000
$4,428,571 to $6,000,000	3%
$6,000,001 to $6,720,000	$180,000 + 10% of excess over $6,000,000
$6,720,001 to $20,000,000	3.75%
$20,000,001 to $21,739,120	$750,000 + 10% of excess over $20,000,000
over $21,739,120	4.25%

The duty rate for leasing of a real property is as follows. 

Length of lease	Duty  Rate
Less than 1 year	0.25% of the total rent
1 year to 3 years	0.5% of the yearly rent
more than 3 years	1%* of the yearly rent
Key money etc.	4.25% of the consideration
Duplicate or counterpart	$5 per copy

The duty rate on purchase or sale of private shares is 0.2% of the value of the transaction. For shares listed on stock exchange, the duty rate is 0.1% on the transaction value of bought note (payable by buyer) and 0.1% on sold note (payable by seller).  

All parties executing the documents are liable to pay stamp duty. But in practice, the stamp duty is usually shared equally between all the related parties: landlord and lessee, or buyer and seller. 

土地及樓宇的法律知識