Buying a property under a legal trust for your kids so you can dodge a hefty tax bill was a crafty bit of financial footwork until a year ago but it can turn into a costly own goal, as two parents have discovered.
They did what many families in Singapore did before a law change in May 2022: Use a trust to put the extra properties under their kids’ name as no Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) would be levied on such a transaction. Singaporeans have to pay such duty for second and subsequent properties.
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