STSM053020 - Depositary receipt and clearance services: 1.5 per cent higher rate charge: Stamp Duty - relevant securities

For the purposes of 1.5 per cent stamp duty charges under FA86/S67(1) & (2) and FA86/S70(1) & (2), ‘relevant securities’, or ‘relevant securities of a company’, are defined in FA86/S69(3) and FA86/S72(1) as shares in, or stock or marketable securities of any company (which, unless otherwise stated, need not to be incorporated in the United Kingdom (UK)).

While a 1.5 per cent stamp duty charge can therefore arise under the provisions of SA1891/S14(4), in respect of shares in a company which is incorporated anywhere in the world, the 1.5 per cent charge is usually restricted to shares of a company incorporated in the UK.

The provisions of SA1891/S122 define:

• ‘Stock’ - as including any share in any stocks or funds transferable at the Bank of England or at the Bank of Ireland; any strip (within the meaning of FA42/S47) of any such stocks and funds; any share in the stocks or funds of any foreign or colonial state or government, or in the capital stock or funded debt of any county council, corporation, company, or society in the UK, or of any foreign or colonial corporation, company, or society;
• ‘Marketable security’ - as a security of such a description as to be capable of being sold in any stock market in the United Kingdom.

See STSM151010 for information on SA1891/S14(4).