Hello,

I recently bought land and am concerned that I paid too much for transfer tax (stamp duty) and I paid $700 per title that I'm not sure what for. So can someone first explain the $700 per title fee? The titles were already hard title, actually the newer version with GPS coordinates. The stamp duty I paid 4% on the purchase price which I now realize was a mistake. It seems that I need to find out the land valuation number from the Ministry of Economy and Finance and multiply that by 4%. Am I on the right track now? Thanks

So you're calling the $700 fee a "hard title transfer fee"? That was one of my questions, if that was a legit fee or not. $700 per title (7 titles) and total land was about 2.2 hectares.

This land was 7 different sellers (simple minded and easily spooked) and difficult to pull off so i agreed to pay the taxes.

I put the land in 2 trusted friends names. We are all working together as a charity. Can I afford to lose it, yes, it would not hurt me financially.

So, the only thing no one has clarified or commented on is the 4% stamp duty on "MEF land valuation" vs purchase price.

Hmm, my conclusion was lawyer fees on 7 titles was more than the tax.

Thanks for the feedback.

As YaTingPom said, seller is the one who pays all the fees usually (stamp duty, title transfer fee, agent fees and possible lawyer fee). Only if you had your own lawyer working on the deal, then in then that case you would pay his fees.