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Business and commercial law

Trading lawfully in Papua New Guinea: choosing a structure, registering it, paying tax, getting licensed — and what a seller owes a customer.

This topic covers both sides of the counter. For people starting or running a business, the registration and compliance steps that keep it lawful. For customers, the rules governing what a trader may do and how to complain. The topic also carries a ten-part series on stamp duty. It now also hosts the associations series: fifty-five questions and answers on the Associations Incorporation Act 2023.

New series: Associations

Incorporating a church, club, NGO, landowner group or community association under the Associations Incorporation Act 2023: public benefit and member benefit associations, the notice of intention and objections, rules, committee members’ duties and offences, members’ rights, accounts, annual returns and audits, amalgamation, removal and restoration, winding up, overseas associations, the Registrar’s powers, re-registration and the draft Regulation. Browse the 55 questions → or download the prescribed forms in Word and PDF.

What Is Stamp Duty, and Who Has to Pay It?

A tax on documents. Which instruments are chargeable, who bears the duty, and the 60-day deadline. Opens a ten-part series.

Stamp duty FAQ, part 1 · 5 min read
What Stamp Duty Is Payable on a Lease?

Rates by term length, the jump at five years, and the refund on early determination.

Stamp duty FAQ, part 3 · 5 min read
Is There Stamp Duty on Transferring Shares?

1% ordinarily, but land-holding shares are taxed on the property scale.

Stamp duty FAQ, part 4 · 5 min read
Which Stamp Duties Have Been Abolished?

Seven duties removed in 2008, and why Schedule 1 still prints them.

Stamp duty FAQ, part 5 · 5 min read
What Happens If I Do Not Stamp a Document?

An offence, compounding penalty duty, and a document you cannot use in court.

Stamp duty FAQ, part 6 · 5 min read
How Is Stamp Duty Assessed, and Can I Object?

Assessment, amendment, the 30-day objection and the 60-day appeal.

Stamp duty FAQ, part 7 · 5 min read
Is There Stamp Duty on a Gift or an Inheritance?

Gifts are dutiable; estate transfers to beneficiaries are exempt.

Stamp duty FAQ, part 8 · 5 min read
Can I Get a Refund of Stamp Duty?

When a refund arises, and the 12-month limit that ends the right.

Stamp duty FAQ, part 9 · 5 min read
Splitting a Deal to Reduce Duty

Section 16A, the void-instrument rules, and transactions done without a document.

Stamp duty FAQ, part 10 · 5 min read