Can a Company Pay the Stamp Duty on the Transfer of Its Own Shares?

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In practice, I have seen requests for a target company to bear the stamp duty on the transfer of its own shares from the seller to the purchaser.

It may seem commercially convenient, especially where the parties are friendly or related.

However, this raises a question.

๐˜๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜บ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ง๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฒ๐˜ถ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด?

This may give rise to financial assistance issues under section 123 of the Companies Act 2016.

It is a point easily overlooked, especially in friendly deals, but one that should be considered carefully when structuring the transaction.

This post was first posted onย LinkedIn on 11 April 2026.

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