Stamp Duty is administered under the Stamp Duty Act, 2005 (Act 689). It is not a tax on transactions, but on documents brought into being for the purposes of recording transactions. It is therefore a tax on documents or specific instruments which have legal effect.

Duty is imposed on the wide range of instruments listed in the first schedule to the law. For example, there are stamp duty implications whenever any interest in landed property (or buildings) is transferred, a trustee is appointed, a power of attorney is given, property is mortgaged etc. Documents not listed in the first schedule are not dutiable. Example, a Will.