The Rights of the Deceased: Moral Rights Incidental to Copyright Law
- Vanshika Agrawal
- 2024-04-25
Contents hide
2 Role & Importance of Stamp Papers
3 Procedure for Buying Stamp Papers
3.1 For paying stamp duty online, one can visit
5 Do all Agreements require Stamping?
Stamp duty is referred to as the tax payable on any transaction based on the execution of instruments or exchange of documents specified by the statute. The duty can either be fixed or ad valorem i.e. the duty varies based on what it is levied. A document is essentially a record of conditions upon which the parties have agreed. When such documents are said to be stamped or their stamp duty has been paid, they are considered authentic, legal documents. In India, the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 deals with the provision of stamp duty.
In India, essentially two types of stamps- impressed stamp and Adhesive stamp are used to stamp the document. Impressed stamps are stamps that are affixed and impressed by a proper officer, where the stamps are engraved on stamp paper. Generally, impressions by franking machines are done by the bank by the way of depositing the required amount of stamp duty with the banks.
Whereas Adhesive stamps are labels that are stuck on the documents. Adhesive stamps can further be divided into categories- postal and non-postal stamps. Where postal stamps are use for transactions only with respect to posting offices whereas non-postal stamps are use for various transactions like revenue stamp, court fee stamp, notarial stamp, banker’s note, etc. Stamp papers play an important role in various transactions as the stamping of a certain instrument or document is what makes that document legal, authentic. Where the court gives more weightage to the stamped documents than the non-stamped ones.
As per the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 stamp duty in India is levied generally on transactions like transfer of property, shares, debentures, promissory note, lease agreement, partnership deed, etc. where documents are not producible in court without proper stamping. [1] The basic purpose of stamp duty is to raise revenue for the Government. Since the revenues from a state’s stamp duty are assign to the respective state only, the state government has issue that stamps purchase in a particular state should be used for the execution of instruments in that state only. Stamp duty varies from one state to another as it is a state matter. [2]
These stamp duties and registration fees amount to a large portion of Government where in some states, stamp duties have amounted to almost one-third or one-fourth of tax revenues. For example, RBI in 2003 estimated that stamp duties & registration fees for all states amounted to Rs. 132,588 million in revenues i.e. 6.2% of total revenue. [3]
Today, in the modern era we have shifted from using classic stamp papers to e-stamp papers which are produced through a secure computer-based application. Everyone, in their life at one time or another would need judicial or non-judicial stamp paper for one or other transactions e.g. buying, selling, renting of property, affidavits, etc. Initially stamp paper could only be sell by license vendors or state treasury etc. where there was generally the issue of the denomination as not all denominations were available due to which many times, consumers were force to buy stamp papers sell at excessive prices.
To overcome these issues while maintaining a hassle-free service to all the consumers, the government-appointed Stock Holding Cooperation of India (SHCIL) as Central Record Keeping Agency (CRA) to overlook and maintain all such e-stamping applications. SHCIL for smooth functioning launched a website http://www.shcilestamp.com/ which contains all the essential information for its users. Around 22 states have started the facility of e-stamping where the states have an arrangement with SHCIL, where they pay a particular rate of commission to SCHIL, in exchange for their services. Authorized Collection Centres (ACC) are appointed by SCHIL which is authorize to issue e-stamps acting
as a middleman between CRA and stamp duty payer. Many banks act as ACC that open their branches across the State or Union Territories.
https://www.stockholding.com/ where they are require to choose the option of e-stamping
wherein depending on the state or UT, the services differ. Under SCHIL, the services are divide into three different categories namely:[4]
E-Court fee service can prevail when one is require to pay the court fee prescribed
under The Court Fees Act, 1870. This service is use to obtain judicial stamp paper.
E-Registration fee service can prevail when one is require to pay the registration fee for a particular instrument, where
in such instruments are describe under The Indian Registration Act, 1908. This service is use to obtain non-judicial stamp paper.
E-Stamp fee services can prevail when one is require to pay stamp duty prescribed under respective State Rules. This service is use to obtain non-judicial stamp paper.
To obtain any of the abovementioned services, one is require to fulfill the below-mentioned conditions:
The Indian Stamp Act, 1899 is a statue that contains all the provisions relating to stamp duty, some of which are mentioned below:
executed by the government for the purpose of special economic zones. Furthermore, the act also talks about how the valuation of the instrument takes place. The below-mentioned sections of the Act deal with Valuation of Instrument for levy of stamp duty[5]:
No, not all agreements are require to be stamp, agreements can be make on a stamp or non-stamp paper. Let’s discuss some of the situations where it is essential for an agreement to be stamp. E.g. Indian Contracts Act, 1872 doesn’t require the agreements to be compulsorily stamp wherein ICA accepts both stamp and
non-stamped agreements as valid and enforceable contracts. Hence, not all agreements are require to be stamp, even a non-stamp agreement is enforceable on signing parties.
As discussed above, stamping of agreement ensures validity, enforceability, admissibility in court where agreements can be register under The Indian Registration Act, 1908 which further ensure the enforceability of the agreement. Even though it is desire that all stamp agreements should be register, it is not a compulsion. There are certain agreements mention under the Indian Stamp Act, which are mandate to be stamp
but not mandate to be register. E.g. power of attorney, lease agreement, lease deed, memorandum of oral partition, etc. [6]
In today’s ramped corruption, a common mode of paying stamp duty is very essential where this system of paying stamp duties not only protects consumers from unnecessary harassment by ‘Babus’ but it also helps the government to maintain a proper record of revenue increasing the transparency in government. But only the establishment of the system is not enough, there is a need for awareness
where it is necessary that the users know and understand the system.[7]
[1] Srishti, What is Stamp duty and What are the types of Stamp duty? iPleaders. (January 19, 2021; 11:56 AM) https://blog.ipleaders.in/stamp-duty-types-of-stamp-duty/
[2] Ashish Gupta, Stamp duty a State subject, The Economic Times. (January 19, 2021; 3:45 PM) https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/stamp-duty-a-state-subject/articleshow/3008341.cms?from=mdr
[3] James Alm, Patricia Annez, and Arbind Modi, Stamp Duties in Indian States A Case for Reform, TaxIndiaOnline.com (January 18, 2021; 6:23 PM) https://taxindiaonline.com/RC2/pdfdocs/worldbank.pdf
[4] Uzair Ahmad Khan, How to Purchase Stamp Paper from the Website of SHCIL?, iPleaders, (January 20,2021; 11:25 AM). https://blog.ipleaders.in/purchase-stamp-paper-website-shcil/
[5] Diva Raj, Indian Stamp and Registration Act : Overview and Analysis, iPleaders. (January 20,2021; 8:45 PM). https://blog.ipleaders.in/indian-stamp-and-registration-act/
[6] Whether all Agreements should be on Stamp Paper and Registered – Legawise (January 20,2021; 11:25 AM). https://www.legawise.com/whether-all-agreements-should-be-on-stamp-paper-and-registered
[7] Uzair Ahmad Khan, How to Purchase Stamp Paper from the Website of SHCIL?, iPleaders, (January 20,2021; 11:25 AM). https://blog.ipleaders.in/purchase-stamp-paper-website-shcil/
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