Stamp duty can be paid legally without adjudication, on the basis of the Stamp Duty Ready Reckoner, online through the Government Receipt Accounting System/electronic Secure Bank & Treasury Receipt (GRAS/e-SBTR). Apart from these there are also various authorised stamp vendors from whom stamp paper of the required amount can be purchased and agreement made on them, which is another way of paying stamp duty. Stamp vendors sell stamp papers of face value up to Rs.10,000. However, documents stamped through this method cannot be registered and for that payment through GRAS/e-SBTR is mandatory.
Refund
Refund is granted on (i) spoiled paper, (ii) blank document, (iii) document executed but afterwards found to be unfit due to some reason and (iv) in some cases of documents executed and registered.
(a) In case of spoiled paper or blank document whether franked/e-SBTR/GRAS or on stamp paper, refund should be claimed within six months from the date of purchase of stamp paper or franked document/e-SBTR/GRAS.
(b) In case of document executed but afterwards found to be unfit due to some reason, refund should be claimed within six months from the date of purchase of stamp paper or franked document/ e-SBTR/GRAS.
(c) In case of agreement for sale of immovable property which is executed and registered but where such agreement is cancelled by a registered cancellation deed before taking possession of the property within a period of five years from the date of execution of agreement, for any reason, then the application may be made within 6 months from the date of registration of cancellation deed.
Application
An application for refund on a standard format should be submitted to the concerned Collector of Stamps office, along with the original document and an acknowledgement should be obtained. Standard format of refund application along with checklist/formats of other papers/affidavits/power of attorney required with application is available at concerned collector of stamps office.
Provisions
Refund is granted strictly as per the provisions of section 47 to 52A of The Maharashtra Stamp Act, 1958 and relevant rules and notification. Collector of Stamps are very strict with regards to refund and a mistake in any of the refund application paper will lead to rejection of refund hence one has to be very clear about the provisions of law. A certain percentage / amount is deducted from the full amount at the time of refund.
Can consultants reduce stamp duty?
Many people are under the impression that some consultants can help them in reducing the stamp duty. This can be done only by furnishing misleading information like wrong Gat No. / Survey No. / CTS No., less area of premises/flat, longer age of building and a building with a lift as not having a lift. This would prove to be very detrimental and harmful when, in future, they receive a notice from the department for under-valuation due to concealment of facts. Even a registered document can be reopened anytime within ten years from the date of registration and adjudicated documents within six years from the date of adjudication. Please note that writing misleading information in the agreement is an offence under the Stamp Act, which is punishable with fine and imprisonment.
(The writer is a valuer of real estate and co-author of Stamp Duty Ready Reckoner)
