The property buyers from Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Nashik, where the metro projects are being implemented, will have to pay 1% metro cess in addition to 5% stamp duty on sale, gift and mortgage documents executed from April 1, 2022. However, those documents executed by March 31 this year will not attract 1% metro cess in these cities as the government had provided relief in stamp duty for two years from April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2022.
In the case of Mumbai, where the government is pursuing the development of a metro rail network of over 300 km, the revenue mobilization through metro cess will be approximately Rs 1,000 crore in fiscal 2022-23. According to the revenue department, the stamp duty collection from Mumbai alone is worth Rs 7,000 crore annually. In the rest of the cities, the government expects to mop up a total of Rs 900 crore through metro cess.
The government on Thursday issued the clarification to remove the ambiguity with regard to whether the payment of metro cess to be applicable for documents executed before March 31 which are going to be registered in April. With today’s clarification, the government has made it amply clear that the metro cess payment will be applicable for the documents executed from April 1 this year.
A revenue department official told the Free Press Journal, ‘’Due to confusion among the property buyers there was a huge rush at the registration offices across these cities. The department has taken a decision to keep the registration offices open on Saturday also.’’
