BANGALORE: The delay in appointing 900 employees for the Stamps and Registration Department has been depriving the state exchequer an opportunity to get more than Rs 1,000 crore untapped income per year since 2006.To increase revenue and improve efficiency among department officials, the committee, led by the then Additional Chief Secretary Vijay Gore, had asked the government to recruit around 900 employees, including first division clerks and stenographers in 2006.The 900 employees were supposed to assist the officials in verifying stamp duty paid for rental and lease agreements.However, the recommendation remained in cold storage for reasons best known to the authorities concerned. "We badly needed additional staff. The number of employees is not on par with the work load in our department," says an official of the Stamps and Registration Department (on conditions of anonymity).To ensure compliance with the Stamps and Registration Act and detect stamp duty evasion, the state government had sanctioned 14 subregistrar posts for the enforcement wing of the department in 2008 itself.However, no effort has been made to recruit the subregistrars even after three years. It is learnt that the post of Deputy Inspector General has also been vacant for many years."The new Deputy Inspector General is expected to assume office in a week. The process of recruiting 14 subregistrars will begin as soon as the Deputy Inspector General assumes office," says a source from the department.Regarding stamp duty on lease agreements, and if everything goes as per the plan, around 10 lakh businessmen, 5 lakh businessmen in Bangalore, and lakhs of property owners, who entered lease or rental agreements, have to pay stamp duty at 0.50 per cent shortly.The stamp duty will be calculated based on annual rent plus advance amount paid at the time of entering agreement for more than a year.Agreements for residential purpose for less than a year are exempted from stamp duty of Rs 500.State Stamps, Registration Department has 900 vacancieIf everything goes as per plan, around 10 lakh businessmen, 5 lakh
businessmen in Bangalore and lakhs of property owners, who entered lease
or rental agreements, have to pay stamp duty at 0.50 per cent shortly. The
stamp duty on lease agreements: 0.5 per cent for less than one year, 1
per cent between one year to 10 years and 2 per cent between 10 years
and 20 years. For example, if the rent is Rs 10,000 per month and
the advance is Rs 1 lakh, the total amount liable for stamp duty is Rs 2.20
lakh (Rs 1 lakh advance plus Rs 1.20 lakh rental per annum). The person who
enters into an agreement has to buy Rs 1,100 worth of stamp papers as per
the Section 17 of Stamps and Registration Act 1957. How it worksThough
it is mandatory to pay 0.50 per cent stamp duty on agreements and
advance amount paid for the buildings rented for shops and commercial
establishments, it is also important to pay Rs 500 stamp duty on
agreements made by dwellers using the building for residential purpose. If
any dispute arises between the tenant and the houseowner, the latter
had to pay 10 times of the stamp duty before filing an appeal in the
court for justice. For example, if a houseowner bought stamp papers
worth Rs 200, he/she has to pay Rs 3,000 stamp duty before filing an appeal. Details of licencesThe
Stamps and Registration Department is already in talks with Bruhat
Bangalore Mahanagara Palike to provide details of trade licences issued
by the latter. "We are expecting Rs 500 crore of stamp duty from
the trade licences. Most of them might have paid less stamp duty than
specified by the Act," said B Shivappa, Inspector General of
Registration and Commissioner of Stamps.Earlier, the stamp duty was five per cent. The state government has reduced it 0.50 per cent in 2010. Meanwhile,
the Stamps and Registration Department has a plan to create awareness
among the public on the importance of paying stamp duty as per the Act.
Comments
0 comment