stamp duty amnesty scheme:The state government’s Stamp Duty Amnesty Scheme starting from December 1 that has a provision to waive penalty up to 400 per cent on registered or unregistered documents will help cooperative housing societies complete the process of Deemed Conveyance.Around 2.32 lakh stamp duty defaulters between 1980 and 2020 could get a relief from penalty if they cleared the dues in the next two months, a senior property registration department official said on Thursday.
The state cabinet had on November 29, decided to implement the scheme in Maharashtra between December 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024, wherein a provision has been made for exemption on stamp duty and penalty for registration of deeds executed from 1980 to 2020.Inspector General of Registrations and Controller of Stamps (IGR) Hiralal Sonawane had held a meeting with all the officials in the state to explain to them the modalities of implementing the scheme.
Maharashtra Stamp Duty Amnesty Scheme
The maximum defaulters are from Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Nagpur. The government is expected to earn around Rs3,000 crore if the citizens responded to the scheme and made the payment. The amnesty scheme will help people get a waiver on the penalty amount if they pay during the period announced by the state government. The payment period will be in two phases, from December 1 to January 31, 2024, and from February 1 to March 31.
Instances of the deficits came up when there was partial evasion of stamp duty at the time of executing and registering property documents by buyers. The penalty is levied when such cases of deficit stamp duty are reported during the audit. Subsequently, notices are issued.
The Maharashtra government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis declared the Maharashtra Mudrank Shulakh Abhay Yojana 2023 (stamp duty amnesty scheme) during a cabinet meeting held on Wednesday, November 23.
What is the amnesty scheme
Under this scheme, the Revenue department has allowed a complete waiver of the stamp duty fees and the penalty amount imposed following deferred payment for documents both registered and unregistered between January 1 1980 and December 2020.
“In respect of deeds executed between January 1, 1980 and December 31, 2020, but not filed or registered, the entire stamp duty and penalty payable to the Revenue department will be exempted under the Abhay Scheme,” a statement issued by the government said.
What necessitated the amnesty scheme
There are several agreements for sale, conveyance deeds and other documents that are not properly stamped as requested under the Maharashtra Stamp Act, 1958.As per section 34 of the Maharashtra Stamp Act, if insufficient stamp duty is paid on certain documents, they are not considered as evidence in the court of law.
In order to regularise such documents, the beneficiary of the documents need to pay not only the deficit stamp duty but also a penalty on the deficit amount at the rate of 2 per cent per month.The penalty amount may be up to 400 per cent of the stamp duty. Thus, it used to be a great burden on the people. Several people never paid the deficit duty on such documents, leading to revenue losses of the government.