Maharashtra Govt announces stamp duty amnesty scheme

Maharashtra Government on Wednesday announced the stamp duty amnesty scheme whereby property purchasers who did not pay stamp duty on purchase agreements can regularise the sale by paying duty with a nominal penalty. Under the scheme, flat-owners who did not pay stamp duty on their home-purchase agreements will get a chance to regularise their purchase by paying up the stamp duty within a specific time-frame. Announcing the Stamp Duty Amnesty Scheme 2008, a senior official today said that under this scheme, anyone who has evaded paying duty can pay up the amount along with a nominal penalty. Property conveyance cannot be executed unless stamp duty is paid on flat-purchase agreements, which leads to problems later, specially when owners wish to redevelop their buildings. Besides that, getting bank loans against such properties also becomes difficult. Those willing to benefit from amnesty scheme, will not have to pay the penalty which starts from two per cent per month. Instead, a penalty of Rs 500 would be levied if the stamp duty paid is below Rs 25,000 and Rs 1000 if the stamp duty paid is above Rs 25,000. Stamp duty is the second highest revenue source for the Maharashtra government. In Mumbai alone Rs 6,500 crore was collected from 1.5 lakh stamp duty registrations in 2007. The amnesty scheme would be applicable only for residential properties. This is the fourth Stamp Duty Amnesty scheme, the earlier one was announced in 2005. By Ms.Bobby Aanand, Metropolitan Jury.

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