Stamp Duty Rates To Stay, Says State

Stamp Duty Rates To Stay, Says State 13 Feb 2009, 0158 hrs IST, TNN Text: MUMBAI: After dithering for over a month, the revenue department, led by senior Congress minister Patangrao Kadam, has dropped the proposal to revise the stamp duty on real estate transactions. "We had received a series of proposals from a section of builders and the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI), asking us to reconsider the existing stamp duty rates in view of the fall in real estate prices. Kadam had even heard the builders' view. But now, it appears that the government is no mood to reduce the stamp duty,'' a senior revenue department official said. The revenue department decides the amount of stamp duty on real estate transactions for a particular year on the basis of the ones carried out in the previous year. Accordingly, the registrar of stamp duty issues a statement of ready reckoner for charging stamp duty on real estate transactions on January 1 every year. "In the current year, we will levy a stamp duty according to the ready reckoner rates promulgated on January 1, 2008,'' the official said. Chavan and Kadam had asked the revenue department to study the memorandum and submit a report. "We studied the pros and cons of the proposal and concluded that there was no need to reduce the existing stamp duty rates. However, the issue was still open for Chavan and Kadam,'' the official said. The official said the ready reckoner rates prescribed by the revenue department were lower than the real estate rates of private builders. "In some areas, the ready reckoner rate was Rs 10,000 per sq ft, and the one prescribed by private builders was Rs 30,000 per sq ft. After the slump, it has come down to Rs 18,000 to Rs 22,000 per sq ft. Despite the slowdown, the rates prescribed by builders are still higher than the ready reckoner rates,'' he said. The official added that since the government was facing resource crunch following the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission report, it was unlikely to slash stamp duty.

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