State finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar announced 90% waiver on stamp duty penalties till August on Tuesday to encourage defaulter housing societies and flat owners to pay up their dues. He said a sizeable number of people had responded positively to such an amnesty scheme last year.
It may be recalled that several flat owners in housing societies who have bought or sold their apartments must pay penalties for a delay in stamp duty payment. In Mumbai alone, 7,000 property owners have aired their desire to pay penalty under this amnesty scheme. Also, lakhs of housing societies are to get ownership of land under the conveyance deed scheme.
Stamp duty is charged at a standard 5% across Maharashtra and an additional 1% as surcharge for Mumbai property buyers. While the stamp duty is payable as per that year’s rate, the mounting penalty over it will get largely waived. Around Rs 5,000 crore duty and fees are reportedly pending across the state with Rs 500 crore in Mumbai city alone. “Even if we get 10% of it, it will be a big addition,” said an senior official at the office of stamp duty and registration.
Cooperatives expert Ramesh Prabhu welcomed the move and appealed to members to benefit from the scheme by producing original documents and proof of making payment. He said this time, perhaps due to poor publicity, the response to the scheme is not very enthusiastic.
In 2018, the assembly had approved an increase of 1% to the stamp duty on conveyance deeds in rural and peri-urban areas. Moreover, the stamp duty on conveyance deeds in gram panchayat areas is now set at four per cent of the land value in the amendment, up from the three per cent. The stamp duty in peri-urban areas governed by municipal councils was also increased to 5% from 4%. Similarly, dealers whose tax liability does not exceed Rs 25,000 though turnover exceeds Rs 1 crore need not get their accounts audited.