Govt proposes repealing Indian Stamp Act, seeks public input on draft Bill

The Indian Stamp Act, 1899 lays down the legal provisions for tax levied in the form of stamps on instruments recording transactions. Stamp duties are levied by the central government, but within the states are collected and appropriated by the concerned states in terms of provisions of Article 268 of the Constitution.

The stamp duties on documents specified in entry 91 of the union list of the Seventh Schedule including bills of exchange, cheques, promissory notes, bills of lading, letters of credit, policies of insurance, transfer of shares, debentures, proxies and receipts) are levied by the Union. Other stamp duties on documents are levied and collected by the states.

The Indian Stamp Act, 1899, a pre-Constitution Act, has been amended from time to time to enable a more modern stamp duty regime, the ministry said. “However, a number of provisions contained in the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 have become redundant/ inoperative and hence, there is a need to re-orient the Indian Stamp Act, 1899. Accordingly, it has been proposed that the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 is repealed and a new legislation is enacted to reflect the present realities and objectives,” it said.

The draft ‘Indian Stamp Bill, 2023’ has been uploaded on the website of ‘D/o Revenue’ [https://dor.gov.in/stamp-duty/] for inviting suggestions from the public in the prescribed proforma within a period of 30 days.