In the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important that the documents can be executed and at the same time be valid in court. It goes without saying that electronic agreements are valid in the courts and are also responsible for stamp duty. E-contracts encourage different parties around the world to enter into a contract while being legally valid. E-stamping helps reduce corruption and improve transparency. Nevertheless, there could be technical failures for parties executing an agreement using an electronic stamp, which could be a major challenge for the implementation of an agreement. National legislation can be flexible for collecting late payment fees. There are also some states that need to be more important for e-treaties and electronic stamps. And in rural areas, people still do not have sufficient knowledge of technology, which is why it would be difficult in rural areas to adapt to this electronic footprint. It could also be a challenge for legislators and government agencies. How to avoid/reduce stamp duty was one of the topics discussed recently at a seminar on real estate organized by the law firm Reddy Charlton McKnight.
Parties who enter into an electronic stamp agreement must complete a form with the amount of stamp duty payable at an approved collection centre under which the electronic marking certificate would be established. Stamp duty can be paid in cash, draft application or via rtgs or NEFT. The authenticity of an electronic stamp can be verified online. These are the documents on which the Union or the central government collects a stamp duty. In addition, national governments may also impose taxes on certain documents. In the pandemic crisis, paper warehouse options are excluded from impressed stamps and the use of a frankier machine, as most suppliers are not in service. But not all states have all the options mentioned above. However, the states that have all three options are legally enforceable. « In many cases, it is possible to structure a transaction in such a way as to avoid stamp duty. » According to Mr. Marren, such a possibility is a partial sale.
He said: « The sale of many types of property, including land, is not subject to contract, but only when transport is carried out. For this reason, an effective method of deferring/avoiding liability for the stamp is to maintain the sale at the contract stage and to postpone the transfer for the sale of the property through a partial sale. In this COVID-19 situation, it is known that no commercial transactions are pending. The exporters of the agreement prefer to execute the documents with their physical presence, but today, with the need to follow the social denalion, the execution of physical presence agreements creates chaos and creates difficulties in the execution of documents. As far as the duty of the state is concerned, it generally varies from state to state. Nevertheless, there is a general pattern that is followed. Let`s take a look, for example, at the stamp duty imposed by the Karnataka government. Apart from the above documents, the Karnataka government imposes a stamp duty: under the Indian Stamp Act of 1899, stamp duty must be paid as a measure to record and track all transactions. Therefore, stamp duty works almost as evidence of the conclusion of the agreement and that it took place. It is a valid legal person in court as evidence in the event of a dispute. The last change to the Indian Stamp Act came in 2016 in the form of debt recovery from the 2016 Act. If you are buying a new property or selling an investment, then stamp duty is definitely something you need to know.