Andhra govt says brokers not paying stamp duty

Writes to exchange on loss of revenue

The Andhra Pradesh Government has written to complain of brokers failing to deposit stamp duty which is to be paid to the state government.

It sent a letter to the BSE earlier this month on the same.

“The Exchange is in receipt of letter dated 7th March, 2014 from Registration and Stamps Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh, inter-alia, informing that proper stamp duty on the Note or Memorandum sent by the Broker in respect of purchase/sale of shares/marketable security is not being remitted by some parties into the Government Treasury causing loss of legitimate revenue due to the government in this regard,” said a notice on the exchange website, on Friday.

It added that there is a stamp duty of 0.005% (fifty paise for every Rs. 10,000 or part thereof)  under Article 38 of Schedule IA to the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 which is applicable to the State of Andhra Pradesh.

All entities residing in the state and party to such transactions have been asked to pay the duty.

Brokers have previously raised issues relating to a non-uniform rate of taxation with regard to stamp duty. Different states charge different amounts, and also have different criteria for deciding which state government is to be paid the required taxes. In some cases, it depends on the state the client resides in, in other it depends on where the broker’s office is located.

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