How to Save Stamp Duty & Registration Charges
How to save stamp duty and registration charges is a tricky question. Before discussing the same, lets understand what is stamp duty. According to wikipedia, Stamp Duty is a tax that is levied on documents. At the time of transferring ownership of property i.e. Registering Sale Deed, the buyer need to pay stamp duty & registration charges to Govt. The Stamp duty and Registration Charges vary from state to state. Some states offer discount on Stamp Duty e.g. if the property is registered in the name of a woman then you can save stamp duty. In Delhi stamp duty to be paid is 6% but if the property is registered in the name of a woman then stamp duty to be paid is 4% of Total Sale Deed value. Thus you will save stamp duty to the extent of 2% of Sale Deed Value. For the benefit of readers, I am listing down the current stamp duty charges in various states. These charges are indicative and may change. Also some state govt levy different stamp duty charges for different areas like urban & rural.
Chandigarh: 0%
Gujarat: 3.5%
Uttarakhand: 4%
AP, J&K, Punjab, Haryana: 5%
Delhi, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Sikkim & All NE States: 6%
Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Goa, Odisha: 7%
Chhatisgarh: 7.5%
Rajasthan, MP, TN & Himachal Pradesh: 8%
It is mandatory to pay stamp duty as per the stamp duty valuation fixed by the Registrar of your area under the stamp duty act of your state. Registration Charges are over & above Stamp Duty and is levied @ 1% of Total Property Value as per sale deed. Now lets understand how to save stamp duty and Registration charges with the help of following example.
Mr A is buying a 1000 sq ft flat in Delhi for Rs 1 Cr. Here 1 Cr is Market value of the flat. Now the sale agreement should be executed for total amount i.e. 1 Cr but you can save stamp duty by registering the property at circle rate or govt guidance value. Circle Rate or Govt Guidance Value is the minimum value at which the property can be registered. In laymen terms Govt Guidance Value or Circle Rate is the market value of property as per State Govt. It is always lower then the existing market value of property. In this example, Circle Rate or Govt Guidance value is Rs 6500 psf therefore according to Govt the Circle Rate or Govt Guidance Value of the property is 65 Lacs whereas actual market value is 1 Cr.
By registering the property at Circle Rate or Guidance value you can save substantial amount in stamp duty & registration charges. If you register the property @ 1 Cr then you will be paying 6 lac as stamp duty & 1 Lac as Registration charges in Delhi therefore total payout is 7 lac for registration.
In order to save stamp duty, you decided to pay stamp duty and registration charges @ Guidance Value or Circle Rate then you will register the property @ 67 Lacs (65 Lacs as Circle Rate + 2 Lac for Car Parking). It is mandatory to include Car Parking charges in Circle Rate or Guidance Value to arrive at final registration value. Therefore stamp duty to be paid is 4.02 Lac and Registration Charges of 0.67 Lacs. Total Payout is 4.69 Lacs.
Total saving on stamp duty and registration charges in this case is equal to 7 Lac – 4.69 Lac = 2.31 Lac.
Now 2 big questions, to save stamp duty you will register the property at guidance value or circle rate but (a) How to convince the Seller for same & (b) How will you show the transaction of balance 33 Lacs i.e. 1 Cr – 67 Lacs.
Answer is if the seller agree to register property at Guidance Value or Circle Rate then he will save on Capital Gain Tax therefore he will not mind registering property at circle rate or guidance value. Regarding transaction of balance 33 Lacs, as the Sale agreement is signed for 1 Cr & property is registered for 67 lacs. Buyer can sign another agreement with seller which is called Deed of Transfer of Rights (DOTOR). Balance transaction of 33 Lacs can be shown in DOTOR, which will complete the financial transaction. I will discuss about DOTOR in more detail in my next article.
The only flip side of registering property at Guidance Value / Circle Rate to save stamp duty is that some Home Loan Providers like SBI will only provide Home Loan of upto 80% of Sale Deed Value not the Sale Value e.g. In this case if buyer avail home loan from SBI then SBI will provide maximum loan of 53.6 Lac i.e. 80% of 67 Lacs (excluding stamp duty & registration charges). Whereas in case of other lenders like HDFC, loan will be 80% of Sale Agreement Value i.e. 80% of 1 Cr = 80 Lacs as Home Loan.
This method to save stamp duty is very much legal and you can save good amount of money for your home furnishing ;)
