Stamp duty

Stamp duty is a tax that is levied on documents. Historically, this included the majority of legal documents such as cheques, receipts, military commissions, marriage licences and land transactions. A physical stamp (a revenue stamp) had to be attached to or impressed upon the document to denote that stamp duty had been paid before the document was legally effective. More modern versions of the tax no longer require an actual stamp.

The duty is thought to have originated in Spain, being introduced (or re-invented) in the Netherlands in the 1620s, France in 1651, Denmark in 1657, Prussia in 1682 and England in 1694.

The Australian Federal Government does not levy stamp duty. However, stamp duties are levied by the Australian states on various instruments (written documents) and transactions. Stamp duty laws can differ significantly between all 8 jurisdictions. The rates of stamp duty also differ between the jurisdictions (typically up to 5.5%) as do the nature of instruments and transactions subject to duty. Some jurisdictions no longer require a physical document to attract what is now often referred to as "transaction duty".

Major forms of duty include transfer duty on the sale of land (both freehold and leasehold), buildings, fixtures, plant and equipment, intangible business assets (such as goodwill and intellectual property) debts and other types of dutiable property. Another key type of duty is Landholder duty, which is imposed on the acquisition of shares in a company or units in a trust that holds land above a certain value threshold.

A temporary stamp duty was introduced in 1657 to finance the war with Sweden. It was made permanent in 1660 and remains on the statute book although it has been substantially altered. Most stamp duties were abolished from 1 January 2000 and the present act only provides for stamp duties on insurance policies. Stamp duties on land registration were renamed and transferred to a separate statute but remain essentially the same, i.e. 0.6% on deeds and 1.5% loans secured against real estate.

Stamp duty is approached by the European Commission regarding raising of capital (capital duty). Council Directive 69/335/EEC of 17 July 1969 concerning indirect taxes on the raising of capital stated that transactions subject to capital duty shall only be taxable in the Member State in whose territory the effective centre of management of a capital company is situated at the time when such transactions take place. When the effective centre of management of a capital company is situated in a third country and its registered office is situated in a Member State, transactions subject to capital duty shall be taxable in the Member State where the registered office is situated. When the registered office and the effective centre of management of a capital company are situated in a third country, the supplying of fixed or working capital to a branch situated in a Member State may be taxed in the Member State in whose territory the branch is situated.

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