STAMP DUTY EVADED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16230, 16 May 1916, Page 5

STAMP DUTY EVADED.

WARNING TO LAND AGENTS.

PROVISIONS OF NEW ACT,

" Laxd agents and others 'who deliberately disregard the provisions of the Finance Act, 1915, will find themselves in serious trouble," said His Honor Mr. Justice Cooper at the Supreme Court yesterday, pis Honor's 'remarks -were made in the course of the hearing of a case of alleged trespass and wrongful seizure of furniture, in connection with which it was stated that the stamp duty on certain agreements to transfer a property did not appear to have been paid so far, as required by the. Act. His Honor said every agreement" in writing for the sale of any land should be charged with the same ad valorem duty —which should be paid by tfre purchaser—as if it were an actual conveyance Dn ., fc he sale of the land agreed to be sold. That meant that if A owned the lana and he sold it to B, who in turn, sold it to C, who completed a fourth transaction by selling the property to D, each of the agreements or transactions should bear stamp duty to the extent of 20s per £100. Under the old system, all that -was necessary was to affix a Is stamp to each agreement and stamp duty on the conveyance only. The new Act brought into operation in 1915 laid down that every agreement for the sale, subsale, or transfer of land was liable to stamp duty, just the same as the conveyance. His Honor added that recently a good many attempts to evade stamp duty had come under his notice, and it was tjhe duty of the Court to endeavour to prevent such evasion. He pointed out that a severe penalty was provided in the Act in the event of breaches. In regard to the unstamped documents or copies of alleged unstamped documents before the Court, he said he would ask the registrar to see that they were duly stamped.