KARACHI: The Sindh government’s income from stamp duty surged by Rs586 million during July-March 2014 to Rs3.9 billion against Rs3.3bn in the previous period.

An official of the Sindh Board of Revenue said that the target of Rs6.4bn would likely be achieved by the end of June 2014. The Board of Revenue has taken measures to boost stamp duty revenue. It has also approached Customs to discuss collection of stamp duty on shipping documents along with customs duty and other FBR taxes through automatic collection system WeBOC.

The existing system of manual collection of stamp duty on bills of entry, which is charged at the rate of Rs500 per document, is prone to leakages and large scale evasion.

The board has taken notice of that the KDA and the DHA were not charging stamp duty from allottees on lease and transfer of plots. Although, the allottees are bound to pay duty to the BOR before the finalisation of documents, but plots have changed hands several times.

The board has warned DHA and KDA to charge stamp duty on transfer and lease of plots and if it is not done by them, they would be charged under article 4 of the Stamp Act for causing loss to the government revenue.