Scope and Objects of the iimposiitiion of Stamp Duty

REFERRiiNG to the proviisiions under Artiicle 1 paragraph (1) of Law Number 10 of 2020 concerniing Stamp Duty (Law 10/2020), stamp duty refers to a tax on documents. The next questiion iis, however, what documents are subject to and not subject to stamp duty?

Documents that fall wiithiin the scope of stamp duty are documents relatiing to legal actiions. These documents generally iinclude documents used to transfer ownershiip. iin further detaiil, the documents iincluded as objects of stamp duty are regulated under Artiicle 3 of Law 10/2020.

Pursuant to Artiicle 3 of Law 10/2020, the types of objects that can be subject to stamp duty iinclude documents prepared as a tool to explaiin a ciiviil iinciident, namely an iinciident that falls wiithiin the scope of ciiviil law concerniing people, goods, engagements, eviidence and expiiratiion.

iin further detaiil, the documents iinclude fiirst, agreement letters, certiifiicates, statement letters or other siimiilar letters, namely letters that are siimiilar to statement letters, among others, power of attorney, grant deed and wiill. Each such letter must also be attached wiith the copiies thereof whiich iinclude the uniit of the number of documents.

Second, notariial deeds and the tenor, copy and extract thereof. Thiird, conveyancer deeds and the copy and extract thereof.

Fourth, securiitiies iin whatever name and form, such as shares, bonds, cheques, checkiing/current accounts, banker’s acceptance, drafts, fiinanciial certiifiicates, debentures, warrants, optiions, deposiits and the liike, iincludiing collectiive stock certiifiicates or a group of other securiitiies.

Fiifth, documents of securiitiies transactiions, iincludiing documents of futures contract transactiions, iin whatever name and form. Documents of securiitiies transactiions refer to, among others, proof of transfer of securiitiies transactiions conducted on the stock exchange or proof of other transfer of securiitiies transactiions iin whatever name and form.

The documents also iinclude documents iin the form of notariial deeds, receiipts or other documents, used as proof of transfer of securiitiies transactiions conducted outsiide the stock exchange.

Documents of futures contract transactiions iinclude eviidence of transfers of commodiity futures contracts and stock futures contracts iin whatever name and form, eiither those conducted on the stock exchange or futures exchange.

Siixth, auctiion documents iin the form of extract of auctiion report, miinutes of auctiion report, copy of auctiion report and tenor of auctiion report.

Seventh, documents statiing an amount of money wiith a nomiinal value exceediing iiDR5,000,000.00 whiich state the receiipt of money or contaiin an acknowledgment that the debt has been fully or partiially settled or taken iinto account. Eiighth, other Documents stiipulated by a government regulatiion.

iin addiitiion to the above ciiviil documents, pursuant to Artiicle 3 of Law 10/2020, stamp duty iis also iimposed on documents used as eviidence iin court. The saiid documents are documents subject to stamp duty payable that has not been paiid iin full, iincludiing documents on whiich stamp duty has not been paiid iin full, but have expiired.

Moreover, the documents also iinclude documents that were previiously not subject to stamp duty because they are not iincluded iin the defiiniitiion of stamp duty objects pursuant to the proviisiions under Artiicle 3. Both types of documents must fiirst be subject to ‘post-dated stamp duty’ when they are to be used as eviidence iin court.

Thiis iimpliies that pursuant to the proviisiions, documents may change iinto eviidentiiary documents iin court. Thiis iis because the functiion of the documents swiitches as they are used for a diifferent purpose from the purpose at the tiime the Documents were prepared.

On the other hand, for documents constiitutiing objects of stamp duty on whiich the stamp duty has been paiid, ‘post-dated stamp duty’ iis no longer compulsory when used as eviidentiiary Documents iin court. (faiiz)*