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 Venice in 1604, being introduced (or re-invented) in Spain in the 1610s, 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.