Buying a house is an overwhelming experience both financially and emotionally. For buying a home, we need to identify a property that matches our requirements. While buying the property we have to make a down payment, apply for a loan, sign the sale agreement, and so on. There is much nitty-gritty. Buying a house is an overwhelming experience both financially and emotionally. For buying a home, we need to identify a property that matches our requirements. While buying the property we have to make a down payment, apply for a loan, sign the sale agreement, and so on. There is much nitty-gritty. One such important step is stamp duty. This is an important step while buying a house. After the possession of the property, it has to be registered in the local municipal records for legal evidence of ownership. During the registration of the property, you will have to pay stamp duty.

What is stamp duty?

Stamp duty is a tax levied by the government on property transactions. Stamp duty varies from state to state and also property type. The tax is legal and acts as the evidence for any sale or purchase of a property. Buyers pay stamp duty, regardless of agreement. In the case of property exchange both seller and buyer share the stamp duty. The tax is charged on the market value, circle rate or ready reckoner rate, or the consideration value of the property, whichever is higher.

What is ready reckoner?

A ready reckoner is a government-fixed rate, below which a property cannot be sold in an area. A ready reckoner is also known as the circle rate in Maharashtra. Even if the seller has priced the property at less than the government-fixed ready rates, the stamp duty calculation will still be based on the RR rates.