Stamp duty, VAT bills introduced

CHENNAI: Commercial Taxes Minister C Ve Shanmugam on Thursday introduced Bills on consolidation of stamp duty and VAT assessment for dealers. The Bill to amend the Indian Stamp Act (ISA) provides for consolidation of stamp duty in respect of various types of instruments like bonds, debentures, policies of insurance, share certificates, etc. Now, the State  government has decided to provide for composition or consolidation of stamp duty in respect of memorandum sent by a broker or agent to his principal intimating the purchaser or sale on account of such principal, the Bill said.Shanmugam also introduced another Bill to amend the Tamil Nadu VAT Act.  The Bill said the State government has decided to dispense with the existing procedure of passing an assessment order by the assessing authority and replace it with a system of deemed assessment. Under the system, a dealer shall be deemed to have been assessed if the returns are filed as prescribed.  The government will treat the returns filed for 2006-07 to 2010-11 as deemed to have been assessed on June 30, 2012, if they had been filed as prescribed.He also introduced another Bill for expanding the scope of the term ‘family’ as far as the Indian Stamp Act is concerned. Now, ‘family’ means father, mother, husband, wife, son, daughter, grandchild and that in the case of any one whose personal law permits adoption; ‘father’ shall include an adoptive father, ‘mother’ an adoptive mother, ‘son’ an adopted son and ‘daughter’, an adopted daughter. Now, the government has decided to include ‘brother’ and ‘sister’ also within the explanation provided for term ‘family’ under Art 58 of the Schedule I to the ISA.