A revenue Stamp can be explained as a receipt given by the Government in the form of small adhesive stamp in lieu of separate document stating that the tax/fee has been paid to the Government. The receipt for above certain amount shall be mandatorily acknowledged by the receiver affixing and cancelling the revenue stamp. Under section 30 of Indian Stamp Acts 1899, the recipient of above Rs.5000, shall mandatorily acknowledge the payment with a receipt affixing one Rupee revenue stamp on it as a proof of payment. Refusal to give such receipt with a discharged revenue stamp, may lead to punishment of with a fine of Rs. 100/- as per section 65 of stamp act.
As per Section 3 of Indian Stamp Act, certain receipts/instruments and other documents are required be affixed with revenue stamp. The section 2(23*) in of Indian Stamp Act, 1899 defines ‘Receipt’ as under.
“Receipt” includes any note, memorandum or writing—
(a) Whereby any money, or any bill of exchange, cheque or promissory note is acknowledged to have been received, or
(b) Whereby any other movable property is acknowledged to have been received in satisfaction of a debt, or
(c) Whereby any debt or demand, or any part of a debt or demand, is acknowledged to have been satisfied or discharged, or;
(d) Which signifies or imports any such acknowledgment, and whether the same is or is not signed with the name of any person
*One-rupee stamp is required to be affixed on any receipt, the amount or value of which exceeds Rs 5,000 (earlier Rs.500/-).This amendment has come w.e.f. 10.09.04. The stamp is required to be affixed in respect of receipt which has been defined as under in Section 2(23) of the Stamp Act
In sale transactions deeds, payment of consideration is established by annexing to the deed a revenue stamp affixed receipt (of advance payment(s) or final payments). Besides stamping of receipts for payment considerations, main documents like Demand Promissory Notes (Pro-notes/DPN), acknowledgement of debts/ Revival Letters (RL) when affixed with proper revenue stamps are admitted in the Courts as prima facie evidence. Nevertheless, to get such instruments//documents admitted as evidence of payments, it is important to effectively cancel the revenue stamps before or at the time of execution of document. The best way of cancellation of revenue stamp is by sign over all the stamps in such a manner that signature extends even beyond the stamps. However, no need to affix revenue stamps for the receipts on withdrawals from bank account, as they are not in the nature of receipts defined under Indian stamp act 1899.