Two separate payments land on a plot purchase in Maharashtra, and buyers confuse them constantly. Stamp duty is a tax on the instrument that transfers the land, charged at 5% in the Mumbai 3.0 corridor on the higher of the agreement value or the Ready Reckoner value. The registration fee is what the Sub-Registrar charges to enter that instrument in the public register, and it is 1% of the same value, capped at ₹30,000. They are computed differently, they are capped differently, and only one of them is a large number.
What stamp duty is charged on
Stamp duty on a sale of land in Maharashtra is levied under Article 25 of Schedule I to the Maharashtra Stamp Act 1958, the article that deals with conveyance. That is the statutory hook, and it is the one to quote when you ask a Sub-Registrar for a rate in writing.
The duty attaches to the document, not to the land and not to the person. It is charged ad valorem, meaning as a percentage of value rather than as a flat fee, and it has to be paid before or at the time the instrument is executed. A sale agreement, a conveyance and a deed of assignment are all instruments that can attract duty. So can a development agreement, a gift and a lease, at their own rates under their own articles.
None of that changes if the parties are related, or if the transaction is described as a booking rather than a sale. What matters is the nature of the instrument.
The higher of agreement value or Ready Reckoner value
Duty is charged on the higher of the agreement value or the Ready Reckoner value of the property. This is the one rule in Maharashtra stamp duty that no source disputes.
The Ready Reckoner value comes from the Annual Statement of Rates, the schedule of minimum notified values published by the state for every locality. If the price you have agreed sits above that notified value, duty is computed on your price. If it sits below, duty is computed on the notified value anyway.
Writing a lower price into the agreement does not reduce the duty. It only produces a document that says one thing while the duty says another, and that is a question somebody will ask you later.
The practical consequence is that the 5% is easy; the base it is applied to is the part you have to establish, for the specific survey number, not for the district and not for the town.
What makes up the headline rate
A stamp duty percentage is usually a sum of parts rather than a single levy. In Maharashtra the parts have separate statutory sources, and they do not all apply everywhere.
| Component | Statutory basis | What it does | Where it bites |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base duty on conveyance | Article 25, Schedule I, Maharashtra Stamp Act 1958 | The ad valorem duty on the transfer instrument | Statewide, at rates that differ by the local authority the land falls under |
| Local Body Tax | Section 149C, Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act, levied since 1 April 2013 | An additional duty collected alongside stamp duty and passed to the local body | Areas governed by the Municipal Corporation Act |
| Metro cess | Additional duty of 1%, decided 28 November 2018 for Mumbai | Earmarked for metropolitan transport infrastructure | Cities where the state has notified it |
Two things follow. A rate quoted for Mumbai or Pune should not be carried across to a taluka in Raigad, because at least one component of the Mumbai figure is tied to the Municipal Corporation Act and another to a Mumbai-specific decision. And the figure that matters to you is the one for the local authority your survey number actually sits in, which is a question of fact you can verify.
The registration fee, and the cap that matters
Registration is charged at 1% of the value, subject to a maximum of ₹30,000. That cap changes the shape of the cost as the transaction gets larger, and it is the reason the two payments should never be added together as a single percentage.
Below ₹30 lakh of value, the fee is genuinely 1%. Above it, the fee stops rising and stays at ₹30,000, so on a larger purchase the registration fee shrinks to a rounding error while stamp duty keeps scaling.
Take two values, purely to show the shape. On a value of ₹25,00,000 the fee is ₹25,000, a true 1%, and duty at 5% is ₹1,25,000. On a value of ₹60,00,000 the fee is ₹30,000, because 1% would have been ₹60,000 and the cap intervenes, while duty at 5% is ₹3,00,000. The duty keeps climbing long after the fee has stopped.
Who pays, and when
In Maharashtra practice the buyer pays both stamp duty and the registration fee, and almost every agreement says so expressly. It is a matter of contract, though, not of law, so read the clause rather than assuming it.
Timing matters more than most buyers expect. Duty is payable on or before execution, and the instrument then has to be presented for registration within the period the registration law allows. If you are buying a plot on instalments, be clear about which document attracts full conveyance duty and when it will be executed, because that is the date your money has to be ready.
An instrument that has not been correctly stamped is not a problem on the day. It is a problem years later, usually at the moment you try to sell or mortgage.
How much is it on a plot around Khopoli?
Stamp duty on land registration in the Mumbai 3.0 area, which takes in Raigad district and the Khopoli belt, is 5%, charged on the higher of the agreement value or the Ready Reckoner value. The registration fee of 1%, capped at ₹30,000, sits on top of it and is computed on the same value.
So the working figure for a normal plot purchase is 5% plus 1% capped at ₹30,000. On a ₹75 lakh assessed value that is ₹3,75,000 of duty and ₹30,000 of fee. Where the women's concession applies, the duty component is 4% rather than 5% and the registration fee is unchanged.
Confirm the rate applicable to your specific survey number with the Sub-Registrar before you transact, because Raigad contains both municipal-council and gram-panchayat pockets and the body a plot falls under is a matter of record rather than of impression.
What changes the total on a specific plot
Three things move the number on a given purchase, and all three are checkable before you commit.
- Which local authority the survey number sits in. Khopoli Municipal Council is a distinct local authority, and land inside its limits is administered separately from land in a gram panchayat a short distance away in the same taluka. Two plots that feel like the same location can sit on opposite sides of that line.
- Whether the women's concession applies. If every purchaser named in the instrument is female and the property qualifies as residential, duty is 4% rather than 5%. On vacant land rather than a built home that qualification is unsettled, so it has to be confirmed for your instrument rather than assumed.
- Which value the duty is computed on. The base is the higher of the agreement value or the Ready Reckoner value for that survey number. A notified value above your price raises the assessment without anyone renegotiating the price.
The third of those moves the money far more than the first two. A percentage point is arithmetic; the base is the thing to establish first.
What to ask for in writing before you pay
- The Article 25 rate currently applicable to the specific survey or gat number, from the Sub-Registrar or the Collector of Stamps, Raigad.
- Confirmation of which local authority the plot falls under: Khopoli Municipal Council, a gram panchayat, or another body.
- The Ready Reckoner value for that survey number for the current financial year, and the working that produced it.
- The registration fee computation, showing whether the ₹30,000 cap has been applied.
- The total payable, itemised: stamp duty, registration fee, and anything else collected at the counter.
- The clause in your agreement that allocates duty and fee between buyer and seller.
- If any purchaser is female, whether the concession for women purchasers is being applied to this instrument, and on what basis.
Ask for all of it on paper. A Sub-Registrar's office will give you a figure over the counter; the figure you want is the one somebody has put their name to.