Figures here come from our research and have not yet been verified by a legal reviewer. Look for the labels Research-established Assumption Unconfirmed. Not legal advice.
Registration fee
The registration fee is fixed under section 78 of the Registration Act, 1908, which requires the State Government to prepare and publish a Table of Fees. The table gives the fee for each kind of document.
- Research-established Under G.O.Ms.No.463 (17-08-2013), the Table of Fees gave the fee for a sale as 0.5%.
- Research-established G.O.Ms.No.393 (26-11-2014) amended the table by substituting 1% for 0.5% against "Sale". The sale rate is therefore 1%.
- Assumption G.O.Ms.No.393 has no separate "comes into force on" clause. We treat 26-11-2014, the date of the notification, as the date from which 1% applies. This is inferred, not stated.
Research has established the sale rate as 1%, but the authoritative valuation base for a sale has not yet been conclusively established from the sources reviewed.
The Table of Fees says "Sale — 1%" but does not say, for a sale, 1% of what. A sentence in the 2013 order says the value taken for stamp duty is the value for the registration fee, but in that order it appears under a different category of documents (leases, mortgages and similar), so applying it to a sale is an inference, not something the order says. The department's own online calculator appears to use the stamp-duty value, and our Beta calculator does the same — as a Assumption. A calculator's behaviour is not law; it cannot settle this question.
The lesson: finding the rate (1%) and finding the valuation base are two different tasks. A source can answer one without answering the other.
Transfer duty
Transfer duty (called "duty on transfer of property") is separate from stamp duty. It is a levy for the benefit of the local body where the property is, and which local body applies decides which statute governs. The research found the Government fixed the rate at Research-established 1.5%, from 1 April 2013, by orders of 6 April 2013:
| Area | Governing statute (as found) | Rate order | Valuation basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Panchayat areas | A.P. Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, s.69 | G.O.Ms.No.226 (Panchayat Raj & Rural Development) | Research-established The Act itself says the duty is charged on "the amount or value of the consideration … or the market value … whichever is higher". |
| Municipal Corporation areas | Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act, 1955, s.261, applied to Andhra Pradesh corporations by the A.P. Municipal Corporations Act, 1994, s.14 | G.O.Ms.No.150 (and G.O.Ms.No.153 for flats) (Municipal Administration & Urban Development) | Research-established Section 261 uses the same "whichever is higher" wording. Point still to confirm: the copy of the Act read in the research was an edition adapted for Telangana, so the Andhra Pradesh-applicable text has yet to be checked. |
| Municipality areas | A.P. Municipalities Act, 1965, s.120 | G.O.Ms.Nos.151, 152 (and 153 for flats) (Municipal Administration & Urban Development) | Unconfirmed The valuation basis is not confirmed, because section 120 has not yet been verified. |
Notice what the 2013 Government Orders do: they fix the rate (1.5%). They do not, themselves, state the valuation rule. That comes from the statute for each area. So the safe habit is to examine Panchayat, Corporation and Municipality separately, and never to carry one area's valuation rule over to another because the wording looks alike.
Unconfirmed Whether the 1.5% changed after 2013 has not been fully checked. The research searched the Panchayat Raj orders to 2026 and the Municipal Administration orders only to early 2016, and only by title.
Different charge does not necessarily mean the same valuation rule. Examine Panchayat, Corporation and Municipality areas separately, and never carry one area's valuation rule over to another because the wording looks alike.