Part 2General provisions with respect to stamp duties

Part 2—General provisions with respect to stamp duties 4—Imposition of stamp duties (1) Subject to the exemptions contained in Schedule 2 and the other provisions of this Act, the stamp duties specified in that Schedule are charged in respect of the instruments specified in that Schedule. (2) The parties who executed an instrument are jointly and severally liable to pay the duty charged in respect of the instrument. 6—Denotation of duty (1) Subject to any express provision to the contrary, the payment of duty on an instrument is to be denoted on the instrument by an impressed stamp. 7—Distribution of stamps, commission etc (1) The Governor may appoint any person a distributor of stamps. (2) Any such distributor may be remunerated by a commission upon the value of stamps purchased for disposal by him, or by salary, or by any other allowance, and upon the sale of stamps to any such distributor such discount may be allowed as may be authorised by regulations made under this Act. 8—Stamps to be provided The Treasurer shall, for denoting the several duties chargeable under this Act, provide such stamps or dies as may be required for the purposes of this Act, and may do any other act which may be necessary for effectually collecting the duties. 11—Appropriate stamp to be used (1) A stamp which, by any word or words on the face of it, is appropriated to any particular description of instrument shall not be used for any instrument of another description. (2) An instrument falling under the particular description to which any stamp is so appropriated shall not be deemed duly stamped unless it is stamped with the stamp so appropriated. 13—How instruments to be stamped (1) Every instrument written upon stamped material shall be written in such manner, and every instrument partly or wholly written before being stamped shall be so stamped, that the stamp may appear on the face of the instrument and cannot be used for, or applied to, any other instrument written upon the same piece of material. (2) If more than one instrument is written upon the same piece of material, each one of those instruments shall be separately and distinctly stamped with the duty with which it is chargeable. 14—Instruments to be separately charged (1) Except where express provision is made to the contrary— (a) any instrument containing or relating to several distinct matters shall be separately and distinctly charged with duty in respect of each of such matters as if the portion of the instrument containing or relating to each such matter were a separate instrument. (2) Without limiting the effect of subsection (1), an instrument relating to classes of property that are chargeable with different rates of duty, or relating to a class of property chargeable with duty and a class of property not chargeable with duty, is to be treated for the purposes of this Act as if the provisions of the instrument relating to each of the different class of property were a separate instrument and related only to that class of property. (3) A person liable to pay duty on an instrument of a kind referred to in subsection (2) must provide the Commissioner with evidence of the value of each of the different classes of property conveyed or transferred by the instrument. 15A—Ascertainment of value of property (1) If the value of property is to be ascertained by reference to an actual or notional cost of acquisition, any component of the cost of acquisition that is referable to GST payable on its sale or supply is to be regarded as a component of its value. (2) In ascertaining the value of property for the purpose of assessing ad valorem duty on an instrument, the existence of an overriding power of revocation or reconveyance in that or any other instrument may be disregarded. 16—Duty in force when instrument produced for stamping to apply Subject to this Act, the duty chargeable upon any instrument shall be calculated according to the rates in force at the time when the instrument is produced to the Commissioner for the purpose of being stamped. 17—Duty payable in respect of instruments conditionally executed (1) Subject to subsection (2), an instrument that is executed conditionally by one or more parties is liable to duty as if it had been executed unconditionally. (a) duty is paid on or in respect of an instrument that was executed conditionally by one or more of the parties; (b) the Commissioner is satisfied that, by reason of non-fulfilment of the condition, or recall of the execution, the instrument will never come into force, the Commissioner will, on application by a party who paid the duty and production of the instrument, cancel any stamp on the instrument and refund the amount of the duty paid. 18—Duty on other instruments Where the duty with which any instrument is chargeable depends in any manner upon the duty paid upon another instrument, the payment of the last mentioned duty may, on production of both the instruments, be denoted in such manner as the Commissioner thinks fit upon the first mentioned instrument. 19A—Certain copies dutiable (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, but subject to subsection (2), where an original instrument chargeable with duty under this Act has not been duly stamped or has been destroyed without being duly stamped, any copy of the instrument shall, for the purposes of this Act, be chargeable with duty as if it were the original and be deemed to have been executed by the person or persons who executed the original at the same time as the original was executed. (2) Where an original instrument or a copy of an instrument is duly stamped under this Act, the Commissioner shall, upon application and production of that original or copy, stamp any copy or further copy or the original, as the case may be, with a particular stamp denoting that it is duly stamped. copy includes— (a) a duplicate or counterpart of an original instrument; or (b) an instrument that acknowledges, evidences or records the existence or terms of an original instrument; or (c) an instrument that acknowledges, evidences or records the transaction or a part of the transaction to which an original instrument relates or related. 20—Time for payment of duty and stamping (1) Subject to any express provision to the contrary, if an instrument is chargeable with duty, the duty must be paid and the instrument stamped— (a) in the case of an instrument executed in South Australia—within two months after its execution; or (b) in the case of an instrument executed outside South Australia—within two months after its receipt in South Australia or within six months after its execution, whichever period first expires. (2) If duty or further duty becomes chargeable on an instrument in consequence of an event occurring after its execution, the duty must be paid and the instrument stamped within two months after that event. (3) The payment in relation to an instrument of any penalty tax or interest under Part 5 of the Taxation Administration Act 1996 must be denoted on the instrument by a particular stamp. (4) If an instrument that is chargeable with stamp duty is not produced to the Commissioner for stamping within the period prescribed by this section, any person who executed the instrument, or on whose behalf it was executed, is guilty of an offence. (5) Subsection (4) does not apply in relation to an instrument that has been duly stamped in some other manner authorised by this Act within the relevant period. (6) It is a defence to a charge against subsection (4) to prove that the defendant delivered the instrument or had it delivered into the possession of some other party, or an agent for some other party, to the instrument in the reasonable expectation that the other party would have it stamped. (7) The commission of an offence against subsection (4) does not affect the validity of the instrument in relation to which the offence was committed. 21—Admissibility of unstamped instruments in evidence Upon the production of any instrument chargeable with duty as evidence in any civil proceedings in any part of South Australia, the officer whose duty it is to read the instrument shall call the attention of the presiding judge, special magistrate or justices to any omission or insufficiency of the stamp thereon. 22—Except as aforesaid no unstamped instrument to be received in evidence No instrument chargeable with duty executed in any part of South Australia, or relating, wherever it was executed, to any property situated, or to any matter or thing done or to be done, in any part of South Australia, shall, except in criminal proceedings, be pleaded or given in evidence, or admitted to be good, useful or available at law or in equity, unless duly stamped. 23—Assessments and stamping of instruments (1) If the result of an assessment relating to an instrument is that the instrument is not chargeable with duty, the instrument may be stamped by the Commissioner with a particular stamp denoting that it is not chargeable with duty. (2) If the result of an assessment relating to an instrument is that the instrument is chargeable with duty or further duty, the instrument is, on payment of any duty or further duty payable in respect of the instrument, to be stamped or further stamped in accordance with the assessment, and, when so stamped, may also be stamped by the Commissioner with a particular stamp denoting that it is duly stamped. (3) If the result of an assessment relating to a stamped instrument is that duty or further duty is chargeable in respect of the instrument, the instrument is, from the date of the assessment until the duty or further duty is paid and the instrument is further stamped, to be taken to be insufficiently stamped, and this subsection applies despite the fact that the instrument has already been stamped, whether under this section or another provision of this Act, with a particular stamp denoting that it is not chargeable with duty or that it is duly stamped. (4) Every instrument stamped with the particular stamp denoting either that it is not chargeable with duty or that it is duly stamped shall, subject to subsection (3), be admissible in evidence and shall be available for all purposes, notwithstanding any objection relating to duty. (5) An instrument on which duty has been assessed by the Commissioner cannot be stamped except in accordance with that assessment unless the Commissioner reassesses duty on the instrument. 27—No instrument to be enrolled or registered unless stamped No person whose office it is to enrol, register or enter in or upon any rolls, books or records any instrument chargeable with any duty, or the memorial of any instrument chargeable with any duty, shall enrol, register or enter any such an instrument or memorial unless the instrument is duly stamped.