Stamping the General Power of Attorney
What is a General Power of Attorney
The General Power of Attorney is a legal document that allows someone to authorise someone else to do certain things on their behalf. The power granted by the General Power of Attorney is generally limited to financial dealings, such as transacting property or handling bank accounts and loans.
If you have property in India but you are living in Australia, you may need to appoint someone in India to look after your property and do certain things on your behalf. The way in which you can do this is through a General Power of Attorney. In most cases, your lawyer (or maybe even your bank) and provide you with the General Power of Attorney for you to sign in Australia without requiring you to travel back to India. If you sign the General Power of Attorney in Australia it must be notarised by a notary public.
Depending on the specific requirements and intended use of your General Power of Attorney, you may also need to consider whether it must be countersigned by the Indian Consulate, or with an apostille or other authentication from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The requirements can vary depending on who you might be dealing with in India, however there remains a very formal process in Australia if you were to do it properly.
Understanding the process and especially the timing of the process is important in ensuring that your General Power of Attorney is completed in time to meet the requirements of your transaction in India. Unfortunately, many clients are only aware of the requirements too late and by the time they seek notary public services, the document should have been returned to India 'yesterday'.
You can find more information regarding the General Power of Attorney for India in the articles contained in this website.
What is stamped paper?
Stamped paper is a type of paper used to write legal documents. Any taxes or duties owed to the government for that legal document has already been prepaid as shown by the 'stamp' on the stamped paper. In our experience, it is very common for documents such as the General Power of Attorney used in India and prepared in India to be printed on stamped paper.
Stamped paper does not exist in Australia. Stamped paper is a form of pre-paid duty, but in Australia, if a document attracts some sort of duty it must be submitted to the relevant state's duty office for payment of duty and stamping. Further duty whether pre-paid or post-paid duty, paid in Australia has no relevance to the obligation to pay duty in India. Accordingly, if your General Power of Attorney is going to India, you will need to buy the stamped paper in India. However, if the General Power of Attorney is just emailed to you and printed on 'normal' A4 paper (which is usually the case in Australia), then the person who wants to rely on that document in India must pay the tax or duty in India and have the General Power of Attorney stamped accordingly.
Some clients have mistakenly used Australian postage stamps on their document thinking that this satisfies the stamping requirement for India. It does not.
Do I need Stamped Paper for my General Power of Attorney?
No. If you are signing the General Power of Attorney in Australia, and your lawyer (or your bank) has provided the General Power of Attorney to you by email for you to print in Australia - it is unlikely that you will be able to print it on stamped paper. No problem. You can still print your General Power of Attorney on A4 paper and have it properly notarised by a notary public. Not printing your General Power of Attorney on stamped paper just means that the duties or taxes owing on the General Power of Attorney would need to be paid within 3 months from when the document arrives in India and before it can be used.
What next?
To obtain a quote on our notary public services for India, please visit https://www.notary-parramatta.com.au/notary-fees/.
Acknowledgements
For more information regarding notary public services for documents going to India, view our notary publications at https://www.notary-parramatta.com.au/jurisdiction/india-notary/.
Frequently asked questions regarding our notary public services can also be found at https://www.notary-parramatta.com.au/faqs/.
For Hindi to English translation services by NAATI accredited translators, see https://hindi-naati-translation.blogspot.com.au/.
Notary Public
Ern Phang is the solicitor director of Phang Legal and a notary public. Ern regularly writes about his experiences as a notary public, including the kinds of problems and solutions that his clients face when sending documents to India.
IMPORTANT: the information in this article is correct at the time of publication, however the law constantly changes. This means you should always refer to the most recent articles because we try to update this blog on a regular basis with the most current information.
