ALLOWANCE FOR DUTY PAID OR OVERPAID IN CERTAIN CASES
Allowance for duty paid for certain instruments
57.—(1) Subject to the conditions specified in subsection (2) and to such rules as may be made by the Minister and to the production of such evidence by statutory declaration or otherwise as the Commissioner may require, allowance is to be made by the Commissioner for the duty paid in the following cases:
(a)
[Deleted by Act 1 of 2013 wef 22/02/2013]
(b)
any of the following instruments:
(i)
an instrument executed by any party thereto, but afterwards found to be absolutely void from the beginning;
(ii)
an instrument executed by any party thereto, but afterwards found unfit, by reason of any error or mistake therein, for the purpose originally intended;
(iii)
an instrument executed by any party thereto, which has not been made use of for any purpose whatever, and which by reason of the inability or refusal of some necessary party to sign the instrument or to complete the transaction according to the instrument is incomplete and insufficient for the purpose for which it was intended;
(iv)
an instrument executed by any party thereto, which by reason of the inability or refusal of any person to act under the instrument, or for want of registration within the time required by law, fails of the intended purpose or becomes void;
(v)
an instrument executed by any party thereto, which is inadvertently and undesignedly spoiled, and in lieu whereof another instrument made between the same parties and for the same purpose is executed and duly stamped, or which becomes useless in consequence of the transaction intended to be thereby effected being effected by some other instrument duly stamped.
[33/99]
[Act 1 of 2013 wef 22/02/2013]
(2) The conditions mentioned in subsection (1) are —
(a)
the application for allowance is made within 6 months after the date of the stamp or in the case of an executed instrument after the date of the instrument or if it is not dated within 6 months after the execution thereof by the person by whom it was first or alone executed or within such further time as the Commissioner may prescribe in the case of any instrument sent abroad for execution or when from unavoidable circumstances any instrument for which another has been substituted cannot be produced within that period; and
[Act 1 of 2013 wef 22/02/2013]
(b)
in the case of an executed instrument no legal proceeding has been commenced in which the instrument could or would have been given or offered in evidence, and that the instrument is surrendered to the Commissioner, unless the Commissioner dispenses with such surrender in a particular case.
[38/75]
[Act 30 of 2014 wef 01/01/2015]
(3) [Deleted by Act 1 of 2013 wef 22/02/2013]
Allowance for duty paid or overpaid
58.—(1) When any person —
(a)
has inadvertently paid duty of a greater value than was necessary; or
(b)
has inadvertently paid duty in respect of an instrument not liable to any duty,
and has been issued with a stamp certificate denoting the duty so paid in respect of the instrument, the Commissioner may —
(i)
on an application made within 6 months after the date of the instrument; or
(ii)
if the instrument is not dated, on an application made within 6 months after the execution thereof by the person by whom it was first or alone executed,
[Act 30 of 2014 wef 01/01/2015]
and upon the instrument, if liable to duty, being stamped with the proper duty, cancel that certificate and make an allowance for the duty overpaid or paid (as the case may be).
[Act 1 of 2013 wef 22/02/2013]
[Act 30 of 2014 wef 01/01/2015]
(2) When as a result of unavoidable circumstances an application under subsection (1) cannot be made within the period of 6 months, the Commissioner may, in his discretion, allow the application to be made within such further period as the Commissioner considers reasonable.
[4/81]
(3) Notwithstanding subsection (1), where the Commissioner has reasonable cause to believe that a person —
(a)
has inadvertently paid duty of a greater value than was necessary; or
(b)
has inadvertently paid duty in respect of an instrument not liable to any duty,
the Commissioner may, on his own initiative, make an allowance for the duty overpaid or paid (as the case may be).