BIR facing stamp shortage for legal documents

PEOPLE trying to register deeds, mortgages and power-of-attorney documents may face a delay, as a letter on social media, purportedly from the Board of Inland Revenue, says it does not have any of the stamps necessary, by law, for completing such transactions.

Opposition Senator Jayanti Lutchmedial-Ramdial posted a photo of a letter dated July 11, informing stakeholders of the lack of 4x4 labels/stamps.

Neither Finance Minister Colm Imbert nor Minister in the Ministry of Finance Brian Manning answered calls or WhatsApp messages to verify the contents of the letter on July 12.

The letter says transactions to be affected include deeds of conveyance/gift and mortgages, power of attorney, deed polls, bills of sale, assignment/transfer of ownership of policies, petitions to practise as an attorney-at-law, deeds of covenant, release and partial release of mortgages, and deeds that require the cancellation and transfer of stamp duty.

It said, though, documents requiring 1x4 stamps such as upstamping of mortgages, immigration security bonds and some bank documents can be processed.

The letter said the stamps were manufactured internationally and there was no estimated date on when the labels/stamps will be in stock, but the department will continue to function.

“The stamp duty sections will continue to accept work over the counter and return the payment description slips (PDS)... We continue to do assessments for those documents/deeds/instruments that require same.

“The original issued PDS must be kept with the original instruments and any supporting documentation and returned to our office when we receive the supply of labels/stamps."

The letter said any deeds /instruments that attract penalties after a PDS is generated would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

In a statement, Lutchmedial-Ramdialsaid the situation was a result of incompetence.

“It is mind boggling that a government which boasts about digitalisation, improving the ease of doing business and other grandiose 'accomplishments' which are heard of but neither seen nor felt by citizens, cannot ensure that basic supplies needed for transacting business with the public is procured in a timely manner.”

Lutchmedial-Ramdial said the implications of the situation were wide-ranging as documents for every legal transaction involving property must be submitted to BIR to be assessed for payment.

“This means that several important legal instruments cannot be processed and registered for the foreseeable future and the average citizen or person seeking to transact business linked to conveyances or mortgages in this country is simply displaced and at the mercy of the Ministry of Finance’s ineptitude.”

“The individual who has a date by which he must conclude his mortgage transaction to move into a new home might very well find himself homeless as a result of this incompetence. The elderly person who is bedridden and requires a proxy though which to do banking and other business cannot register a power of attorney to facilitate same and will face whatever consequences may flow.”

Republic Bank managing director Nigel Baptiste said the situation will create some issues for the banking sector but said the closure of mortgages can be negotiated.

“There's a time to close the mortgages, usually 90 days, but normally both parties, if they're understandable, they won't make this a reason not to close.”

He said the situation does however create an exposure for banks and creditors.

“It will delay the perfection of security because all these documents need to be stamped. It's part of the act. So where loans have to be disclosed, subject to that security being affected, there will be a delay in the displacement of some loans.”

Lutchmedial-Ramdial noted the drop in TT’s ease of doing business ranking in the 2020 World Bank Doing Business report.

TT was ranked 68 in 2012 and dropped to 105 out of 190 countries in 2020.

“Even more worrying is the rank of 160 for the specific metric of Paying Taxes and 158 for Registering Property. We can expect this debacle to contribute to further declines in our ratings in reports to come, making us an even less attractive economy for investment.”

She urged the Ministry of Finance to meet with relevant stakeholders, including the Registrar General’s Department, the Law Association and the BIR and find an immediate solution for this disaster of its own making.

Asked if a digital solution should be considered, Baptiste said told Newsday a change of that nature will require legislative action.

“I don't know how moving digital would help (BIR), but the requirement to go digital will require amendments in the legislation.”

The May 2024 Court of Appeal ruling which gave the government the green light to go ahead with the operationalisation of the Trinidad and Tobago Revenue Authority (TTRA) may offer a solution to prevent a recurrence of this situation.

Transformation and digitisation is part of the TT Revenue Authority’s strategic plan and Newsday understands processes such as stamp duty are included in the plan.

There has been no word yet though on the required amendments to the Stamp Duty Act.

Justices of Appeal Nolan Bereaux, Charmaine Pemberton, and Mira Dean-Armorer, in a unanimous decision on May 28, dismissed the challenge of the Public Services Association (PSA) through one of its members, Terrisa Dhoray, a customs officer.

Dhoray challenged the lawfulness of the authority and Section 18 of the Revenue Authority legislation and claimed that certain segments of the legislation were unconstitutional as they sought to interfere with the terms and conditions of employment of public servants currently assigned to the Customs and Excise Division and Inland Revenue Division (IRD).

Public servants affected by the operationalisation of the TTRA have the choice of resigning from the public service, accepting a transfer to the TTRA, or being transferred to another office in the public service.

The judges ruled the move to the TTRA will not cause public servants to lose any security of tenure.