Skip to main content

Executing a power of attorney

Some conditions relating to making a valid POA

According to the Power of Attorney Act 1882, a power of attorney (POA) includes any instrument (not chargeable with a fee under a law relating to court fees) empowering a specified person to act for and in the name of the person executing it. A POA grants authority to a person to perform certain acts on behalf of another person. It means a person is authorising another person to do something on his behalf.

The person for whom such an act is performed or is represented is called the principal. The person who is executing the POA is called the executant and the person to whom power is granted is called general power of attorney (GPA) holder or beneficiary.

There are two kinds of POA. One is the GPA. It gives wide powers to an agent to act on behalf of the principal as detailed in the deed. It is not confined to any specific act relating to a specific subject. The second is a specific power of attorney (SPA). This is given in respect of a single specified transaction like selling of a particular property. Once the particular act is completed, the SPA gets naturally revoked.

A POA creates a special power of agency that entitles the holder to use the principal's name in the transaction entered into. Registration of this document is not compulsory. In case it is to be registered it should be presented at the sub-registrar's office with jurisdiction over the property referred to in the document. Attestation of a POA is not compulsory. However, in order to avoid any disputes, and to establish proof of genuineness it is advisable to get the document attested by two witnesses.

Notarising a POA is as good as its registration. It is presumed that every document purporting to be a POA, which has been executed before and authenticated by a notary public, is conclusive proof. Each page of the document notarised should bear the official stamp of the notary, disclosing his registration number, jurisdiction, and signature. Appropriate notary stamp has to be affixed.

Power of attorney attracts stamp duty, which varies from State to State. Article 41 of the Karnataka Stamp Act prescribes the stamp duties.

Stamp duty payable

If the POA is executed for the sole purpose of registration of documents in relation to a single transaction - Rs 100

For authorising a person to act in a single transaction - Rs 100

For authorising not more than five persons to act joint and severally in more than one transaction - Rs 100

For authorising more than five persons but not more than 10 persons to act jointly and severally in more than one transaction, or generally - Rs 200 In case given for consideration and authorising the attorney to sell property, the same duty as a conveyance for the market value, equal to the amount of the consideration

If given to a promoter or developer along with a joint venture agreement, for construction or development of property situated in Karnataka - Rs 1,000 In case given to a person other than the father, mother, wife/husband, son, daughter, brother, or sister in relation to the executant authorising the person to sell property in Karnataka - Rs 8 for every Rs 100 on the market value of the property. The duty paid on this instrument is adjustable towards the duty payable on the instrument of sale or transfer executed subsequently in favour of either the attorney holder or any other person In any other case - Rs 100 Any POA executed outside India needs authentication. It has to be executed in the presence of certain designated officers - notary public, a court, consul or vice consul, or a representative of the Central Government. These documents need to be stamped within three months from the date of receipt in India

Popular posts from this blog

Equity investors should track market developments

The stock markets have been volatile over the last few days. They are in a sideways movement and trying to find the bottom after a fall of 20 percent a week ago. The market sentiments are not very positive at the moment and the recent developments are expected to dampen them further. Globally, governments and central banks are trying to cut rates and announce packages to improve business sentiments. These are some of the major developments in the markets last few month: A) Global On the global front, another large US bank went into a financial crisis. The US government took quick measures to avoid the spread negative sentiments in the markets. The US government announced a bail-out package and agreed to shoulder the losses on the bank's risky assets. China announced a large cut in interest rates and reserve ratio to boost the investor sentiments in the markets. Recently, the World Bank announced China's growth rate next year will come down to 7.5 percent. The European ...

Tax Planning: Income tax and Section 80C

In order to encourage savings, the government gives tax breaks on certain financial products under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act. Investments made under such schemes are referred to as 80C investments. Under this section, you can invest a maximum of Rs l lakh and if you are in the highest tax bracket of 30%, you save a tax of Rs 30,000. The various investment options under this section include:   Provident Fund (PF) & Voluntary Provident Fund (VPF) Provident Fund is deducted directly from your salary by your employer. The deducted amount goes into a retirement account along with your employer's contribution. While employer's contribution is exempt from tax, your contribution (i.e., employee's contribution) is counted towards section 80C investments. You can also contribute additional amount through voluntary contributions (VPF). The current rate of interest is 8.5% per annum and interest earned is tax-free. Public Provident Fund (PPF) An account can be opened wi...

Fortis Mutual Fund

Fortis Mutual Fund, a relatively new player, it is still to prove its case and define its position in the industry. In September 2004, it came onto the scene with a bang - three debt schemes, one MIP and one diversified equity scheme. And investors flocked to it. Going by the standards at that time, it had a great start in terms of garnering money. Mopping up over Rs 2,000 crore in five schemes was not bad at all. The fund house has not been too successful in the equity arena, in terms of assets. Though it has seven equity schemes, it is debt and cash funds that corner the major portion of the assets. Most of the schemes are pretty new, and the two that have been around for a while have a 3-star rating each. The last two were Fortis Sustainable Development (April 2007), which received a rather poor response, and Fortis China India (October 2007). Fortis Flexi Debt has been one of the better performing funds, after a dismal performance in 2005. It currently has a 5-star rating. None ...

Gold: It is safe & secure

RETURNS ON GOLD & ITS ETF’s RISE WHILE most of the popular asset classes are going through bad times, the yellow metal shines on. In fact, in the last one year, gold has given a return of more than 25% and currently trades at Rs 14,695 per 10 gm. Even gold exchange traded funds ( ETFs ) have appreciated substantially. Gold Gold Benchmark Exchange Traded Scheme ( BeES ) and Kotak Gold ETF have given more than 25% returns each in the last three months. Even as the equity markets have taken a hit with the Sensex losing around 46% in the last one year and real estate prices also witness a correction, investors’ preference has shifted to safe havens such as gold. On an average, most of the diversified equity mutual funds have fallen and real estate developers are offering discounts. Thus gold remains the safest bet. The appreciation in the gold prices is mainly due to its safe haven status. The key reason for gold to go up is lack of other investment opportunity. There is also a risk in...

Alpha - The relative performance

Alpha, the net performance of a component against the benchmark is an overlooked tool   Absolutely speaking, any bounce back now on markets should be the last for the year. We offcourse can be wrong and prefer to be judged on alpha (relative performance) as relative accountability is fine with us. According to Alpha India, the top outperformers in the weeks ahead should be Reliance Communications, Reliance Infrastructure, SBI, HDFC, ONGC, Larsen, Jaiprakash Associates, Maruti, Bharti and DLF. On the short side (reduce side), we have Ranbaxy, ACC, Sail, Tata Steel, Wipro, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, TCS, M&M and Infosys.   Performance like everything follows the 80-20 rule, 80 per cent of your gains are going to come from 20 per cent of your portfolio. So why not give it a thought? The importance of alpha If alpha was so important, then why don ' t newspapers and websites publish it? Why alpha gets featured annually but not as intraday or daily event? Why don ' t we c...
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Invest in Tax Saving Mutual Funds Download Any Applications
Transact Mutual Funds Online Invest Online
Buy Gold Mutual Funds Invest Now