360 SECRETARIAL PRACTICE
Trust Deeds.
Registered
Bonds.
Securities
to Bearer.
followed a decision in 1876 in the case of Grenfell v. The
Commissioners of Inland Revenue [1 Ex. D. 242], in which
it had been held that securities tendered for and purchased
en bloc in New York and subsequently placed upon the
British market and allotted and delivered by the purchasers
to persons in the United Kingdom who offered to take them
upon the terms of a prospectus issued to them by the pur-
chasers, were made and issued in New York.
It frequently happens that debentures or debenture
stock are secured by trust deeds, and the practice with
regard to stamping these deeds is as follows: If the trust
deed is to secure debentures, it is stamped with the fixed
duty of 10s. and the ad valorem duty is paid upon the
debentures at the rate properly applicable to them. If,
however, the trust deed is to secure debenture stock, the
certificates for the stock are not chargeable with any duty,
and the trust deed is accordingly stamped with the same
ad valorem duty as a mortgage—namely, a duty at the rate
of 2s. 6d. per cent.
The stamp duty charged upon registered bonds or securities
is at the rate of 2s. 6d. per cent. as in the case of a mortgage,
or if issued in substitution for a like security which was
duly stamped is at the rate of 64. per cent., but since August
4th, 1903, the maximum duty is 10s., as provided by s. 7
of the Revenue Act, 1903. The duty payable upon the
transfer of such securities is the same as in the case of a
transfer of shares or stock. These same rates of duty apply
to all colonial government securities.
Until the year 1910 the stamp duty charged upon bearer
securities (except colonial government securities), bearing
date or signed after August 6, 1885, was charged at the rate
of 1s. for every £10 or fractional part of £10, or in the case
of such a security issued in substitution for a like security
duly stamped at the rate of 64. for every £20 or fractional
part of £20. The stamp duty on securities bearing date
before or on August 6th, 1885, was the same as upon registered
securities. Before the year 189g three considerations had
to be taken into account for the purpose of determining
whether a foreign bearer security transferred or negotiated
in the United Kingdom was chargeable with stamp duty—
namely: (1) the date of the security; (2) whether the security
was made or issued in the United Kingdom; and if not (3)
whether the interest thereon was payable in the United
Kingdom, but as from August 1st, in that year the charge of
duty of 1s. for every £10 or fractions part of £10 was applied
by s. 4 of the Finance Act, 1899, to foreign and colonial