Stamp duty and registration charges in Karnataka (2026)

What you pay

Together, the stamp duty, surcharge and cess come to 5.6% of the value in towns and cities and 5.65% in villages. With the registration fee, the total is 7.6% in towns and cities and 7.65% in villages.

A worked example

A plot in Hubballi sells for ₹30,00,000 and its guidance value is ₹25,00,000. The price is the higher of the two, so the charges are worked out on ₹30,00,000:

When the guidance value is higher than the price

The duty and the fee are never worked out on less than the guidance value: if the price in the deed is lower, you pay on the guidance value. When the gap is large, income-tax law can also treat the guidance value as the sale price for the seller and tax the difference in the buyer’s hands. If your price is below the guidance value, ask a chartered accountant before you sign. See Guidance value.

Lower rates for some flats

The state has at times charged a lower stamp duty on the first sale of low-cost new apartments. Those concessions are for apartments, not plots. If you are buying a new flat, ask the sub-registrar’s office or your advocate whether a lower rate applies on the day you register. The calculator always uses the full 5%.

How you pay and register

1. Enter the deed’s details in Kaveri 2.0, the Department of Stamps and Registration’s online system: the sellers, the buyers, the property and the price.
2. The system works out the stamp duty and fees. Pay them online.
3. Book a time slot at the sub-registrar’s office for the property’s area.
4. Every seller and buyer goes to the office at that time with the original deed and identity proof. Their photographs and fingerprints are taken there.
5. Download the registered deed once the sub-registrar has signed it digitally.

The deed must be presented for registration within four months of the day it was signed (section 23 of the Registration Act, 1908).

Digital e-stamps

Other papers need stamp duty too, such as an agreement for sale or a rental agreement. Since December 2025 you can buy a digital e-stamp online through the Kaveri portal, signed with Aadhaar e-Sign or a digital signature certificate and carrying a QR code and a watermark to make forgery harder. Authorised stamp vendors still sell e-stamps as well. Ask your advocate what duty a paper needs.

Other costs to budget for

• Your advocate’s fee for the title report and the deed.
• A document writer’s charge, if you use one.
• The fee to transfer the khata at HDMC or the gram panchayat.
• The bank’s processing and legal charges, if you borrow.

TDS of 1%, when the price or the guidance value is ₹50 lakh or more, is not an extra cost: it is part of the price, paid to the government for the seller. See TDS on a property purchase.