Circa_1907_Western_Australia_impressed_duty_stamp

An impressed duty stamp is a form of

revenue stamp A revenue stamp, tax stamp, duty stamp or fiscal stamp is a (usually) adhesive label used to designate collected taxes or fees on documents, tobacco, alcoholic drinks, drugs and medicines, playing cards, hunting licenses, firearm registration, ...

created by ''impressing'' ( embossing) a stamp onto a document using a metal die to show that the required ''duty'' (tax) had been paid. The stamps have been used to collect a wide variety of taxes and duties, including stamp duty and duties on alcohol, financial transactions, receipts, cheques and court fees. Usage has been worldwide but particularly heavy in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and

British Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...

. Impressed duty stamps are to be distinguished from ''adhesive'' revenue stamps which are applied to documents in the same way that a postage stamp is applied to a letter. Ireland 1959 Impressed Duty Stamp

History in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the first impressed duty stamps were used following the introduction of stamp duty in the Stamps Act 1694, ''An act for granting to Their Majesties several duties on

Vellum Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. Parchment is another term for this material, from which vellum is sometimes distinguished, when it is made from calfskin, as opposed to that made from other anima ...

, Parchment and Paper for 10 years, towards carrying on the war against France'' (5 & 6 Will. & Mar. c. 21). The duty ranged from 1 penny to several shillings on a number of different legal documents including insurance policies and documents used as evidence in courts. It raised around £50,000 a year and although it was initially a temporary measure, it proved so successful that its use was continued. Successive Acts have created new duties up to the present day and impressed duty stamps have been used until recently to collect the taxes with electronic methods now taking over. The tax was enforced by making the documents unenforceable in court if they had not been properly stamped. The tax was either a fixed amount per document or ''ad valorem'' where the tax varied according to the value of the transaction being taxed.Barefoot, John., ed. ''Great Britain Revenues''. 4th edition. York, United Kingdom: J. Barefoot Ltd., 2002, p.3. The first stamps were issued by the newly created ''Board of Commissioners of Stamps''. Distributors of the stamps were appointed throughout the country. Later, the poet

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

was the distributor in

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

. The stamps were embossed onto the document directly, at first without any inking (known as ''albino''), and later using colour. In the case of

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins o ...

the stamp was first applied to paper which was attached to the document using glue and a tin metal strip.

Adoption worldwide

The use of the stamps in the United Kingdom was so successful that the same model was soon adopted in the rest of

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

. The stamps have also been used in many other countries.

Revenue meters

In many countries, ''revenue meters'' have replaced impressed stamps as they are more efficient and the stamp is quicker to apply. Operating like a meter franking machine, they are manufactured by many of the same companies, for instance

Pitney Bowes Pitney Bowes Inc. is an American technology company most known for its postage meters and other mailing equipment and services, and with expansions into e-commerce, software, and other technologies. The company was founded by Arthur Pitney, who ...

and Neopost.

Over-embossing dies

Hong Kong overembossing die mark on revenue stamp

Over-embossing dies may be confused with impressed duty stamps as they appear similar. In fact, they are applied to adhesive revenue stamps to cancel the stamp and tie the stamp to the document on which it is placed. Often in red, they will usually include the date on the top and bottom of the die and are produced using the same method as impressed duty stamps. They normally show no value as they are not stamps but in a few cases over-embossing dies have been adapted to include a value and to serve as stamps, for instance in Penang, Singapore and Malacca.Barber, W.A. ''The Impressed Duty Stamps of The British Colonial Empire''. Updated edition. Chesapeake, Virginia: William A. Barber, 2009, p.vi. In 1901, De La Rue produced a short '' Report upon Stamping of Documents'' that explained the advantages and disadvantages of the different methods of stamping and included a sample over-embossing on an Imperium stamp."Over-embossing a 6d Imperium Proof" by Simon Heap in ''Cameo'', Vol. 14, No. 2, Whole Number 89, June 2013, p. 70.

Pre-printed revenue stamps

Stamp Duty Paid mark for British cheques from 1956

A ''pre-printed revenue stamp'' is a type of revenue stamp where the stamp is incorporated into the design of the document and printed at the same time as the rest of the document. They are distinct from impressed duty stamps in being neither impressed nor embossed. Pre-printed revenue stamps were often included in the design of cheques to prevent the need to separately stamp each cheque. They are also found incorporated into the design of

stock certificate In corporate law, a stock certificate (also known as certificate of stock or share certificate) is a legal document that certifies the legal interest (a bundle of several legal rights) of ownership of a specific number of shares (or, under Ar ...

s and are analogous to

imprinted stamp In philately, an imprinted stamp is a stamp printed onto a piece of postal stationery such as a stamped envelope, postal card, letter sheet, letter card, aerogram or wrapper.Carlton, R. Scott. ''The International Encyclopedic Dictionary of ...

s in the postal field without the embossing sometimes found there. They also have similarities to stamped paper, but unlike stamped paper, where the stamp is usually large and the rest of the paper blank, the pre-printed revenue stamp is normally only a small part of the document, perhaps appearing in a corner, and often no larger than a typical postage stamp. In the United Kingdom, a pre-printed stamp, without a stated value, appeared on cheques from 1956 bearing the words "Stamp Duty Paid" that prevented the need for each cheque to be separately embossed with a stamp as had previously been the case.Taxes and stamp duty.

Cheque and Credit Clearing Company The Cheque and Credit Clearing Company Limited (C&CCC) is a UK membership-based industry body whose 11 members are the UK clearing banks. The company has managed the cheque clearing system in England and Wales since 1985, in all of Great Britain ...

, 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2013
Archived here

References

External links

{{commonscat, Embossed duty stamps
Embossed Revenues at Onder de Loupe.Archived here.
Revenue stamps Philatelic terminology