Checked on 8 August 2026. Rates, rules and portals in Karnataka change, sometimes at short notice. Treat this as an orientation, not as advice on your own transaction, and have your advocate confirm anything that decides money.
What you pay, on top of the price
Two separate charges land on the buyer. Stamp duty is a state tax on the instrument of transfer, and registration fee is what the sub-registrar charges to record it. They are calculated on the same base but they are not the same thing, and both are the buyer's cost by custom in Karnataka unless you have agreed otherwise in writing.
As checked in 2026, Karnataka's stamp duty runs on slabs by property value: broadly 2 per cent below ₹20 lakh, 3 per cent between roughly ₹21 lakh and ₹45 lakh, and 5 per cent above ₹45 lakh. The registration charge is 2 per cent of value, revised in August 2025 from the older 1 per cent that many older articles still quote.
There is also a cess and a surcharge layered on the stamp duty, which vary by whether the property sits inside a municipal body or a panchayat. For plantation land in the taluks, that usually means the panchayat rate. Your advocate will compute the exact figure; the point here is to budget for it rather than discover it.
The number it is calculated on is not the number you agreed
Karnataka applies duty to the guidance value or the actual consideration, whichever is higher. Guidance value is the government's own minimum rate for that survey number, published on the Kaveri portal, and it is revised periodically.
This catches people out in both directions. If you negotiate hard and agree a figure below guidance value, you still pay duty on guidance value. If the guidance value in that pocket was revised upward last year and nobody mentioned it, your registration bill is larger than the arithmetic you did at home.
Check the guidance value for the specific survey number before you commit, not the village average. On plantation land, adjacent survey numbers can carry different rates.
The costs nobody budgets for
Beyond duty and registration there is a sequence of smaller sums that together are rarely trivial: the advocate's fee for title search and drafting, the encumbrance certificate, surveyor charges if the boundary needs establishing, mutation and khata transfer after registration, and the document writer or facilitation charges at the sub-registrar's office.
Ask for the full picture in writing before you pay an advance. A seller who cannot tell you what the registration will cost has usually not done this recently.
Common questions
What is the stamp duty on land in Karnataka in 2026?
On the rates current in 2026 it runs on slabs by value: roughly 2 per cent below ₹20 lakh, 3 per cent between about ₹21 and ₹45 lakh, and 5 per cent above ₹45 lakh, plus cess and surcharge which vary between municipal and panchayat areas. Registration fee is a further 2 per cent, revised in August 2025 from the earlier 1 per cent. Slabs and cess do change, so confirm the current position with your advocate before you budget.
Is stamp duty calculated on the sale price or the guidance value?
On whichever is higher. Karnataka publishes a guidance value for every survey number, and if your agreed price is below it, duty is still charged on the guidance value. Check the guidance value for the exact survey number, not the village, because adjacent numbers can differ on plantation land.
Who pays stamp duty, the buyer or the seller?
In Karnataka the buyer pays, by long custom, unless the two sides have agreed something different in writing in the sale agreement. If you have agreed to share it, put that in the agreement rather than relying on an understanding.
Is stamp duty lower on agricultural land?
Agricultural land generally follows the same slab structure, though the applicable cess and surcharge differ between panchayat and municipal areas, and panchayat rates are usually the lower of the two. The larger variable is normally the guidance value of the survey number rather than the headline percentage.
Can stamp duty be paid online?
Yes. E-stamping through the Kaveri Online Services portal is the normal route now, and it is done before the appointment at the sub-registrar's office rather than on the day.
What else should I budget for besides stamp duty?
Advocate's fee for title search and drafting, encumbrance certificate, survey charges if boundaries need establishing, mutation and khata transfer after registration, and document writer charges at the sub-registrar's office. Individually small, collectively not.
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