Stamp Duty Clearing Overview
This article covers Step 4I of Understanding Accounting Integration: the Stamp Duty Clearing control account. This configuration is required for Australian dealers and explains how stamp duty collected from customers is tracked and reconciled before remittance to the relevant State Authority.
To see all steps in this series, see Accounting Integration Setup: All Steps.
What the Stamp Duty Clearing Account Does
The Stamp Duty Clearing General Ledger account is a clearing account for stamp duty charged on Customer Orders — specifically Unit Deals. It is typically set up as a Current Liability account and usually maintains a credit balance.
This account gives the dealership a running view of how much stamp duty has been collected from customers and still needs to be remitted to the relevant State Authority.
How Stamp Duty Is Calculated
Stamp duty is charged at a rate determined by the state in which the unit will be registered. The rate is configured in Blackpurl under System Settings > Settings and Controls > Price Settings. It is set as a percentage and Blackpurl uses this percentage to calculate the stamp duty amount on each Customer Order Unit Deal.
How Entries Flow Through the Clearing Account
Stamp duty entries move through the Stamp Duty Clearing General Ledger account in two stages: when the customer is invoiced, and when the dealership remits payment to the State Authority.
Stage 1: Customer Is Invoiced
When a Customer Order Unit Deal is invoiced, an entry is created in the Stamp Duty Clearing General Ledger for the stamp duty amount the customer paid. For example, if Mr Brown is invoiced $711 in stamp duty on his Unit Deal, that amount appears as a credit entry in the Stamp Duty Clearing account.
Stage 2: Dealership Remits to the State Authority
When the dealership pays the relevant State Authority for the stamp duty collected, the payment is allocated from the accounting package to the Stamp Duty Clearing General Ledger account. This creates the clearing entry that offsets the original credit, bringing the account into balance for that transaction.
Using the Same Account for Registrations
The dealership may choose to use the same Stamp Duty Clearing account for registration fees that are payable by the customer and charged on Customer Order Unit Deals. This keeps all related government charges in one clearing account for easier reconciliation.