fiscal cancel
{{Short description|Stamp cancellation indicating usage for tax purposes}}
File:Chichester Local Rate Receipt 1929 with stamp.jpg with a fiscal cancel.]]
In philately a fiscal cancel – symbol 16pxMichel (2007) Übersee-Katalog. Band 1/1 Nordamerika 2007/2008. Unterschleissheim Schwaneberger, p. 18. – is a cancellation on a stamp that indicates that the stamp has been used for fiscal (taxation) purposes.[http://www.askphil.org/b25f.htm Ask Phil philatelic glossary. Retrieved 26 April 2010.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100316184709/http://www.askphil.org/b25f.htm |date=16 March 2010 }}
The stamp may either be a revenue stamp, intended purely for fiscal use, or it may be a dual-purpose stamp valid for either postal or fiscal use.
Varieties
Fiscal cancels take a variety of forms:
- Pen cancels with a simple cross, initials or other markings.
- Perfin or punched hole cancels.
- Embossing.
- Damaging the surface of the stamp using a serrated or ridged roller.
- Multiple parallel cuts.From around 1900, United States revenue stamps were required to be mutilated by cutting, after being affixed to documents, and in addition to being cancelled in ink. A class of office equipment was created to achieve this which became known as "stamp mutilators". [http://www.officemuseum.com/mutilators.htm Revenue Stamp Mutilators.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120617003743/http://officemuseum.com/mutilators.htm |date=2012-06-17 }} Early Office Museum, 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2012. [http://www.google.com/patents/US653366.pdf United States Patent for a "Stamp Mutilator", 1900. No. 653366.]{{dead link|date=June 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
- Handstamp cancels similar to the postmark on a stamp and which may be in purple or red ink rather than the black favoured for cancels of postage stamps.
- Tearing or other physical damage to the stamp.
Examples:
File:Bill stamp of the USSR.jpg|A Russian revenue stamp with a fiscal pen cancel.
File:Adhesive labelEstonia1919 20m.jpg|An Estonian revenue stamp with a handstamp cancel in purple.
File:Cochin foreign bill revenue stamp.jpg|A revenue stamp from Cochin cancelled by perforation.
File:Fiscal Roquevaire 27-02-1886 MM.jpg|A French revenue stamp with a manuscript cancel.
File:Nepal revenue stamp.jpg|A revenue stamp of Nepal for court fees with a punched cancel as well as handstamps.
File:India 1868 12A Small Cause Court Fees Revenue Stamp.jpg|An Indian revenue stamp with a punched cancel.
Values
Postage stamps valid for either fiscal or postal purposes are often worth less when fiscally used than when postally used. They are not, however, necessarily more common fiscally used than postally used.